Guest Post by Morbo
Everyone’s favorite right-wing, Messiah-owned newspaper, The Washington Times, keeps a close eye on those pesky Mexicans for us.
Recently, the paper’s “Inside the Beltway” column noted that President George W. Bush has softened somewhat on his opposition to a fence along the Mexican border. Bush now says he might back about 370 miles of fencing but no more.
Writer John McCaslin followed up that report with an odd observation: People in this country eat a lot of Mexican food.
Meanwhile, we learned yesterday that as more and more Mexicans — illegal or otherwise — continue to flood into the United States, the demand for indigenous Mexican food and beverages is increasing to the point that it has become a ‘booming’ industry, both for suppliers in Mexico and distributors in this country.
According to the firm Market Research, the Mexican food industry in the United States is estimated at $52 billion and growing, with seven in 10 surveyed households using Mexican food and ingredients.
I guess I’m supposed to think this is ominous — and if I were a regular reader of the xenophobic Times, perhaps I would. The Mexicans are taking over! They and their food are running amok! Is no one safe? What about our children? Will someone please think of the children?!
Yes, those crafty Mexicans. They come bearing strange new spices and peppers. But the rather mundane fact that more and more people are enjoying Mexican cuisine fails to alarm me. Personally, I love Mexican food — and as far as I know I don’t have a drop of Mexican blood in me. My guess is that many of those seven out of 10 homes that regularly buy “Mexican food and ingredients” don’t have a single Hispanic person in them. After all, that’s a pretty broad term and would encompass anyone who picked up even something as tame as an Old El Paso burrito kit at the local Safeway.
Perhaps more people are enjoying Mexican food. So what? This may come as a surprise to the Times, but let me lay it out there: People often eat the food of other cultures. A lot of it tastes good, and it’s a way of expanding your horizons and enjoying some fine eats at the same time.
If The Times is trying to fill me with dread of a coming Hispanic takeover, it will have to do better than this. Judging by the lines I see at the Mexican restaurants in my area — and the ever-expanding waistlines of much of the clientele at them — Americans have already surrendered on the Mexican food front, figuring if you can’t beat them, at least enjoy their tasty dishes.