7 Cultural Contributions You Have Mexico to Thank For (In Honor of Mexico’s Independence Day)
Hermanas, today we celebrate Mexico’s Independence Day! Ahuaaaa!!!
“But, Frida, what does Mexican’s Independence have to do with me? I’m not Mexican.”
Ay si, como no?
Is chocolate your guilty pleasure favorito? Is your favorite food fried? Do you have an upset stomach from all the tequila shots you took during last night’s impromptu “unicorn-themed” office party?
If you answered “sí” to all of the above preguntas then you not only have a lot to thank Mexico for, but you’re also an intern at Comediva.com.
La verdad es que Mexico is far more than its poverty, immigration problems, corruption, or drug wars. No, today, in honor of Mexican’s Independence Day, let’s take time to celebrate the positive contributions that mi patria, Mexico, has made to society, como:
1. Pot Movies
Before there was Cheech (of Cheech and Chong fame) “the pot movie” was all but non-existent in mainstream American cultura. But today, thanks to Cheech, all the most popular movies have to do is take old and tired genres, add pot to the mix, and go on to collect big box office dinero. Their success is all gracias to the pioneering genius of one half-baked Mexican with a bad case of the munchies.
2. Mexican Soap Operas
Cuando American soap operas got cancelled in droves, Mexican soap operas still kept going strong. El secreto to their resilience is probably that Mexican Soap Operas only last a year, and feature melodramatic twists and turns that are so over-the-top that they cause Mexican abuelitas to nearly have heart attacks on a weekly basis.
3. Chocolate
In the ancient city of the Aztecas, hot chocolate was served with agua, not milk, and was spiced up with chile. Today, this ancient, spicy version of hot chocolate has been revived in the “Moctezuma’s Revenge” Frappucino at your local Starbucks. (Warning: a double shot of “green chile espresso” will give you a bad case of chorro.)
4. Corn
This ancient crop of the Aztecas is now used to create corn syrup for your soda and corn oil to fry your comida. Corn also creates tortillas, which are now outselling bread in the U.S. It’s so bad that even ham sandwiches have ditched bread for tortillas and have started calling themselves “wraps.”
5. The Number 0
The Mayans invented el numero zero to mean “everything” and “nothing.” Desafortunadamente, for Americans today, the number 0 usually means its time to take out a new credit card y start stocking up on ketchup packets from the local McDonalds.
6. Tequila
There’s absolutely nada to regret about drinking endless amounts of tequila shots (except, of course, the bad case of Herpes you got durante Spring Break in Cancun.)
7. Produce
Hundreds of Mexican inmigrantes pick the fruta and vegetables you eat. So, por favor, think twice the next time you tell Mexicans to “go back where they came from”; porque, one day, you might find yourself biting into an apple secretly coated with Tia Pearla’s hottest chile sauce — and you’ll regret it.
I was just doing some research because on npr.org on Mar/20/ 2012 under “cheaper clothes and shorter stories” there were reporting on the end of the American Soap Opera and of course, in tipycal melodramatic style, there in denial. “Days of our lives” and “SoapNet” the soap opera channel, are kaput.
Maybe they should adopt Telenovela style you describe here.