The search for authentic Mexican food—or rather, the struggle to define what that meant—has been going on for two hundred years, and some of the most important battles have been fought outside of Mexico. Notions of authenticity have been contested through interactions between insiders and outsiders, they have changed over time, and they have contributed to broader power relations. The very idea of Mexico was first conceived by Creoles, people of European descent born in the Americas, who imagined a shared past with Aztec monarchs to claim political autonomy within the Spanish empire, but who scorned the native foods made of corn.