Gustavo is the editor of OC Weekly, an alternative newspaper in Orange County, California, and he’s the author of “Orange County: A Personal History”, a frequent commentator for L.A.
Gustavo also writes the very popular and nationally syndicated column “Ask a Mexican” in which he answers any and all questions about America’s spiciest and largest minority.
Gustavo is a long, lifelong resident of Orange County and is a proud son of two Mexican immigrants, one of whom was illegal.
Gustavo Arellano: Thank you, thank you.
Gustavo Arellano: What, the book, “Taco USA” I address that.
Gustavo Arellano: Exactly.
Gustavo Arellano: It is an amazing dish.
Gustavo Arellano: I don’t think it’s ignorance as much as they just haven’t been exposed to it.
Gustavo Arellano: Exactly.
Gustavo Arellano: So Americans, so part of that it’s like they’ve always known that about Mexican food, that it’s super spicy.
Gustavo Arellano: But the, chili, you know, chili cookouts and so forth, but at the same time, again, Americans, when it comes to Mexican
Gustavo Arellano: Absolutely.
Gustavo Arellano: Somebody gave me the bottle and I threw it in the trash can immediately.
Gustavo Arellano: It is a very bold statement.
Gustavo Arellano: Oh, I love Tepache.
Gustavo Arellano: Novaleon and another one I can’t remember.
Gustavo Arellano: It’s very frothy.
Gustavo Arellano: Yeah, yeah.
Gustavo Arellano: Yeah, I talk about that a lot in my 'Ask a Mexican'' book.
Gustavo Arellano: Oh yeah, that’s awesome.
Gustavo Arellano: What’s happened, I mean, I have my own criticisms of what some people call the gourmet food truck, what I call the lux luncheria scenes, some people might criticize
Gustavo Arellano: What we consider to be, quote unquote, Mexican food, even, quote unquote, authentic Mexican food by definition is inauthentic.
Gustavo Arellano: Mexico City is one of the great cuisine, great food destinations in the world, Mexico City and Tijuana.
Gustavo Arellano: Oh, that’s awesome.
Gustavo Arellano: Corn Michael Brown: In Mexican culture?
Gustavo Arellano: Next to the Virgin of Guadalupe, corn is the most important thing in Mexican society.
Gustavo Arellano: Yeah.
Gustavo Arellano: Yeah.
Gustavo Arellano: Oh sure.
Gustavo Arellano: Yeah.
Gustavo Arellano: Yeah, he just got an award from the Mexican government for his contributions to Mexican food, or to the promotion of Mexican food.
Gustavo Arellano: Exactly.
Gustavo Arellano: Don’t be shy.
Gustavo Arellano: A lot of, only until very recently, a lot of Mexican food in this country was made in a certain way cause you didn’t have all the ingredients that you had in Mexico.
Gustavo Arellano: New York Pizza, too.
Gustavo Arellano: No, regulation has historically played a big role, also, in Mexican food.
Gustavo Arellano: We do that so, sh.
Gustavo Arellano: Or what happens is we have all this regulation then an underground economy starts up.
Gustavo Arellano: Yeah, so thank you.
Gustavo Arellano: Absolutely.
Gustavo Arellano: Ugh.
Gustavo Arellano: Yeah.
Gustavo Arellano: Yeah.
Gustavo Arellano: No, no.
Gustavo Arellano: Chi-Chi’s will never be remembered for their food, where people had the good time was because of all the margaritas
Gustavo Arellano: The frozen margarita’s not gonna go anywhere cause in the book I talk about the creation of the frozen margarita machine, so there’s always gonna be a market
Gustavo Arellano: But what’s happened, though, Americans, they haven’t gotten tired of the frozen margarita but they’ve realized there’s better margaritas.
Gustavo Arellano: So there’s always gonna be different, there’s always gonna be different levels of Mexican food.
Gustavo Arellano: Yeah, I laugh because it’s amazing the fights people will get in over food.
Gustavo Arellano: Uh-huh.