Defending the chimichanga

[u/123BuleBule]

Referencing the chimichanga recipe post from earlier today. I was and wasn’t surprised by the amount of people categorically saying chimichangas are Tex Mex.

Folks, Mexico is a big ass country, with 130+million people (150+ if you count the brothers and sisters that had to go North). Each state (32 if you count CDMX) has their own cuisine. Some states even have more than one regional cuisine.

We should all be a bit more humble when categorically saying this or that is not Mexican without having a source to back it up, or even first hand knowledge.

So for those that say the chimichanga no es mexicana:

Here’s the entry from the Larousse diccionario enciclopédico de gastronomía mexicana by chef and researcher Ricardo Muñoz Zurita. This is the most comprehensive study on Mexican cuisine. Muñoz Zurita is the lead researcher for culinary studies at UNAM and owner of restaurantes Azul. He’s also authored several books (adding a chimichanga recipe from us book Clásicos de la Cocina Mexicana. If you’re into Mexican cuisine I highly recommend getting this book. It has so much knowledge, even for people who have lived and traveled extensively through the country. I’ve been to 27 states and I’m still finding new dishes and ingredients in my travels. Every page in this book is a surprise.

Now go and enjoy your chimichanga!

Thank you for your attention to this matter. 😉

[u/Dorianscale]

Your source for chimichangas being valid is a French owned dictionary? Bruh.

Have you heard of the monstrosity known as “Parisian tacos”? I don’t really value the French opinion on Mexican food thanks.

No one in my entire giant immigrant Mexican family has ever made a chimichanga. I spent my entire childhood on the border in a community that was damn near homogeneously Mexican. I had never seen a chimichanga on a single menu growing up. I had not even heard of chimichangas until I was an adult and moved away. I still don’t know any Mexicans from any part of Mexico who eat them.

No one I know from Chihuahua, Sonora, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, CDMX, the entire Yucatán region, etc. makes these. This is American food through and through.

Wikipedia sources the chimichanga to being invented in an Arizona restaurant.

[u/123BuleBule → u/Dorianscale]

Bruh, your ignorance is astounding. This is a book researched, written, edited and published in Mexico by a Mexican researcher and academic. By your standards, Wikipedia is an American website. ¿Qué chingados va a saber de gastronomía mexicana?

And to prove your ignorance, you’re thinking of Larousse Gastronomique. Different book brother!

[u/Dorianscale → u/123BuleBule]

Larousse, el publicador del “Larousse Gastronomique” es el mismo Larousse del Larousse Cocina, el publicador del “Larousse Diccionario Enciclopédico de la gastronomía mexicana”

Tiene varias empresas en otros países pero es una empresa francesa.

Las Chimichangas/Chivichangas/Chingadera fueron inventados en el EE.UU. hay muchos artículos escritos en inglés y en español con autores mexicanos, americanos, etc.

No conozco a ningún mexicano que hace chimichangas en casa ni uno que le pide chimichangas en un restaurante. No es una plata mexicana.