There are no less than 38，000 Mexican restaurants in the US， much more than Italian and Chinese restaurants. Mexican restaurants have become popular across the US not because there are a lot of Mexican people. While less than two percent of the North Dakota population is Mexican， a full seven percent of North Dakota restaurants greet guests with Mexican clothing.

The states with the highest percentage of Mexican restaurants include Texas， New Mexico， California， Colorado， and Oklahoma， while New Jersey， Pennsylvania， Rhode Island， Maine， and Vermont are among those with the lowest percentage.

It may be a surprise that UNESCO has added Mexican food to their lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Perhaps even more unexpected is that the USA has added“Mexican” to its own list of “What can we eat tonight？”

You might wonder how Mexican food conquered America. Gustavo Arellano， a journalist in Orange County， California has made some explanations.

Most of the migration from Mexico into the United States came from northern Mexico. The taco wasnt as popular there as it was in southern and central Mexico， and it wasnt even called a taco until around the 1880s at the earliest. During the Mexican Revolution， refugees started coming up， and they wanted to eat the food of their homeland. They started eating tacos at home， and tacos started getting sold in Mexican restaurants. Thats what started happening in southern California around the 1920s， where the first famous tacos were taquitos—rolled tacos. The special flavor made Americans try more of the Mexican food， and they loved all of it.

The very fact that Americans love Mexican food so much is really good for the future of the country. When a new group arrives， theres always going to be tension. The first thing the majority group does is make fun of their food. So Americans loving Mexican food is really a good start because at least youve welcomed the food.

When you go to a Mexican restaurant and see Spanish on the menu that youve never heard in your life， order it. That will be more likely the regional food， and it will taste really good.

Vocabulary

Intangible Cultural Heritage（非物質文化遗产）

migration n. 移民

taco n. 墨西哥玉米薄饼卷

refugee n. 避难者

tension n. 紧张

regional adj. 地域的

Have you ever had Mexican food？ Where can you get it？Jessie 改编