Hashing it out

We like corned beef hash as much as the next fellow. And we always like a good poached egg. These inevitably get us going.

Talking "Taco"

"Mexican food is at our state dinners, in elegant presentations. Mexican food is in our school cafeterias, packaged as chimichangas or in bags of Fritos, in convenience stores heating on rolling racks, waiting for the hands of hurried customers.

"Mexican food sponsors college bowl games such as the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and buys naming rights for sporting venues such as the Taco Bell Arena at Boise State in Idaho. Mexican food commercials blanket television airwaves hawking salsa and hard-shelled taco packets and high-priced tequilas and imported beers promising a day at the beach.

"Mexican food fills our grocery aisles, feeds underclassmen, sits in our freezers and pantries, is the focus of festivals, becomes tween trends or front-page news - and if you don't know what I'm talking about, ask your kid about spaghetti tacos.

"That wonderful culinary metaphor the melting pot has absorbed Mexican in this country just like so many immigrant cuisines of the past - but in a demanding way, unique from other traditions that have penetrated the American palate.

"While there are more Chinese restaurants than Mexican in this country, Mexican food is the easier sell... While pizza is the best-selling and farthest-reaching item of Italian-American cuisine, its rise and that of pasta and subs is only relatively recent; the United States, on the other hand, has loved Mexican food for more than 125 years - bought it, sold it, made it, spread it, supplied it, cooked it, savored it, loved it."

Gustavo Arellano, in "Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America"