Food to Experience in Southwestern American Dining Trips
Enjoying a food tour through the US Southwest is not a excursion for the faint of heart. The Southwest is filled with cuisine that is as simple to prepare as it is flavorful – as full of spicy ingredients as it is filled with the healthiest of vegetables. If you’re looking for a food tour in the US Southwest, don’t expect to stop in a large Mexican restaurant with thousands of fillings for chimichangas. In fact, don’t limit the Southwest and put it all under one blanket, because you are in for a gustatory awakening.
Southwestern cuisine can actually be summarized up into hybrids of different cuisines. Border cuisine, sometimes fancifully referred to as South of the Border, may be more toward your local Mexican restaurant fare, with some menu items flavored mildly to suit a wider range of tastes. We also have Tex-Mex cuisine, a blend of Texan and Mexican, heavy on the meats and spices. There is also the fresh, corn-rich American Indian cuisine, the richer and hotter Mexican offerings, and even nueva Latina, a modern version of Southwestern pairings that is springing up in various places across the Southwestern states.
If you are traveling on a Southwestern Food trip, then you’ll surely pass through the Lone Star State, and get a hankering for large Texan meats and steaks. You’ll go through Kansas, where you may sink your teeth into wonderful corn breads and products. Nothing beats a Kansas vacations. You will visit Southern California and the Baja, where the burritos are hot and the tamales are even hotter. You will find yourself in New Mexico and Colorado, even parts of Oklahoma, and you’ll get yourself lots of American Indian cuisine that is as old as the hills but plenty flavorful, too!
It is no suprise, then, that the Southwest is traditionally seen as the grandmother of all American cuisine, encompasing the roots of its indigenous cooking. Think about it: even before Jamestown and Plymouth Rock got their first taste of Europe, a whole lot was already cooking in these parts! A culinary tour through the Southwestern United States, therefore, is a trip through history, where you can actually savor the meals that have been around from times past, and are testaments to tales long past but never forgotten.
So what should you expect? Look for blue, purple, or even red maize, all of which can be prepared into different tasty tacos, among other things. You will also discover a whole lot of heat, so try for fire-roasted chilies, and other chili dishes that will make your mouth water immensely (and your eyes tear up, too!). You’ll find meat smoked with mesquite, scenting the air with flavorful smells. Whether you’re washing it all down with a bottle of South of the Border beer, or a bottle of European wine, you’ll surely discover something to look forward to in the US Southwest.
If you are scheduling a trip to the US Southwest on a culinary tour, there are many things that you will need to remember. First, because many of the dishes are spicy, you may need to check if you have any palate or health sensitivities to spicy foods. For instance, if you have irritable bowel syndrome, then you may need to ease up on the peppers. You will also want to check with your tour planner if the tour covers only the lodging and transportation, while you have to pick up the tab when you stop for food. Don’t forget to read the fine print and discuss questions. Take the necessary precautions, and you can turn your Southwest US Food trip into a great getaway.
Indian Vision – Chirapaq – Native American – Powerful Pride – Sacred Medicine
|
|
OXO SteeL Garlic Press, Stainless $15.99 Pick up this garlic press and you’ll instantly recognize its superior quality—it’s heavy and solid, yet beautifully balanced. An elegant combination of zinc and stainless steel with black cushioning insets on the handles add up to a work of art. Several cloves of garlic can be pressed at once; then, swing the handle around on the smooth-as-butter hinge and forty durable plastic teeth push out… |
|
|
Oster BVLB07-Z Counterforms 3-Speed 2-in-1 Blender/Food-Processor Combo with 48-Ounce Glass Jar $51.95 The Counterforms 2-In-1 Appliance with Oster Fusion Technology BVLB07-L handles the functions of two machines. It mixes liquids like a blender while also performing many common food-processor tasks, such as chopping and pureeing fruits and vegetables. The BVLB07-Z consists of a sturdy base containing a 600-watt motor, a stainless-steel 6-point Star Blade, a large 48-ounce (6-cup) glass blending ja… |
|
|
Purple Dragonfly EVERYTHING Happens for a Reason COFFEE TRAVEL Mug NEW $11.99 Whether it’s with you in your car or on your desk at work, this high quality, inspirational travel mug is a MUST HAVE. Beautiful, practical & convenient; a favorite traveling companion for years to come. The mug reads “Everything Happens for a Reason, Just Believe” on the front, with Dragonflies and Irises on the back. (This sale is for one mug only.) Travel mug holds up to 14 ounces, with a… |
|
|
Native American Flute Lullabies … |
|
|
Canyon Trilogy: Native American Flute Music $9.98 Nakai’s free improvisations on this album are based on his impressions of the Anasazi and Sinagua sites, ancient cliff dwellings that were home to communities of Native people thousands of years ago. By using the Roland SDE 3000 Digital Delay system, Nakai is able to play duets with his own echo, in an effort to emulate the echoes of the past that haunt these ruins. On this recording, Nakai’s flut… |
|
|
The Indian in the Cupboard $4.42 Young Hal Scardino stars as a sensitive boy who discovers a way to bring plastic toys to life in a locked cupboard. One of those toys, a 19th-century Iroquois warrior (played by actor Litefoot), was actually a real warrior now only several inches tall. A bond eventually develops between boy and warrior, and a six-shooting toy cowboy (David Keith). As with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Indian i… |
|
|
Last of the Dogmen [VHS] $9.98 Despite an irritating, tacked-on voice-over narration that somebody must have thought was necessary to make sense of the story (it wasn’t), Last of the Dogmen is actually a very moving and magical film. Tom Berenger plays a Montana bounty hunter who helps an anthropologist (Barbara Hershey) search for the descendants of a Cheyenne tribe who disappeared in the 1870s. What the two find in a remote m… |
|
|
Spirit – A Journey in Dance, Drums and Song [VHS] $24.95 Weaving Native American mythology, music, dance, and rituals into a stage presentation augmented for television and home video, Spirit: A Journey in Dance, Drums, and Song suggests a New World counterpart to Riverdance, aimed at the same audience that made Bill Whelan’s Celtic extravaganza a programming staple for PBS fund drives and a perennial seller in music and home video. Both projects als… |
|
|
The Creator’s Game $7.98 Daniel Cloud, a Native American Iroquois, leaves his father and sister to attend graduate school. Even though he is a gifted lacrosse player, he hopes to become a football coach. Only football, he believes, will give him and his family the financial security to get them off the reservation and save the family store. As he prepares to leave an unscrupulous businessman gives Daniel’s father sixty da… |
|
|
Trail of Tears – A Native American Documentary Collection $3.75 TRAIL OF TEARS:NATIVE AMERICAN DOCUME – DVD Movie… |