For many people, tacos al pastor, or shepherd’s tacos, are a quintessential Mexican dish. The pork topped with a whole pineapple and an onion, slathered with a chile marinade, and roasted on a vertical spit (called a trompo due to its resemblance to a spinning top toy) represents the essence of the Mexico City street taqueria. For tourists, this image holds just the right tinge of exoticism—meat roasted in such large quantities on an open air spit can be shocking. For locals, carne al pastor is a familiar, delicious street food that captures perfectly the multilayered culinary pallet of Mexico. However, the roots of this Mexican specialty may not be as local as one might think: “In the 1930s, Lebanese migrants served lamb or beef shawarma on wheat flour tortillas as tacos árabes (Arab tacos)…The resulting tacos al pastor (shepherd’s tacos), now considered one of the most “traditional” tacos in Mexico, date all the way back to the 1960s” (Pilcher). Though the rich influence of Lebanese culture is unexpected and often forgotten, Lebanese immigrants left a profound mark on Mexico’s national cuisine.

Lebanese immigrants travelled to Mexico in the greatest numbers in the early 20^th century. According to Theresa Alfaro-Velcamp’s article “Immigrant Positioning in Twentieth-Century Mexico: Middle Easterners, Foreign Citizens, and Multiculturalism,” though many families initially planned to stay in Mexico for a short time to accrue wealth before returning to their homes in the Middle East, the First World War forced many Lebanese immigrants to settle in Mexico permanently (Alfaro-Velcamp 68). As is the case for many global immigrants, Lebanese-Mexicans faced cultural resistance from Mexicans, as the government at the time placed a good deal of significance on homogeny within Mexico’s demographic.

However, Alfaro-Velcamp argues that Lebanese-Mexicans adapted to this pressure in a unique way by both self-naturalizing and staying true to their cultural heritage: “They were both victims and victors, targets of xenophobia who also profited from local conditions. It is within this context that the Mexican “Lebanese” community emerged. This community emerged in self-defense but also with cognizance of its importance to economic growth” (74). Lebanese-Mexicans used their cultural heritage to establish their niche in Mexican culture, and that niche included Mexican culinary practice. As Lebanese-Mexicans opened their own restaurants, Lebanese culinary customs began to blend with traditional Mexican practices, and somehow, the combination went largely unnoticed, particularly where carne al pastor is concerned. In the BBC article “Sharwarma: Taco al pastor’s culinary ancestor,” food historian Rachel Lauden notes, “The contribution of 20th century immigrants to Mexico which has been unbelievably strong is just wiped out of Mexican record. Most Mexicans now think this [carne al pastor] is a traditional Mexican dish” (Watson). This cultural and culinary blending served Lebanese immigrants well as they attempted to both preserve their heritage and avoid being ostracized from Mexican society.

Carne al pastor, though strikingly similar to shawarma, does have key differences. According to Alejandro Escalante, “They [Lebanese immigrants] were trying to do shawarma with lamb but here in Mexico we don’t eat that meat. People didn’t like it so they tried it with beef and it didn’t work out. Finally pork got on this vertical grill and it turned out to be great” (Watson). Mexican chefs further altered the process by foregoing the traditional spices used in shawarma in favor of locally available spices such as cumin, garlic, coriander, and cayenne pepper. The pineapple placed at the top of the trompo serves to tenderize the meat as well as give it a more tropical flair fitting of Mexico’s more humid climate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though carne al pastor serves as the most visible Lebanese contribution to Mexican cuisine, there are many other dishes which stem from Lebanese cultural influence. For example, street vendors in the Yucatan region market “kibe,” a Mexican take on kibbeh, fried bulgar dough made with onions and ground beef (Vega). Additionally, Lebanese dolmades, or stuffed grape leaves, appear in Mexican cuisine as taquitos de parra—grape or cabbage leaf wraps filled with ground meat, rice, and garlic (Vega). These particular dishes represent those which are most discernibly descended from Lebanese cultural influence; however, there are a multitude of other ways in which Lebanese and Mexican cuisines collide, from general flavor profiles to fusion restaurants which are popular in the nation’s capital, Mexico City.

The influence of Lebanese immigration on Mexican cuisine has been immense, leading to the creation of carne al pastor, a dish that can be found widely throughout Mexico in taquerias and fine dining alike and has come to represent Mexican cuisine nationally. The roasting techniques typically applied to shawarma and repurposed for carne al pastor preserve the flair of Lebanese cuisine while adapting to Mexican cultural customs, a method of self-preservation for early Lebanese immigrants who wanted to fit in while maintaining their heritage. However, the effects of this culinary combination have reached well outside the borders of Mexico, as Mexican immigrants carry their culinary traditions through global foodways, where the already rich, multilayered nature of these traditions is further expanded as they are passed through kitchens, borders, and generations.

 

Works Cited

Alfaro-Velcamp, Theresa. “Immigrant Positioning in Twentieth-Century Mexico: Middle Easterners, Foreign Citizens, and Multiculturalism.” Hispanic-American Historical Review, vol. 86, no. 1, Feb. 2006, pp. 61-91, http://libdata.lib.ua.edu/login?url=https://search-ebscohost-com.libdata.lib.ua.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=30h&AN=19794960&site=eds-live&scope=site

Pilcher, Jeffrey M. “‘Old Stock’ Tamales and Migrant Tacos: Taste, Authenticity, and the Naturalization of Mexican Food.” Social Research: An International Quarterly, vol. 81, no. 2, 2014, pp. 441-62, doi:10.1353/sor.2014.0018.

Watson, Katy. “Sharwarma: Taco al pastor’s culinary ancestor.” BBC, 2 Sept. 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33993719.

Vega, Norma. “The Arabic Connection: Tacos Árabes, Kibe and Lebanese Immigration in Mexico.” Latino Foodie: The Dish on Food and Culture, 18 June 2012, http://www.latinofoodie.com/cultural-capsule/the-arabic-connection-tacos-arabes-kibe-and-lebanese-immigration-in-mexico/.