Prospectus

Issue date: 8/19/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Anthony Burkert

My husband and I recently returned from a trip to Mexico. Even more recently, we were in a (non-Mexican) restaurant in Champaign. As the server set a margarita on our table, my husband observed that margaritas were not as common in Mexico as you might expect from dining in Mexican restaurants in the United States. In Mexico, margaritas are available in most bars and restaurants, but their menus don't include a list of variations available by the pitcher. Similarly, flour tortillas are always served in Mexican restaurants in the United States, but rarely in Mexico, where corn, not wheat, is the major dietary staple. This made me wonder, where did these two standards of Mexican-American cuisine come from, and how did they get here?

There are a number of stories regarding the origin of the margarita, which may or may not have been in Mexico. The stories vary in terms of the date (1930-1950), location (Tijuana, Puebla, or Taxco in Mexico; San Antonio or Los Angeles in the U.S.), and inventor, but they all involve a woman named Margarita, hence the name. In The Joy of Mixology, Gary Regan explains that the recipe for a margarita follows the formula for a New Orleans Sour-style cocktail. These cocktails include a base spirit (like the tequila in a margarita), triple sec, and fresh lime juice. This formula would have been familiar to any experienced bartender, so it is entirely possible that the drink was invented independently at different times by different individuals (although less likely that each instance directly involved someone named Margarita.) My personal favorite suggests that the drink was invented for a woman, Margarita, who was allergic to all liquor except tequila. She didn't like to drink it straight, so an accommodating bartender created a drink incorporating the lime and salt that typically accompany a shot of tequila.

However it came to be, the margarita enjoyed only limited popularity until the 1960's when a rumor began circulating that tequila had hallucinogenic properties. By the time people learned to tell the difference between hallucinations and ethanol-based intoxication, the drink had become a standard. According to the Cheers On-Premise Handbook, the margarita was the most popular cocktail in the US in 2008. Margaritas are made with tequila. Tequila is made in Mexico. If you owned a Mexican restaurant in the US, what would you put on your drink menu?

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