It’s probably the fault of the explosion in Tex-Mex fast food chains in the states, but Mexican food has managed to become unfairly associated with calories and carbohydrates – in unforgivingly large quantities.

This isn’t an accurate representation of Mexican food at all, which at its best is refreshing, naturally tasty, and packed full of good seasonal vegetables – rather than so rich and unhealthy that it’s liable to give you gout. And at dessert time, some of the most exotic and powerfully flavoured fruit in the world comes into its own – mangoes, guavas, limes and pineapples.

The one obvious way to enjoy less calorific Mexican food is to cook it at home, using the recipes on this site. It’s only in restaurants that the tendency to over-do the portion sizes, and to deep fry everything in lard emerges. Refried beans are just one example of a popular Mexican dish which tastes deliciously rich, but often ends up that way because of the amount of salt and meat fat in the mix – chimichangas, meanwhile, are simply deep-fried burritos, another reason for that unhealthy reputation.

The Centre for Science in the Public Interest's (CSPI) published an infamous report in the 1990s which condemned Mexican food for being full of fat and sodium – but again, they were basing this on fast food chains. Real Mexican food eaten in traditional family homes is all about having the right vegetables and spices though – that’s where it derives its colourful flavour, not from salt, cheese and relentless deep-frying. Chillies (in their many varieties) are really very good for you, and with bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, cumin, coriander and garlic on your side as well, there’s really never any need to eat Mexican food unhealthily.