On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 22:28:41 GMT, "Dimitri" >
wrote:

>
>"Dan Abel" > wrote in message
...
>> In article >,
>> "Nancy Young" > wrote:
>>
>>> "Dan Abel" > wrote
>>>
>>> > restaurants don't order tacos at all. They order a plate of meat, which
>>> > comes with various sides, including a choice of wheat or corn soft
>>> > tortillas. They make their own "tacos" at the table, either folding or
>>> > rolling them, and adding whatever they want.
>>>
>>> That's what I call fajitas, I order them whenever I see them.
>>
>> Fajitas are something different. I'm not sure that they are even
>> Mexican food, although many Mexican restaurants here serve them.
>
>http://whatscookingamerica.net/Histo...itaHistory.htm
>
>Texans would probably like to lay claim to the fajita, but history gives credit
>to Mexican ranch workers living in West Texas (along the Rio Grande on the
>Texas-Mexico border) in the late 1930s or early 1940s. When a steer was
>butchered, the workers were given the least desirable parts to eat for partial
>payment of their wages. Because of this, the workers learned to make good use of
>a tough cut of beef known as skirt steak. In Spanish, fajita is a form of the
>word faja which translates to "belt" or "girdle" in English.
>
>The fajita is truly a Tex-Mex food (a blending of Texas cowboy and Mexican
>panchero foods). The Mexican term for grilled skirt steak is arracheras, and its
>American counterpart is fajitas. Today, the term fajita has completely lost its
>original meaning and has come to describe just about anything that is cooked and
>served rolled up in a soft flour tortilla. The only true fajitas, however, are
>made from skirt steak.
>
>Or
>http://www.austinchronicle.com/issue..._feature3.html
>
>:-)
>
>Dimitri
>
Thanks for the summary. You did a much better job than I did in
another post. Cross-border borrowings make for great hybridizations,
much of the time. I've read that nachos were invented in a Mexican
border town to satisfy the munchies of a bunch of Texas tourists.


modom