May 5 is Cinco de Mayo , an American-Mexican marketing holiday in which people drink an excessive amount of margaritas and Coronas , stuff their faces with discounted tacos and probably have no idea what the holiday actually represents. So how do Mexican chefs feel about this?

First of all, Cinco isnt a celebration of Mexicos Independence Day. Its a celebration of the Battle of Puebla , when on May 5, 1862, Mexico basically kicked Napoleons nephew and France out of the country in a brief defeat of colonialism. The war was fought in the east-central state of Puebla, the only region in Mexico that acknowledges the holiday.

In the late 1980s , Mexican beer companies discovered they could make loads of money from an Americanized holiday, and, according to The New York Times, it has worked : In 2013, Americans bought more than $600 million worth of beer for Cinco de Mayo, more than for the Super Bowl or St. Patricks Day.

Despite the commercialism of the holiday and the way people (usually white people ) can disrespect Mexican culture by wearing sombreros and fake mustaches, a couple of Mexican chefs are fine with the day.

Well, mostly.

Cinco de Mayo is like Taco Bell, chef Zarela Martinez told HuffPost. It has given the opportunity for a lot of people to taste Mexican flavors and start establishing a flavor palate.

Martinez grew up in Mexico and moved to New York City in the 80s. In 1987, she opened her namesake restaurant, Zarela , which closed in 2011. Shes known for her Mexican regional cooking and, in 2013, the James Beard Foundation inducted her into its Whos Who of Food and Beverage in America .

Cinco de Mayo brings a lot of people into restaurants, and they get exposed to a lot of different flavors. So even though its a nightmare when everyone is there drunk and obnoxious sometimes, its a great opportunity for businesses to show their work. I think its a very good holiday.

Two years ago, chef Diana Dvila opened her Chicago-based home-cooking restaurant Mi Tocaya Antojera . Since then, she and the restaurant have been nominated for three Beard awards. Dvila said the holiday doesnt make her mad at all.

Why wouldnt I like it? I own a Mexican restaurant, she told HuffPost. It makes people want to go out and eat Mexican food on that day, so Ill fucking take it. If anything, when things like this arise, it starts a conversation where people are like, I thought it was Independence Day. No, its not. But that way they learn. It draws people in, so it makes me happy.

When Martinez had her restaurant, leading up to Cinco de Mayo shed spend a few weekends offering different regional dishes from Puebla and Mexico City, food that you couldnt have [anywhere] else.

Everyone has this idea that Mexican is enchiladas or tacos, Martinez said. They dont realize that theres all this seafood and all these salads, and magnificent vegetables. The food from my restaurant was very sophisticated and esoteric, but in a casual way.

Dvila doesnt offer any specials on the day, and she hopes diners dont expect to encounter basic Mexican food. Mi Tocaya offers a fresh spin on margaritas and micheladas, and a one-of-a-kind nitro horchata.

As for basic Mexican, theres a lot of Mexican-owned places that are catering to the American public because its their business, Dvila said. For me its different. Ive dedicated a large part of my life to learning the cuisine and traveling. If you want to go out and learn about culture, you are definitely going to have that here, because it is nostalgic Mexican dishes and flavors. Its the real deal.

Though Martinez and Dvila like Cinco de Mayo, they take issue with other aspects of appropriating Mexican cuisine.

People dont understand our culture at all, Martinez said. All my life Ive dedicated it to making my culture known and understood. We have a very rich and beautiful culture that Americans dont appreciate. ... The most important thing to a Mexican is to have dignity. Americans dont understand that theres all kind of Mexicans. I come from a well-to-do family, and Im highly educated. And they dont understand it.

Dvila is bothered when people think Mexican food should be low-priced.

I feel like theres a lot of ignorance revolving [around] Mexican cuisine in general, she said. I want to shed light on how diverse and complex Mexican food is, but I dont want to be negative about it. People have no problem going to Maggianos and buying a $26 big-ass bowl of bullshit pasta with canned tomato sauce. Yeah, thats ridiculous. But when I charge $26 for a piece of beautiful halibut with mole verde which is incredible and fresh vegetables, theyre like, $26? What the fuck? Our tacos are $4 apiece, but theres smoked beer can chicken. The chickens are smoked in a smoker for four hours. Theres xoconostle [cactus fruit]. I go across the street [to a sandwich shop] and a bag of chips is $2. And people are tripping about spending $4 for a taco with all of these fucking ingredients?

Thankfully, she said these criticisms dont happen as often as when she first opened the restaurant. Our clientele overall, theyre great. I love our people, Dvila said.

She doesnt have a problem with white chefs like Rick Bayless creating an empire around Mexican food: If you love Mexican food and youre researching, why would you be upset if somebody loves the cuisine of your culture? Wouldnt that make you feel happy or proud? But it angers her when people who havent done the research open restaurants.

Youre just capitalizing on something that you know is popular and people like, but you dont do it justice by understanding what it is that youre making, Dvila said. There are so many times that people are like, Lets call this al pastor. Its not. Youre just using the word al pastor because you like the way it fucking sounds, and you know people are going to be like, Oh, al pastor, lets get that. People do that all the time with Mexican restaurants and its not just white people. It includes Mexicans.

However you decide to spend or not spend the holiday Dvila suggests for those who want to stay home, they could make salsa with an ingredient you wouldnt normally add she also doesnt want diners to think she and her staff will be lecturing customers on Cinco de Mayo.

The thing is, at the end of the day, what I have is a restaurant, she said. If someone comes in and theyre asking questions about it, Id be there to answer any questions of what I know. But I dont think people are coming here because they want have a fucking history lesson.