I’ve noticed something about tacos.
Tacos seem to be different things to different people.
That sounds weird.
But it’s true.
To some, tacos are these crunchy, little, yellow pockets of meat, cheese, and lettuce. (Some may add sour cream.)
To some, tacos are strange things, filled with fried pork, cheeseburger ingredients, or marshmallow fluff. *Gags*
To the morally discerning, however, a taco is a lightly-fried corn tortilla, filled with meat and salsa. It usually has onions and cilantro as well. And don’t forget the citrus!
No cheese. No cheeseburger. No fluff. Just deliciously marinated meat, kissed with a nice dollop of real salsa. Not that Old El Paso nonsense either (keep that at your Super Bowl party, where it belongs), but real salsa.
How do I know this? Because Mexico told me.
Now, I’m not saying there isn’t a place for so-called “designer tacos,” or even for those fast-food fart bombs you get at Taco Bell. But let’s be clear about what a real taco is. A real taco always makes you think Latino, not Burger King, not Mediterranean, not K-pop.
But don’t think that means there isn’t tons of variety in the realm of Tacodom. There’re so many delicious varieties of tacos!
You got tacos al pastor and de adobada, cabeza (“head tacos”), barbacoa, carnitas, pescado and camarones, and lengua (which is beef tongue, and is delicious). (also, Spanglish grammar is not an exact science, so please forgive mi.)
In fact, it has been said that “unless a taqueria offers tacos de lengua, it is not a real taqueria.”(1)
Now listen, if you’re a fan of fusion cuisine, that’s alright.
I enjoy eating so-called “Korean tacos.” They are delicious. But let’s not make the mistake of thinking that they’re real tacos, okay?
To compare a traditional taco with a fusion taco is like comparing a snickers bar with a fish stick. Being the same shape doesn’t make them the same thing.
If you disagree with me, just think about the ChocoTaco ice cream bar. Remember that old thing? Basically, just an ice cream drumstick molded into the shape of a taco.
But it wasn’t a taco. It was ice cream.
Just like a cheeseburger taco isn’t a taco, it’s a cheeseburger (with a really sad bun.)
I guess what I’m trying to say is that we need to alter our expectations of the world. (Not to get too deeply philosophical here, but…)
Could it be that we too easily allow our expectations of this world to be informed by our surface desires and inclinations, and fail to take our minds captive for the sake of properly perceiving the things around us? Surely, with a right view, detached from one’s self and unmotivated by inner greed and selfish desires, we can see the ails and ills of this world in a manner that allows us to do something about them, and affect change on a culture-wide basis! Surely, we can change the world!
With tacos.
…Yup.
- (Maria Herrera-Sobek (16 July 2012). Celebrating Latino Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Cultural Traditions [3 volumes].)
Beyond the Garden 