Tacos are traditional Mexican food made with hand-sized tortillas filled with a variety of toppings. The filling varies from region to region. Some people prefer their tacos to have beef, chicken, or pork topped with some cheese. Others are in search of tacos with vegetables or beans.
The best thing about tacos is that they do not disappoint anyone. As long as they are scrumptious, which they always are, hardly anyone questions what’s in them. However, real taco enthusiasts are different. They want to know everything there is to know about them. That brings us to the topic of facts about tacos.
Did you know that tacos were not always readily available to the public? They were available for poor Mexicans as street food. Wealthy Mexicans preferred bread over tortillas back in the day, so they never knew just how delicious tacos are.
Are you surprised? Don’t be because there’s more that you may not know about tacos. If you have been a taco fan since your first bite, here are some facts about tacos you will enjoy!
1. Tacos Have a Few Origin Stories
We believe tacos are the creation of modern Mexico, but it’s not entirely true. While the 19th century was crucial in globalizing this delicious food, tacos date back to the Aztec empire. History did not keep the record of the person who first came up with the idea of tacos. Nevertheless, Tacopedia claims that tacos were invented between 1000 and 500 BC.
People living in the region were fond of using tortillas as spoons. Tacos were not the popularized form of food, but the ancestors indulged in tortillas. They would scoop up appetizing food items with their edible tortillas and eat them. This is possibly the first record of tacos!
Later in the 19th century, the practice of wrapping food in tortillas became famous again. Mexican mine workers would bring their food wrapped like a taco for lunch.
2. Americans Consume 4.5 Billion Tacos per Year
If Glen Bell had not brought tacos to the United States, Americans would have missed out on the delectable food item we enjoy today! Glen Bell is the founder of Taco Bell, a fast-food chain restaurant in America.
He was the owner of several burger stands and eventually started a taco stand in a Hispanic neighborhood. Taco Bell got famous after selling hard-shell tacos, and now the restaurant chain has more than 7,000 stores globally.
Americans are crazy about this Mexican food. They eat billions of tacos per year and not from any Mexican restaurant. They love their Taco Bell food chain and support it by buying the tacos regularly. Almost half of the population visits their nearest Taco Bell at least 2 or 3 times per month!
3. Mexican Traditions Surrounding Tacos
People around the globe make their own variations of tacos, but some traditions are meant to be followed. Mexicans do not eat tacos whenever they want. They have different tacos for lunch and dinner.
Americans love tacos so much that they do not differentiate between the various kinds. They’d eat whatever flavor and filling they crave for lunch, dinner, or midnight snacks. Mexicans, on the other hand, keep things sorted. They eat Antojitos for dinner only and seafood tacos for lunch. A fun fact about fish tacos is that they were first made in Ensenada, Mexico!
4. Celebrating National Taco Day
We have already established that Americans are crazy about tacos! They celebrate National Taco Day on October 4th and consume an awful lot of tacos in a single day. The number of tacos eaten on National Taco Day contributes significantly to the 4.5 billion tacos consumed per year! These numbers show that burgers may not be America’s signature meal anymore, as tacos are slowly taking over.
While the US has October 4th as their National Taco Day, Mexico has March 31st. They celebrate it as International Taco Day. France also has its own version of Taco Day. It is celebrated on July 31st.
5. The Evolution of Tacos in the United States
As soon as food trucks became successful in the US, Mexican cuisine started to evolve. The changes were meant to improve tacos for the Americans. This is how U-shaped shells were introduced! Mexican sellers in the 1940s had a booming business because of their taco trucks. They needed a process to streamline their service, and that’s when they came up with U-shaped shells.
The 21st century continued the experimentation with tacos to create unique fusion flavors. The first fusion taco was introduced in 2008 by Roy Choi and Mark Manguera. They sold Korean BBQ tacos outside the UCLA dormitory during the exam week.
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