[Ads-l] Great Antedating of "Tex Mex" by Barry Popik

[Shapiro, Fred]

Barry Popik's website barrypopik.com is one of the most extraordinary sites on the Web.  There are many terrific subjects of word history included, but one of the strongest areas is food.  Here are great antedatings that Barry has come up with for "Tex Mex" (food).  The OED's first use is 1968.

26 December 1952, Galveston (TX) Daily News, pg. 12 ad:
TEX MEX
TOMATO PUREE 3 4 1/4-Oz. Cans 10c

10 November 1957, Galveston (TX) News-Tribune, Cook Book, pg. 17:
TEX-MEX ENCHILADAS

13 October 1960, Delta Democrat-Times (Greenville, MS), pg. 14?:
“Tex-Mex” Cookery
Adds Savory Touch

“Tex-Mex cookery” is the name often given to that savory style of cooking, using meat, beans, tomatoes, onions and green peppers, smartened with chili powder, oregano and other spices. Chili con carne, enchiladas and tacos top the list of Southwestern favorites so often teamed with thin corn pancakes—tamales—the daily bread of old Mexico.

5 October 1961, Dallas Morning News, “Tolbert’s Texas” by Frank X. Tolbert, section 4, pg. 1:
MRS. FRANZ STUMPF of San Antonio, a published authority on what she calls “Tex Mex food,” has also taken this department mildly to task about the greaseless (or nearly so) chili recipe I’ve been offering.

29 April 1962, The Daily Texan (Austin, TX), “Our Nearest Neighbors…Mexico” by Debbie Howell, pg. 2, col. 6:
Mexican food, across the border. is very different from the Tex-Mex type served here. It s light, not at all greasy, and delicious. Tacos, enchiladas, chalupas, and the already known Mexican foods are considered merely appetizers or antojitos (little whims).

Fred Shapiro


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