Hola! Aloha! Why so much Mexican food in small town Hawaii? (video)


Today we remember Rudy Martinez, a Mexican-American from San Diego who became the first Latino casualty of the Second World War when the Japanese sunk his ship, the U.S.S. Utah, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 75 years ago today, December 7, 1941.

Martinez’ story inspired us to search for “Mexican” AND “Hawaii” and we found this video from Kapa’a High School on the (Garden) island of Kauai. The kids wanted to know why their small town of 10,000 — a community with just one Starbucks — was lucky enough to have nine Mexican restaurants.

How does your state rate in the Mexican restaurant wars?

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It’s no secret that Americans love Mexican food — Gustavo ¡Ask A Mexican! Arellano’s book Taco USA celebrated that aspect of the Reconquista last year.

But not all of the United Estates is created equal, and in some areas of the country there is a shocking Mexican restaurant shortage!

ABC/Univision reports:

There are more Mexican restaurants than Italian bistros, Chinese kitchens, chicken rotisseries, or seafood shacks in the US. We’re talking about no less than 38,000 Mexican restaurants dispersed all across the American landscape (as of 2011).

Mas…How does your state rate in the Mexican restaurant wars?