Taco Culture Evolution

The evolution of the taco started with its spread into the United States because of Mexican immigration that led to a mixture of Mexican and American cultures and a diffusion of ideas creating a Mexican American identity. Over time, the taco has been divided between the Mexican American hard shell tacos, representative of the taco’s globalization, and the maize tortillas that date to the Aztec civilization and are symbolic of authentic Mexican cuisine. Hence, with a new identity came a new culture with new food recipes like the hard shell taco that revolutionized the food industry and created Taco Bell. This led to the battle between globalization and national sovereignty as an indication of how the authenticity of Mexican food is put at risk,

creating stereotypes that segregated Mexicans in the U.S. However, scholars agree there is an opportunity for traditional Mexican food to remain pure and free from the corruption of globalization; Anglo-Americans will demand a taste for “real” Mexican cuisine and even the Mexican immigrant population that keeps on growing in the U.S.
Before discussing about tacos, it is important to mention the maize tortilla in Mexico because it has become the foundation for many Mexican dishes like tacos and is the root of authentic Mexican food. From the beginning in Mexico, “the Aztecs absorbed the rich culinary heritages of the people they conquered…maize was an especially versatile food. Amerindians roasted it over a fire, ate it on the cob, parched it, and pounded into flour to make bread or tortillas.” This alludes that maize was crucial to the Aztecs’ culture and other nomadic groups in Mexico because with it they created different foods like the tortilla. The maize is part of traditional Mexican food because it existed ever since and embodies a rich history of Mexico’s indigenous culture. The birth of the taco has to start with the tortilla because “the tortilla is the essence of Mexico without it there is no tacos, burritos, enchiladas, no Mexico.” This shows how the making of the tortilla was fundamental to the rise of typical Mexican dishes today, it is a necessary pillar in order to define the authenticity of Mexican food. Thus, the maize tortilla is an ancient Mexican dish developed by indigenous people that later on it will be subject to many transformations and have a comeback in the U.S. because of its peculiar nature that attracts non-Mexicans.
The journey of the taco to the United States has to commence with its spread within Mexico and the various plebeian stereotypes it had to overcome to gain popularity in the social classes of Mexico. After the Spanish conquest of Mexico, a caste system was created in which the Spanish classified indigenous food as inferior to European food and that is how “Mexican food has long been denied social status, even within Mexico, in part because of ambivalent feelings about the indigenous heritage.” As a result of this, Mexican food struggled to find its identity and true status because people are unsure of their indigenous heritage putting at risk the unity of Mexican culture. In Mexico, racial difference was present in the Spanish conquest of the sixteenth century and in the North American invasion of 1847. In both periods, “foods provided enduring symbols of ethnic difference, and the native cuisine of chile peppers and hot tamales became associated with the lower classes, who were seen as dangerous and unsanitary, but alluring all the same.” This indicates how stereotypes were aimed at the lower class and how food divided social classes placing one class above the other as a sign of superiority. Even though, indigenous cuisine was despised it was also attractive because of its exotic nature that captivated the middle and higher social classes to try it. After the “independence of the 1810’s and civil wars and economic unrest struck the silver districts, forcing many to migrate in search of work. Unemployed miners brought their tacos with them to Mexico City, where urban workers found them convenient lunch.” Hence, the word “taco” was brought by miners to the city where it was associated with food, but women also played a role in making the taco and selling them in city streets. It was due to Mexico’s industrialization in the 19th century that brought migrants “particularly women to Mexico City because of the light industry… and with them their regional cooking skills.” Thus, Mexico City was a melting pot where different foods from distinct cultures in Mexico came together to form what is now Mexican cuisine, and this is when tacos emerge as a typical street lunch food in the 1920s. Also, the first reference to taco as a food comes at the end of the 19th century and one of the first tacos described are the tacos de mineros (miner’s taco). For that reason, tacos spread because of Mexico’s industrialization and migration that converged all the cultures in Mexico. Therefore, this transition from neglect of indigenous foods to the taco’s popularity in the cities demonstrates the complexity behind the emergence of a lower class food and how later it is parallel to the revival of traditional Mexican food in the U.S.
The transformation of the soft tortilla into the hard shell taco is symbolic of the battle between authentic Mexican cuisine and the “Americanized” taco or Mexican American cuisine.

Mexican Americans have combined both cultures and reinvented the taco so that it can assimilate into American society, yet still be connected to their Mexican ancestry. Immigration was pivotal for the Mexican American cuisine because people brought ideas, cooking styles and recipes from Mexico to the United States, but throughout this cultural interaction the original recipes are altered to fit their new society. In 1924, taco wagons started to sell tacos because a wave of migrants from Central Mexico came due to the Mexican Revolution. The selling of tacos in the streets of the U.S. was driven by Mexican immigrants that want to feel at home by eating traditional home dishes and creating a “little Mexico” within the U.S. borders. Pilcher even states, “The Mexican American taco combined North American ingredients with Mexican sensibilities. They were created by migrant and ethnic cooks and reflected an emerging Mexican American identity.” This further supports how the Mexican American identity was created from a mix of two distinct cultures and how food is a vehicle through which immigrants can claim their cultural citizenship. This led to the evolution of the soft tortilla into the hard shell taco so that it can conform and appeal to the American consumer. This innovation of the hard shell taco

was not invented by Glen Bell, founder of Taco Bell, but by Juvencio Maldonado in New York City in 1950 where he opened a restaurant to educate New Yorkers on authentic Mexican food and used the taco shell fryer. As a matter of fact the hard shell taco was invented for efficiency and durability as opposed to heating maize tortillas that can become cool and cause heat burns. Once this transformation is undergone there is a shift from traditional Mexican food where it is no longer the original food from Mexico, but is a new and unique version of that food that is American. This is exactly what Smith conveys when he states, “When Mexican food was translated into Anglo-American tastes, it lost its roots.” In other words, when Mexican immigrants crossed the border, so did their food recipes and now in U.S. soil it is altered to conform to this new society. Thus, Mexican immigration to the U.S. influenced the birth of the Mexican American identity that reinvented the taco into the hard shell taco revealing the dichotomy between authentic Mexican food and the “Americanized” version of it, but later Americans will prefer authentic Mexican food over Taco Bell.
During the late 1960s, the global image of Mexican cuisine was changed because the fast food company, Taco Bell, mass-produced hard shell tacos and created a false image of Mexican authenticity and stereotypes about Mexicans.

In 1962, Glen Bell created Taco Bell, with 6,500 restaurants in the U.S. and with annual revenue in the billions. Glen Bell “became rich not through technological improvements but rather by franchising ethnic exoticism for consumers outside the Mexican community.” Therefore, he globalized the taco by catering it to Anglo-Americans that were curious about Mexican food, but did not want to enter Mexican communities. For this reason, he advertised “Mexican food” to non-Mexicans that were unaware of the cuisine and created a false image of Mexican food by presenting hard shell tacos as “Mexican food” to assimilate it into the Anglo-American diet. As a matter of fact, as these images of authentic Mexican food are invented so are the stereotypes that surround Mexicans. According to Pilcher, the image of the taco as “cheap, hot and dangerous reinforces racist images of Mexico” and “corporate advertisements are using demeaning images like Mexicans as outlaws or animals.” These stereotypes are denigrating the status of Mexican food and its people, and shows how a single food like tacos can incite these stereotypes and create a label for Mexicans. On the other hand, scholars show how Mexicans view the fast-food taco as a distortion of their cuisine presenting

once again this rivalry between hard shell tacos and the maize tortilla. Therefore, Mexicans feel the invasion of their cultural traditions that are used with no recognition of their culture. Hence, the globalization of tacos by Taco Bell has spurred Mexican stereotypes and imitated Mexican cuisine at the expense of real Mexican culture, but as globalization becomes common in U.S. society Anglo-Americans will deviate from fast food restaurants and be pulled to traditional Mexican restaurants.
As long as these corporations like Taco Bell are present so will traditional Mexican restaurants and home cooking skills be present to redefine Mexican food and keep their culture alive through their unique cuisine. Pilcher affirms that “Corporate giants and tourist restaurants will continue to define the mass-production and haute cuisine ends of the spectrum, leaving ample opportunities for restaurateurs, grocers, and home cooks to fill the spaces in between.” So, not all hope is lost for the maize tortilla because since World War II, vast migrations of Mexicans into the United States have created new demands and a wider potential audience for more authentic Mexican food. Scholars agree that there are more Anglo-Americans that want the “real” Mexican food and not the “Americanized” Mexican food because they want to taste the ethnicity of Mexico not just a mere imitation of Mexican cuisine like hard shell tacos. Now with a higher demand for traditional Mexican food from Mexican immigrants and Anglo-Americans there is a chance for true Mexican cuisine to prosper without this false perception of Mexican food hovering over and obscuring the beauty of traditional Mexican cuisine.
Overall, the transformation of tacos from maize tortilla in Mexico to the hard shell tacos of Taco Bell came about because of Mexican immigrants bringing their culture to create a Mexican American identity. However, in the process of the taco’s transformation Mexican stereotypes have risen due to fast food advertising for Mexican food that has stained the beauty of Mexican culture and its people. Despite that now there is an interest from both non-Mexicans and Mexicans to experience traditional Mexican food like the maize tortillas, which has been put down due to the popularity of hard shell tacos. This revival for authentic Mexican cuisine grew from the curiosity for its exotic nature such as the taco that was derived from the maize tortilla and is now given the position it deserves in Mexican cuisine.