Today nearly every great city in the world has a restaurant that bills itself as Mexican cuisine. In reality, much of what passes for Mexican in international settings is actually an amalgam of recipes that has come to be known as Tex Mex.

Food historians say that Tex Mex cuisine originated almost 200 years ago when northern Mexico and what became Texas were under the same rulers. In fact, the Spanish-dominated Mexican government invited Anglos to come to southern Texas as settlers, in order to build up the population and its economy. A region inhospitable for most farming, the primary industry became ranching, that is, raising thousands of head of beef cattle for tables back east.

With a porous border, people and food traveled back and forth easily, blending seamlessly until few could tell what was indigenous Texas food and what was native Mexican food, with Spanish touches. Thus Tex Mex was born, a strong combination of hearty beef, sometimes pork or chicken, cooked with chili peppers, tomatoes, onions, corn and flour tortillas and beans, all staples of the region. Known for decades as a regional specialty, Tex Mex really took off in the early 1970s as a favorite of younger generations. Gourmets began to dress up the hearty fare of yore with seafood and desserts such as flan and puff pastries known as sopapillas, typically served with honey.

However, authentic Mexican cuisine is vastly different from its blended cousin, Tex Mex. Each state and some regions within Mexico have traditional dishes with enormous culinary histories. A few examples from this compendium include:

Nuevo Leon: If any single Mexican state could be considered the grandfather of Tex Mex cuisine, it’s Nuevo Leon along the Rio Grande. Here we find enormous corn tortillas (more than 25 inches in diameter) called Sobaqueras, used to eat beef such as the Arrachera. Nuevo Leon is also home to today’s popular fajitas and burritos.

Tamaulipas: This coastal state gave birth to Carne a la Tampique