Corn

• Corn is a staple of the region's diet.Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
  
  Corn is to the southwest as potatoes are to Ireland. The kernels may not be the only starch, but they're pretty popular. In what is now Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, Native American tribes cultivated corn before Europeans ever arrived, making it a New World food. The corn can be boiled and eaten, or dried then ground into flour. Today tortillas, tamales, grits, and many other dishes are based on corn.
  
  

Chilies

• The spice of life, chilies come in many shapes, sizes and colors.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  Another New World food, chilies were cultivated and eaten by natives as early as 7000 BC. They are frequently eaten fresh, dried or roasted. Early versions of favorite dips combined fresh chilies with tomatoes or avocados, other New World foods. The intensity of the chilies varied greatly, from sweet to extremely hot, prompting Wilbur Scoville to create his famous heat comparison scale. Peppers are now the top traded spice in the world, with India as top producer.
  
  

Beans

• When preparing dried beans, rinse and inspect for small rocks.Liquidlibrary/liquidlibrary/Getty Images
  
  Beans are an essential protein and starch in southwestern cuisine. Hearty beans grow well and can be dried and preserved through bad weather, making them essential for when other food was hard to find. Black beans are now famously combined with corn to make a filling salsa, and pintos are key in re-fried beans. Beans baked in barbecue sauce, or baked beans, are a classic southwestern dish.
  
  

Steak

• Do not burn your food; it releases harmful toxins that can be potentially carcinogenic.John Foxx/Stockbyte/Getty Images
  
  Few things are as wonderful as tender, juicy steak. Southwest cuisine is famous for grilling big cuts of meat on a hot open fire. T-bones, rib-eyes, and tenderloin are at their best sprinkled with salt, pepper and oil, then grilled mid-rare. The southwest is famous for mole sauces that smother many dishes, including meats. Buffalo, bison and other large game can still be found, with cattle more common, but steak remains a staple in the region's food.