I grew up in New Mexico, we call the New Mexican food here Mexican. I moved to PA and later Maryland, I was very surprised at the difference in food and what was called Mexican. After I while I realized there was a huge difference between New Mexican, everything uses locally grown chile, similar to Anaheim chile. Versus the other stuff which uses a lot of poblano, and other types of chile.
And then there was the places that served white peoples Mexican food. Maryland crab enchilada was the worst I think.
If you are interested in exploring the multiplicity of Mexican foods, you should watch Pati Jinich. Her shows are travelogue/cooking, but her background is in poli-sci so it’s always as much about the culture as the food:
Sounds interesting, found her on youtube too:
Fellow New Mexican checking in; our food always incorporates a hatch chile sauce of one (or both) colors, and hot damn is it tasty! Having chile with every meal is probably the thing I miss about NM the most (after my parents, ofc). New Mexican food is its own category, separate from Mexican food.
