Is it Border Cuisine or Merely a Case of NAFTA Indigestion?

This paper will examine the emergence of border cuisine along the U.S.-Mexican international boundary in the vicinity of Calexico, California and Mexicali, Mexico. It is not an exaggeration to say that the border is an unknown region for most Americans. While borders certainly have their share of volatility, particularly with illegal immigration activities, the border crossing and region described in this paper are generally stable, rooted strongly in commercial and family foundations. Environmental problems, traffic congestion, and the persistent cat and mouse game of illegal crossings and Border Patrol arrests are commonplace. Yet, the overall motif is one of daily life moving along at a synchronized pace. Trucks carrying manufactured goods and RVs (recreational vehicles) driven by Canadians or Californians head into Mexicali. In the early morning, day laborers drive or walk into Calexico from the Mexican side hoping to be employed in labor intensive field work by Imperial Valley growers. Later they are followed by "soccer moms" driving their children to private Catholic schools in Calexico and EI Centro in Ford Explorers. "Fundamentally, border culture or the border wqy if life, is rooted in the influences that the border exerts on fronterizos .... (B)orderlanders are surrounded by internationality; they go from one nation to the other frequently on shopping trips, on business, or for leisure. Transnational interaction is normal and routine." (Martinez, 1997:94) Where people go, they bring along their food preferences. What makes the border interesting from a culinary perspective is that the "back-andforth" is a way of life, and that fronterizos, the people who live on either side of the border, develop a juxtaposition of food that is not usually associated \vith one country's food preferences or the other. The so-called purists in either country may not claim or recognize meals found in the border region, and this is exactly what makes border food so interesting and attractive to research. At the same time, there is a core menu that is adhered to in all restaurants serving Mexican food in the Mexicali-Calexico border area.