Jose's Mexican Cantina

When the Spaniards settled among the Indians of Central America during the 16th Century, they brought with them the traditions and heritage of the Mediterranean world. The Indians they found in Mexico were themselves inheritors of great traditions handed down from ancient Aztec and Mayan civilizations. During tumultuous centuries that marked the clash of these great cultures there occurred a gradual blending. Today they may be regarded as having evolved into a truly new and unique culture on their own. Nowhere is the blending more evident than in the cuisine of Mexico. Rice, introduced from the Old World, was, for instance, enlivened with New World tomatoes and chilies, to become the familiar and popular Spanish rice that is enjoyed all over the Americas. The European onion and garlic were warmly welcomed, and are today found in many foods that are in other respects purely Indian.