Are 'lonches' popular all over Mexico? Or are they more of a regional food item / dish?

Question

I've lived on the Mexican border for 22 years but yesterday was the first time I ever had 'lonches' which features a fried dough bun (looks like a hot dog) stuffed with meat & vegetables. I did a little searching on internet and found a few references but not many. Some of the references were to towns in Northeastern Mexico near my area. Some travelers reported looking all over for these things but they were hard to find.

A lot of Mexican food is regional in nature so I'm wondering if this is a regional preparation or if we have just been unaware of lonches for so long. Because so much Tex Mex or Spanglish is spoken here, we thought when local Hispanics said "let's get some lonches", they meant "lunches" but with an accent. HA! I'm glad to know better now. The lonches we had were good but really not that different than a taco, just with a puffy bun.

Are there ingredients going into lonches that specifically define them as lonches besides just "meat & vegetables?"

Answer 1

if you say tht the lonches are tacos (except ) in a bun ,then your talking of TORTAS , which is nothing more than a sandwhich as far as the lonche ,well yea it's nothing less than SLANG !

or spanglish as you call it ...

on the border towns  and  further .. south ( south america ) these tortas are fairly well known,and very delicious...i especially like the vriety made with carnita's ,and a different one  altogether is an  ASDERO CHEESE  (melted )

wow mde myself hungry !!

Answer 2

you are right they mean lunches wrongly pronounced,just as they say the trikitriki  meaning Halloween.or the turkey day instead of Thanksgiving.i am clue less as to what you ate.

at first i thought it was a torta,but that is not in a fried bun and does not look like a hot dog.i am curious now!

Answer 3

I live on the boarder of Mexico and here where I live "Lonche" is a Chicanos way of saying lunch. Slang, Spanglish it all means the same. If you notice what you ate was just like a sandwich. That is what most people eat for "lunch".

To the Mexican people "lonche" means bolillos stuffed with ham and lettuce maybe some cheese and jalapenos(pickled)

if you want them. I guess different towns use different terms for their foods.

Answer 4

You were right in assuming lonches is a slang term for lunch. The food you have in that pic is called a Torta. Which is a common food for lunch time. Its a sandwhich, but it can contain any different types of meats or fillings. The fillings are stuffed in whats called a bolillo. A round-ish or oval hot bun or bread. The fillings can ranges from beef, to ham, with lettuce, refried beans, sour cream, avocado, tomatoes, anything really. look up torta, thats what its really called.

Good luck

Answer 5

I lived in Chula Vista (about 5 miles from Tijuana) for 4 years. I never had or heard of lonches while I was there. Maybe it is a Tex thing. I have heard of a lot of unique regional foods over Mexico. One lady on here insisted, absolutely insisted, that there was some kind of special Mexican hamburger. Evidently she visited some small town and they made hamburgers there. It could even be that the owner of some restaurant in the region close to you came up with "lonches" and they gained popularity in town. Sorry I could not be of more help. Maybe you can ask around in the area where you got the lonches.