Mexican cuisine — 1500, Nixtamal · 579

Alkaline-cooked corn that makes masa. Mexico City, Oaxaca and Puebla do not cook the same dinner. Regional stubbornness is the cuisine, not a footnote. The home pantry around Nixtamal and the labour behind Mole rarely fit a takeaway box. Are restaurant versions "authentic"? Restaurant Mexican cuisine is one register. Home pots and market stalls are others. Authenticity is a marketing word; technique is not.

Cocina mexicana is the local name used in this atlas beside Mexican cuisine. Mexican cuisine is organised around nixtamal / pulque / salsa and corn tortilla. Taco and Mole are the plates most diners meet first. Street and home forms differ. The export icon is real; the pantry behind nixtamal / pulque / salsa is what makes it a system.

Mexican cuisine is organised by nixtamal / pulque / salsa and corn tortilla. Mexico City concentrates restaurants; the provinces keep the older pots. A single national menu abroad is a greatest-hits list. nixtamal / pulque / salsa is the bass. corn tortilla is the meal. Regional fats and pickles do more work than a last-minute chili flake.