Taco

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A taco (Template:IPAc-en, Template:IPAc-en, Template:IPAc-es) is a traditional Mexican dish consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of fillings, including beef, pork, chicken, seafood, beans, vegetables, and cheese, and garnished with various condiments, such as salsa, guacamole, or sour cream, and vegetables, such as lettuce, coriander, onion, tomatoes, and chiles.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Tacos are a common form of antojitos, or Mexican street food, which have spread around the world.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Tacos can be contrasted with similar foods such as burritos, which are often much larger and rolled rather than folded; taquitos, which are rolled and fried; or chalupas/tostadas, in which the tortilla is fried before filling.

Etymology

The origins of the taco are not precisely known, and etymologies for the culinary usage of the word are generally theoretical.<ref name="smithsonian">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Taco in the sense of a typical Mexican dish comprising a maize tortilla folded around food is just one of the meanings connoted by the word, according to the Real Academia Española, publisher of Diccionario de la Lengua Española.<ref name="DRAE">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This meaning of the Spanish word "taco" is a Mexican innovation,<ref name=":1" /> but the word "taco" is used in other contexts to mean "wedge; wad, plug; billiard cue; blowpipe; ramrod; short, stocky person; [or] short, thick piece of wood."<ref name="DRAE"/> The etymological origin of this sense of the word is Germanic and has cognates in other European languages, including the French word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and the English word "tack".<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

In Spain, the word "taco" can also be used in the context of Template:Ill: these are diced pieces of ham, or sometimes bits and shavings of ham leftover after a larger piece is sliced.<ref>Jesús Ventanas, El jamón Ibérico. De la dehesa al paladar., Ediciones Mundi-Prensa, 2006, p. 102.</ref> They can be served on their own as tapas or street food, or can be added to other dishes such as salmorejo, omelettes, stews, empanadas, or Template:Ill.<ref>Julio César, (2011), El gran libro de las tapas, Ed. Grupo Salsa, 2011, p. 45.</ref><ref>Jesús Ventanas, Tecnología del jamón Ibérico: de los sistemas tradicionales a la explotación del aroma y del sabor, 1st ed., Ediciones Mundi-Prensa, 2001, p. 193.</ref><ref>José Bello Gutiérrez, Jamón curado: Aspectos científicos y tecnológicos, Editorial Díaz de Santos, 2012, p. 239.</ref>

According to one etymological theory, the culinary origin of the term "taco" in Mexico can be traced to its employment, among Mexican silver miners, as a term signifying "plug." The miners used explosive charges in plug form, consisting of a paper wrapper and gunpowder filling.<ref name="smithsonian" />

Indigenous origins are also proposed. One possibility is that the word derives from the Nahuatl word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, meaning "half" or "in the middle",<ref name="Karttunen" /> in the sense that food would be placed in the middle of a tortilla.<ref>Florilegio Verbal Náhuatl Template:Webarchive, Nexos, Mar. 12, 2016</ref> Furthermore, dishes analogous to the taco were known to have existed in Pre-Columbian society—for example, the Nahuatl word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (a type of corn tortilla).<ref name="Karttunen">Template:Cite book</ref>

History

There is significant debate about the origins of the taco in Mexico, with some arguing that the taco predates the arrival of the Spanish in Mexico, since there is anthropological evidence that the indigenous people living in the lake region of the Valley of Mexico traditionally ate tacos filled with small fish.<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Writing at the time of the Spanish conquistadors, Bernal Díaz del Castillo documented the first taco feast enjoyed by Europeans, a meal which Hernán Cortés arranged for his captains in Coyoacán.<ref name="History">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="History2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Others argue that the advent of the taco is much more recent, with one of the more popular theories being that the taco was invented by silver miners in the 18th century.<ref name=":2" />

One of the oldest mentions of the term taco comes from an 1836 cookbook —Nuevo y sencillo arte de cocina, reposteria y refrescos— by Antonia Carrillo; in a recipe for a rolled pork loin (lomo de cerdo enrollado), she instructs the readers to roll the loin like they would a "taco de tortilla" or tortilla taco.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Another mention of the word taco comes from the novel —El hombre de la situación (1861)— by Mexican writer Manuel Payno:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Quote These instances disprove the theory that the first mention of the word "taco" in Mexico was in the 1891 novel Los bandidos de Río Frío by Manuel Payno.<ref>Yvonne "Taco Tuesday: The incomplete history of Tacos" Autostraddle (Sep. 3, 2015) Template:Webarchive (Accessed Nov. 24, 2022)</ref>

It should also be noted that term taco was regional, specifically from Mexico City and surrounding areas, and that other regional names existed. In Guanajuato, Guerrero, Michoacán, and San Luis Potosí, the terms used were burrito and burro; while in Yucatán and Quintana Roo the term used was codzito (coçito).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Due to the cultural influence of Mexico City, the term taco became the default, and terms like burrito and codzito, either became forgotten or evolved to mean something different in modern times.

In 2024, El Califa de León in Mexico City became the first taco stand to win a Michelin star.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Traditional variations

File:01 Tacos al Pastor.jpg

Tacos al pastor made with adobada meat

• Tacos al pastor ("shepherd style"), tacos de adobada, or tacos árabes ("arab tacos") are made of thin pork steaks seasoned with adobo seasoning, then skewered and overlapped on one another on a vertical rotisserie cooked and flame-broiled as it spins like shawarma.<ref name="MexStreetTaco-Origin"/><ref name="MexStreetTaco-Types"/> This variation has roots in Mexico's Lebanese immigrant population.<ref name="katyWatsonBBC">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Tacos de asador ("spit" or "grill" tacos) may be composed of any of the following: carne asada tacos; tacos de tripita ("tripe tacos"), grilled until crisp; and, chorizo asado (traditional Spanish-style sausage). Each type is served on two overlapped small tortillas and sometimes garnished with guacamole, salsa, onions, and cilantro (coriander leaf). Also, prepared on the grill is a sandwiched taco called mulita ("little mule") made with meat served between two tortillas and garnished with Oaxaca style cheese. Mulita is used to describe these types of sandwiched tacos in the Northern States of Mexico while they are known as gringas in the Mexican south and are prepared using wheat flour tortillas. Tacos may also be served with salsa.<ref name="MexStreetTaco-Origin">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="MexStreetTaco-Types">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Tacos de cabeza ("head tacos"), in which there is a flat punctured metal plate from which steam emerges to cook the head of the cow. These include: Cabeza, a serving of the muscles of the head; Sesos ("brains"); Lengua ("tongue"); Cachete ("cheeks"); Trompa ("lips"); and, Ojo ("eye"). Tortillas for these tacos are warmed on the same steaming plate for a different consistency. These tacos are typically served in pairs, and also include salsa, onion, and cilantro (coriander leaf) with occasional use of guacamole.<ref name="MexStreetTaco-Origin"/><ref name="MexStreetTaco-Types"/>
• Tacos de camarones ("shrimp tacos") also originated in Baja California in Mexico. Grilled or fried shrimp are used, usually with the same accompaniments as fish tacos: lettuce or cabbage, pico de gallo, avocado and a sour cream or citrus/mayonnaise sauce, all placed on top of a corn or flour tortilla.<ref name="MexStreetTaco-Origin"/><ref name="MexStreetTaco-Types"/><ref name="Shrimp Tacos">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Tacos de cazo (literally "bucket tacos") for which a metal bowl filled with lard is typically used as a deep-fryer. Meats for these types of tacos typically include Tripa ("tripe", usually from a pig instead of a cow, and can also refer to the intestines); Suadero (tender beef cuts), Carnitas and Buche (literally, "crop", as in bird's crop; or the esophagus of any animal<ref name="Buche">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>).<ref name="MexStreetTaco-Origin"/><ref name="MexStreetTaco-Types"/>

• Tacos de lengua (beef tongue tacos),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> which are cooked in water with onions, garlic, and bay leaves for several hours until tender and soft, then sliced and sautéed in a small amount of oil. "It is said that unless a taquería offers tacos de lengua, it is not a real taquería."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

File:Tacos de Pescado.jpg

Two fish tacos in Bonita, California

• Tacos de pescado ("fish tacos") originated in Baja California in Mexico, where they consist of grilled or fried fish, lettuce or cabbage, pico de gallo, and a sour cream or citrus/mayonnaise sauce, all placed on top of a corn or flour tortilla. In the United States, they were first popularized by the Rubio's fast-food chain, and remain most popular in California, Colorado, and Washington. In California, they are often found at street vendors, and a regional variation is to serve them with cabbage and coleslaw dressing on top.<ref name="MexStreetTaco-Origin"/><ref name="MexStreetTaco-Types"/>
• Tacos dorados (fried tacos; literally, "golden tacos") called flautas ("flute", because of the shape), or taquitos, for which the tortillas are filled with pre-cooked shredded chicken, beef or barbacoa, rolled into an elongated cylinder and deep-fried until crisp. They are sometimes cooked in a microwave oven or broiled.<ref name="MexStreetTaco-Origin"/><ref name="MexStreetTaco-Types"/>
• Tacos sudados ("sweaty tacos") are made by filling soft tortillas with a spicy meat mixture, then placing them in a basket covered with cloth. The covering keeps the tacos warm and traps steam ("sweat") which softens them.<ref name="MexStreetTaco-Origin"/><ref name="TacosSudadosRecipe">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Tacos de birria (stewed meat tacos) are made with goat or beef roasted or stewed with spices and typically served with the broth from cooking the meat as a dipping sauce. Originating in the Mexican state of Jalisco, birria was mentioned in a 1925 Article in the El Paso Herald. The taqueria, El Remedio in San Antonio, began offering birria de res tacos in their current form in Texas in 2018. Offerings by taco stands in California and across the Southwest United States began occurring at about the same time.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

As an accompaniment to tacos, many taco stands will serve whole or sliced red radishes, lime slices, salt, pickled or grilled chilis (hot peppers), and occasionally cucumber slices, or grilled cambray onions.

• Carnitas.jpg

  Tacos made with a carnitas filling

• Tacos.jpg

  Grilled shrimp taco

• Tacos de suadero.jpg

  Tacos de suadero (grey) and chorizo (red) being prepared at a taco stand

• Barbacoa taco.jpg

  Barbacoa tacos

• Taco al pastor-1.jpg

  Taco al pastor with guacamole

• A variety of tacos from Chilangos Mexican Grill in Plantation, Florida.jpg

  A variety of tacos, including quesabirria, suadero, chorizo and carnitas.

Non-traditional variations

Hard-shell tacos

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The hard-shell or crispy taco is a tradition that developed in the United States. This type of taco is typically served as a crisp-fried corn tortilla filled with seasoned ground beef, cheese, lettuce, and sometimes tomato, onion, salsa, sour cream, and avocado or guacamole.<ref name="AmericanTaco">Template:Cite news</ref> Such tacos are sold by restaurants and by fast food chains, while kits are readily available in most supermarkets. Hard shell tacos are sometimes known as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("golden tacos") in Spanish,<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> a name that they share with taquitos.

Various sources credit different individuals with the invention of the hard-shell taco, but some form of the dish likely predates all of them.<ref name=":0" /> Beginning from the early part of the twentieth century, various types of tacos became popular in the country, especially in Texas and California but also elsewhere.<ref name="HistoryA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> By the late 1930s, companies like Ashley Mexican Food and Absolute Mexican Foods were selling appliances and ingredients for cooking hard shell tacos, and the first patents for hard-shell taco cooking appliances were filed in the 1940s.<ref name=":0" /> The first cookbook to provide a recipe for the hard-shell taco was The Good Life: New Mexican food, written by Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert and published in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1949.<ref name="Freedman">Template:Cite book</ref>

In the mid-1950s, Glen Bell opened Taco Tia, and began selling a simplified version of the tacos being sold by Mexican restaurants in San Bernardino, particularly the tacos dorados being sold at the Mitla Cafe, owned by Lucia and Salvador Rodriguez across the street from another of Bell's restaurants.<ref name=":0" /> Over the next few years, Bell owned and operated a number of restaurants in southern California including four called El Taco.<ref name="company">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The tacos sold at Bell's restaurants were many Anglo Americans' first introduction to Mexican food.<ref name=":0" /> Bell sold the El Tacos to his partner and built the first Taco Bell in Downey in 1962. Kermit Becky, a former Los Angeles police officer, bought the first Taco Bell franchise from Glen Bell in 1964,<ref name="company" /> and located it in Torrance. The company grew rapidly, and by 1967, the 100th restaurant opened at 400 South Brookhurst in Anaheim. In 1968, its first franchise location east of the Mississippi River opened in Springfield, Ohio.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• NCI Visuals Food Taco.jpg

  A hard-shell taco, made with a prefabricated shell

• Taco ingredients.jpg

  Common ingredients for North American hard-shell tacos

• Picture of crispy taco from taqueria in sacramento, ca.jpg

  A crispy taco from a Sacramento, California, taquería

Soft-shell tacos

File:Tacos at restaurant Chalupa.jpg

Three soft-shell tacos with beef filling at a restaurant in Helsinki, Finland

Traditionally, soft-shelled tacos referred to corn tortillas that were cooked to a softer state than a hard taco – usually by grilling or steaming. More recently, the term has come to include flour-tortilla-based tacos mostly from large manufacturers and restaurant chains. In this context, soft tacos are tacos made with wheat flour tortillas and filled with the same ingredients as a hard taco.<ref name="BigOven">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Breakfast taco

File:BreakfastTaco.jpg

Typical breakfast taco with eggs, sausage and salsa

The breakfast taco, found in Tex-Mex cuisine, is a soft corn or flour tortilla filled with meat, eggs, or cheese, which can also contain other ingredients.<ref name="BreakfastTaco">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Some have claimed that Austin, Texas, is the home of the breakfast taco.<ref>How Austin Became the Home of the Crucial Breakfast Taco Template:Webarchive, Eater Austin, Feb. 19, 2016,</ref> However, food writer and OC Weekly editor Gustavo Arellano responded that such a statement reflects a common trend of "whitewashed" foodways reporting, noting that predominantly Hispanic San Antonio, Texas, "never had to brag about its breakfast taco love—folks there just call it 'breakfast'Template:-".<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Indian taco

Indian tacos, or Navajo tacos, are made using frybread instead of tortillas. They are commonly eaten at pow-wows, festivals, and other gatherings by and for indigenous people in the United States and Canada.<ref name="FryBread">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Indian_taco">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

This kind of taco is not known to have been present before the arrival of Europeans in what is now the Southwestern United States. Navajo tradition indicates that frybread came into use in the 1860s when the government forced the tribe to relocate from their homeland in Arizona in a journey known as the Long Walk of the Navajo. It was made from ingredients given to them by the government to supplement their diet since the region could not support growing the agricultural commodities that had been previously used.<ref name = smithsonianmag>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Puffy taco.jpg

  A puffy taco

• Frybread pop-up - November 2023 - Sarah Stierch 04.jpg

  A frybread taco

• Huna Fish Taco.jpg

  A fish taco on frybread

Puffy tacos, taco kits, and tacodillas

Since at least the late 1930s, a variation called the "puffy taco" has been popular in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and the surrounding area. Henry's Puffy Tacos, opened by Henry Lopez in San Antonio, Texas, popularized the variation,<ref name="j941">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in which uncooked corn tortillas (flattened balls of masa dough<ref name="Saveur Tortilla Recipe">Template:Cite magazine</ref>) are quickly fried in hot oil until they expand and become "puffy".<ref name=TexasCooking>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Saveur Recipe">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Fillings are similar to hard-shell versions. Restaurants offering this style of taco have since appeared in other Texas cities, as well as in California, where Henry's brother, Arturo Lopez, opened Arturo's Puffy Taco in Whittier, not long after Henry's opened.<ref name="Arturo’s">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="PuffyAustin">Template:Cite news</ref> Henry's continues to thrive, managed by the family's second generation.<ref name=TexasCooking/>

Kits are available at grocery and convenience stores and usually consist of taco shells (corn tortillas already fried in a U-shape), seasoning mix and taco sauce. Commercial vendors for the home market also market soft taco kits with tortillas instead of taco shells.<ref name="OLP Taco Kit">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Ortega Taco Kit">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The tacodilla contains melted cheese in between the two folded tortillas, thus resembling a quesadilla.<ref name="Tacodilla">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• Arepa
• Banh xeo
• Birria taco
• Burrito
• Choco Taco
• Fajita
• French tacos
• Gyro (food)
• Korean taco
• Pupusas
• Shawarma/Doner kebab
• Taco rice
• Taco salad
• Taco soup
• Tacos de canasta
• Tlayuda
• Tostada
• Tunnbröd

Bibliography

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