Mexican quick food is the food which non-Mexicans usually take for genuinely Mexican cuisine. As Mexican food popular in Europe and the USA is either a Tex-Mex, which is in fact its variety, or just some kind of parody, adopted to the cuisine of a particular country.
Fast food restaurants have got their bearings quickly and adopted Mexican food to their menu. Indeed nutritious, flavorful and cheap food attracted many people. An incontestable merit of Mexican quick food is the simplicity of recipes. Mexican menu is so homely rich and satisfying, that Mexican quick food restaurants even managed to press the McDonald'ses. But as it often happens the race for smaller prices reduces the quality, and Mexican quick food still gives in to the traditional cuisine.
Dishes that people usually know and admire in Europe and America are tacos or burritos, tortillas, nachos and salsas. Big U-shaped shells, stuffed with beef, sour cream, cheese and lettuce that is how burritos are imagined. Mexican quick food restaurants of Europe and America usually make no distinction between tacos and burritos, although tacos are considerably smaller in size, have more various and sometimes exotic fillings, and are based on tortillas (special Mexican thin corn bread). As for tortillas they are the staple of Mexican cuisine. There are lots of shops and bakeries selling fresh-baked tortillas in Mexico. Tortillas are so important that the price for them is fixed by the government! Nachos are also included to Mexican quick food menu, although they are not exactly Mexican either. They are believed to have been imported from the USA and Mexicans call them totopos. These are chips, cooked through frying dried tortilla triangles. Americans and Europeans usually add some cheese to it, but Mexicans use some salt, a couple of drops of lime and a hot spicy salsa. Actually a well-cooked salsa can make any dish taste Mexican. Salsas are essential in Mexican cuisine, any dish has several salsas to go with. But these sauces are problematic for non-Mexican cooks as they are frequently made with herbs and spices grown in Mexico only.