Planet Taco Summary

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Life on Planet Taco has existed since around 7000 BCE when the first maize plant was born . In Jeffrey Pilcher’s book Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food, he describes the origins of what is known today as Mexican food, the foodstuffs that are associated with Mexican cuisine, the rise and expansion of a what is now a global cuisine, the people who influenced and capitalized upon Mexican food and how through culinary tourism it has evolved over the course of time. While the Mexican food eaten today might have some roots that have survived since it was made by the Aztecs it has long since become “food” with many nationalities to precede the word. Tacos as the world knows it are a food, understood as Mexican, that consists of a variety …show more content…

Jeffrey Pilcher describes the chili queens as both “alluring and contaminating”. The late night vending women offered exotic temptations through their food and sexuality. Pilcher mentions that, “By 1894, city boosters had transformed these ordinary cooks into mythological sirens, ‘bright, bewitching creatures [who] put themselves to much trouble to please their too often rowdy customers’.” The white community of San Antonio view the chili queens and the customers they attracted as a nuisance that crowded the streets and served dirty food in an unclean environment. The racial divide between Caucasian and Hispanic people during the era of the chili queens has endured through time. Although tensions have been relieved significantly there are still many modern issues that continue among the two groups. According to Pilcher’s book, Norway consumes more Mexican food than the rest of the world. Pilcher mentions that the typical Norwegian taco contains, “a combination of ground beef, lettuce, tomato, and mild salsa, but with white cheese, sour cream, and more vegetables, including cucumber and canned corn.” The sparse availability of Mexican restaurants in Norway combined with the love of the cuisine led to what is known as Fredagstacoen, also known as, Friday Tacos. For Fredagstacoen the people of Norway ritually venture to their local grocery stores and cook homemade

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