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Right: Chuckwagon, Kent, TX, 1930s.
Below: Men cutting meat at Walker’s
Austex Chili Company located at 500
West 3rd St., Austin, 1948.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF
NORTH TEXAS LIBRARIES
A history of Texas cuisine
T By Ginger Przybys pit or sopping up a plate of red-eye gravy IT ALL STARTED WITH RABBITS
exas Cuisine! When you hear those with biscuits. AND SQUIRRELS
words, what comes to mind? Most
likely you’ll say barbecue, brisket, Texas cuisine is rich in history, diverse The road to modern Texas food has taken
Tex-Mex, chili, enchiladas, fried chicken, in culture and represents a blending of over 13,000 years. Although there is no
chicken fried steak and red-eye gravy. over 25 ethnic groups such as the French, solid documentation or proof, it is an
Texas food goes well beyond the iconic English, Welsh, African-Americans, accepted theory by archaeologists and
images of cowboys and ranch hands Mexicans, Native American Indians, cultural anthropologists that the first
huddled around a blazing fire after a German and Polish to name a few. Each settlers of what would become modern
cattle roundup, all chowing on a longhorn brought with them their own ingredients, Texas traveled by foot from Asia using a
steak sizzling over wood coals in an open infusing them into what would become land bridge across the Straits of Alaska.
today’s classic and enduring Texas recipes. Back then, meals consisted of what
could be found or caught such as rabbits,
squirrels, reptiles or fowl, as well as nuts,
berries and roots.
Through the centuries, other daring and
curious explorers eventually made their
way to the southern part of the North
American land mass and settled down,
finding both the terrain and climate of
their new home capable of supporting life,
albeit sometimes a challenging and harsh
one. As more people from various parts
of the globe entered Texas, preparation
of meals began to evolve, blending the
techniques, textures and ingredients from
a diverse group of travelers.
HERE COME THE EUROPEANS
During the early 1500s, Europeans made
their way to Texas and lived among the
indigenous Native Americans. Their
diet consisted mostly of American bison,
antelope, whitetail deer as well as wild
fruits and nuts. However, it wasn’t until
the arrival of the Spaniards in 1519 that
68 | SUNRAYS JULY 2017 ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG
