This post brings to mind a former friend of mine who was “a vegetarian.” (I use quotes because she called herself one but didn’t always walk the walk, so to speak, as this story will relate.)

Years ago, she invited me to a party she was going to be at, at this Mexican restaurant in a section of San Diego called “Old Town.” It’s an authentic Mexican joint in the heart of this area where things are done as they are in most of Mexico. (Meaning, of course to the vegetarian or vegan: “eater beware!”)

I asked the hostess (not a cupcake) as soon as I arrived about the food choices I might have and she was blunt about it. EVERYTHING had beef, chicken or lard in it. Every single item on their menu EXCEPT the salsa and the tortilla chips, which were made off the premises.

My “veg” friend ate there. I drank water all night. Nice bathroom they had there…

In fact, most of the people I encountered prepared their food without costly meat products or even dairy products because they are too poor. Corn tortillas, beans and maybe a smattering of veggies is the main diet of most of Mexico. (Surprisingly it isn’t the authentic Mexican “Crunchwrap Supreme” or the “Grilled Stuft Burrito”!)

This of course, is to say nothing of the vegan movement in urban Mexico, of which I saw recipes and flyers, even being several hundred miles from the capital.

Before you assume that putting lard, animal fats and meat products into foods is the “way they do it” in Mexico, perhaps you should self-reflect on such sweeping generalizations and the invention of what “Mexican food” is here in the United States.