Discussion
It's really good to see TexMex food taking off around Aotearoa. Aside from the rice dishes, it mostly depends on ingredients that grow well in the climate range of Aotearoa.
For a start, we grow huge amounts of corn. For now its mostly maize for stockfeed (#FacePalm), but we can easily swap that out for human-digestible varieties if demand increases. We also grow wheat, the secondary staple of TexMex. Although nobody really needs to eat more of that.
(1/?)
We have thriving orchards pumping out avocados almost all year round. Much of which never gets harvested, so plenty of supply for guacamole. For now the majority is grown in the north, particularly Bay of Plenty. But more could be planted in the north of Te Wai Pounamu, around Te Tau Ihu (Whakatū, Te Tai-o-Aorere, Mohua, Kawatiri).
We're good for salad veges too, and obviously meat for those who go that way. I'm not sure that we grow black beans here, but I see no reason why we couldn't.
(2/?)
@strypey the NZ bean situation is an issue. Something about irradiated beans seems wrong and they never seem to cook properly for me.
Peas? Yes, but they don’t seem to TexMex well. Limes, chillies and garlic? Yum!
@ambientspace
> Something about irradiated beans seems wrong and they never seem to cook properly for me
The very idea of irradiating food gives me the ick, on multiple levels. Have you tried buying bulk dried beans from organic shops or ethnic grocers (eg Indian/ Chinese)?
I have to admit, since I've been back in bachelor mode, I've mostly been subsisting mostly on canned beans. I just don't have the spoons these days to manage all the soaking/ pre-cooking that dried beans require.
Coming back to rice, that's an interesting one. Most of the non-Euro cuisines in Aotearoa make heavy use of it, so chances are it will always be around. As long as it's kept dry, it's fine with long, slow journeys from paddy to retailer. Even if it's on wooden sailing ships ; )
(3/?)
I used to assume rice needed a tropical climate. But a while back I met a permaculture pioneer who was growing it in Matakana, just north of Tamaki Makaurau.
Apparently what rice mainly needs is sufficient water, and heavily sloped land. There's a lot of marginal grazing land in the hills of Aotearoa - usually former sheep paddocks with a few beef cows on it - that could be turned over to terraquaculture, including terraced rice paddies. Helping to top up aquifers and hydrate land below.
(4/4)
Install bonfire.cafe
Get the full app experience
