# Mexican food or Italian food **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389 "2014-01-21T20:37:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/21 "2014-01-21T23:48:21Z")
I voted Mexican. If I went a week without a taco, I’d be grinding corn by hand to make tortillas. > [@silenus](#): > > Does Mexican include Tex-Mex as a sub-set? I hope so, because it’s really just the Mexican food from this region of (formerly) Mexico. > [@garygnu](#): > > Anyway… my parents love to tell the story about their time living in Ohio in the early 1970s. The one place they could find that was advertized as a “Mexican” restaurant actually only served Italian food. They had to get salsa and hot sauce shipped from my grandparents back in California. My mother loved to tell the story of living in Ohio in the 1960’s, and trying to explain to a grocer what a tortilla even was. “Unleavened corn bread” did not get a look of recognition from them. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/22 "2014-01-22T01:00:45Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > I hope so, because it’s really just the Mexican food from this region of (formerly) Mexico. Not entirely, and I’m hoping it doesn’t count so I can still have chili (which is totally American.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/23 "2014-01-22T01:21:06Z")
Without a second thought, Mexican. Any region, I don’t care. I like Italian, but it’s not in my top five favorite cuisines of the world. Mexican is. Probably top three. I find it more varied than Italian (although both are VERY varied cuisines, unlike the popular ideas of what both constitute), but also because I like what I perceive to be the wider range of flavors and influences in Mexican cuisine. Then again, I’d miss the Italian cured meats and cheeses, which are among the best in the world. It’s tough, but I’ll stick with Mexican. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/24 "2014-01-22T01:27:24Z")
I also thought about when the last time I was that I went to an Italian restaurant. I can’t remember. Probably two years ago. Mexican? Last week. How often do I cook Italian vs Mexican at home? It’s probably fairly even, with an edge to Mexican. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/25 "2014-01-22T01:28:21Z")
Mexican. So much easier to eat given my inability to handle gluten, and I just prefer the cuisine. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/26 "2014-01-22T01:29:06Z")
Italian for me, although I wish they’d added Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/27 "2014-01-22T01:33:59Z")
Mexican, no question. I’m just not that into Italian. There was a wonderful little Mexican place about an hour and a half away run by a Mexican using his grandmother’s recipes. The building was run down, the plates and cutlery were mismatched but it was the best Mexican food I’ve ever had. The owner had to go back to Mexico and the place became a Mexicali Rose’s. Damn I miss that place. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/28 "2014-01-22T01:39:00Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Why’d you put an option to wimp out in one direction, and not the other? Yeah, why? Both. I’ve eaten at real Mexican restaurants, owned and operated by real Mexicans (we went to one for our anniversary a few weeks ago), and I’ve been to Italy several times. I’m much more likely to fix Italian at home, though (unless you count the frozen chimichangas I nuke for breakfast :)). ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/29 "2014-01-22T01:49:34Z")
Italian all the way. Risotto, pizza, fresh pasta, pesto, chicken marsala, gnocchi, prosciutto, ricotta, hazelnuts, a light tomato sauce, good bread, earthy mushrooms – my mouth waters just thinking about half that stuff. We were in Italy for two weeks. We ate like kings. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/30 "2014-01-22T01:51:52Z")
I could probably eat Italian food every day of the week, while Mexican, I’d top out at three or four days before I got tired of it. I’m rather fond of both, though, and there are some nice fusion options between them as well (try putting some salsa in your spaghetti sauce, for instance). I don’t like either as much as I do Indian, though. ---
**Author:** ![GovernmentMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@GovernmentMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GovernmentMan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/31 "2014-01-22T01:55:30Z")
also Italian desserts, pastries, bread, etc vs Mexican? No contest ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/32 "2014-01-22T02:16:12Z")
Mexican, without even thinking about it. Not even close. Rather than typing out why, I’ll agree with every word of puly’s post. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/33 "2014-01-22T02:23:50Z")
Why decide, when you can have [INCHEZONYA](http://www.charlesphoenix.com/category/inchezonya/)? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/34 "2014-01-22T02:24:12Z")
I want to see a cage match: Pizza vs. Burrito. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/35 "2014-01-22T02:30:41Z")
I love Mexican, but have to go with Italian. I’m not happy that I was forced to choose. I recently had a shrimp and tomato-shallot confit risotto at Las Pizarras in Buenos Aires that blew my damned mind - it’s tough to beat a good risotto. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/36 "2014-01-22T02:32:58Z")
OT: Joseph Wambaugh seemed to side with Montezuma Montez in his feud with Bullets Bambarella. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/37 "2014-01-22T02:40:31Z")
I put down Mexican food, but in DC I would have to put down Italian. The Mexican food in DC is mediocre at best. But the food in Tucson: God_damn_. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/38 "2014-01-22T02:45:57Z")
Italian, and it wasn’t too tough a choice. Done right, Mexican is incredibly good; but done right, Italian is life-changing. Plus, once you factor in desserts, Mexican doesn’t stand a chance. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/39 "2014-01-22T02:49:35Z")
You guys are forgetting the wines. Mexicali begs for beer and ginebra. If I’m a millionaire, I can see myself perfectly satisfied with nibbling salad, sparse servings of pasta, and sipping dry red. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389/40 "2014-01-22T02:50:40Z")
Singing, “I like Chinese…”🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-food-or-italian-food/679389.md?page=3)