This category covers cuisine of the Southwestern United States, which is food styled after the rustic cooking of the Southwestern United States. It comprises a fusion of recipes for things that might have been eaten by Spanish colonial settlers, cowboys, Mountain men, prospectors, Native Americans, and Mexicans throughout the post-Columbian era; there is, however, a great diversity in this kind of cuisine throughout the Southwestern states.
Recently, several chains of casual dining restaurants specializing in Southwestern cuisine have become popular in the United States.