Check out this Mexican wave: from posh restaurants to retail, it’s a growing crowdpleaser

Hold on to your sombreros. Mexican food has been voted Brits’ favourite cuisine this year by BBC Good Food’s fourth annual survey. The report also found that two-thirds of Londoners have tried Mexican dishes in the past year, and that Mexico was the most popular travel destination of 2017.

And topping our list of the most popular ingredients in supermarket world food ranges in The Grocer’s Focus on World Cuisine this week are tortilla wraps and Mexican meal kits, together making up 64.5% (£197m) of the sales market total.

The growing inclination among Brits to visit Mexico has doubtless been instrumental in the cuisine’s popularity, as many return seeking restaurants and retailers that can recreate their experience. But social media has been an equally powerful factor in Mexican cuisine’s rise to the top.

Millennials can scarcely lift their fork before posting an image of their dinner online, and with dishes as aesthetically pleasing as Mexican food, who can blame them? Food porn begets food trends, and Mexican food porn is rampant on social media currently, from home-made tacos to mezcal margaritas at Casa Morita in Brixton Market.

With its deep roots in street food and handheld formats, Mexican also fits well with the current consumer trends for snacking and on-the-go eating, as The Food People agency pointed out in recent research. And everyone is going crazy for slow-cooked meats right now.

All signs point to Mexican food continuing to dominate next year. Public passion for it isn’t slowing, as seen in the meteoric success of Mexican restaurants across the UK. Both Tortilla and Wahaca began as single-site operations in 2007, with the former now totalling 34 locations and the latter now operating 24 restaurants, three bars and two street kitchens. Wahaca has even cracked retail, launching its own brand of street food taco kits into Tesco last year.

Clearly, there’s a lot of money to be made in Mexican dining. This year saw the successful reopening of Santo Remedio in London Bridge, following a kickstarter campaign that raised £45,000 in just one month from 406 backers. In September top chef Martha Ortiz opened Ella Canta, her first Mexican restaurant in London, promising “modernist expressions of customary cuisine” at no less prestigious an address than Park Lane; and for those who want a bit more bang for their buck, Breddos opened its second site in London’s Soho the same month.

A trailblazer of particular note on the Mexican dining scene is Wrapchic – The Indian Burrito Co. Founder Mahesh Raikar opened his first stall in July 2012 in Birmingham City Centre, with hopes his fusion of Mexican and Indian cuisine would strike a chord with the British public. It struck hard. The company has since expanded to 11 UK sites in just five years, serving burritos in flavours including Chicken Mughlai, Mutton Madrasi and Paneer Masala. Raikar seems to have sparked a movement in his integration of Mexican cuisine with flavours from other nationalities. 

Considering the popularity of Mexican products, it’s little wonder retailers are looking to expand their ranges, with many turning to innovations that offer a British twist on a Mexican classic. Both Tesco and the Co-op introduced Mexican-flavoured Cornish pasties this month (Mexican Chilli Beef and Mexican Three Bean respectively) and Aldi’s gone a step further with its Yorkshire pudding burrito. Mexican cuisine is even starting to penetrate free-from, with Old El Paso’s gluten-free white corn tortillas hitting supermarket shelves in September.

As The Food People concluded in its Mexican research: “What started as a trend has turned into a revolution.”

And even Theresa May is wearing a Frida Kahlo bracelet these days.