Readers give our food critic something to chew on.
Readers give our food critic something to chew on.
No cuisine has its roots more deeply buried in this country than Southwestern, a cooking style that originated with the region's first inhabitants and evolved as Spanish, Mexican, Texan, Cajun and Creole elements were added to the indigenous ingredients used by Native Americans. As a result, Southwestern cooking is full of flamboyant colors, assertive smells and confident flavors. Julia Siegfried-Garrison is a Nebraska native, but when she fell in love with hubby Ordy Garrison a decade ago, she also fell in love with Southwestern cuisine. His mom cooks traditional Mexican, though, so I first tasted those ingredients in her dishes. Then we went to Taos and other parts of New Mexico, and the foods I ate there just sort of built on what I'd already been exposed to.