A History of Tacos

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As a mexican (from the central part of the country), I would say one thing: a taco can be made out of ANYTHING, there is not recipe, you can have a tortilla, put whatever you want in the middle, from fried eggs to leftovers, from a sprinkle of salt to an entire piece of meat, plus salsa and some condiments, make a roll or at least fold it over itself and bum, you have a taco. I know there are specific tacos and recipes, of course, like al pastor or suadero or fish tacos or tacos de canasta, etc, but my point here is that a taco, as a concept, is so ingrained in mexican culture, that coloquially you can say "I'm gonna get a taco" in reference to eat, in general. Taco= food, even if you don't include tortillas. A mexican writer used to say that a tortilla is a plate, a spoon and nourishment, all in one; well, a taco is kinda like that. ✨🙂

When you're trying to hit a word count for a college essay: "She was a maker of tortillas, a tortilla maker."

An old teacher of mine once told us that “in order to really educate, you first have to entertain.” Let me just say that this is one of the most entertaining and educational shows on all of YouTube. Congrats on all the success, Max…it’s well-deserved!!!

The Mexican restaurant that Bell copied his taco recipe from is still operating in San Bernardino, CA. It's called Mitla Cafe, founded in 1937. There are videos about it, if you are interested.

A pre-Columbian recipe with cactus (if possible) would be highly interesting, and since that's not a thing most of us are likely to experience (and you're good at describing the taste of the food), it could possibly help give us some idea even if we never actually try it.

I love that nearly every culture on the planet has some variation of "delicious food wrapped in starch". It is a great unifier.

"I'm not going to say Mexican food...". Classic Max, truthful and accurate.

Tacos sudados, while bathed in oil, still retain the softness of the tortilla. Tacos dorados on the other hand are deep fried to the point where the tortilla becomes hardened

I think of the word "taco" being similar to the word "sandwich" in that it doesn't mean a specific dish, but a group of dishes mad in a similar fashion.

I am 100% convinced this episode is the result of Jose just going "Honey, I'm fine with all these exotic foods you make for your channel, but can we have tacos tonight?" Lol

As a Mexican we know that once you put something into a tortilla it become a taco , no matter what you put in there (tortilla is basically our bred for every food ,every day)

A little historical addition: Glen Bell took his original crunchy taco recipe from a little restaurant in the west side of San Bernardino located on Route 66 called Mitlas Cafe. They are a cornerstone of the community and have been in continuous operation by the same family since 1937. If you ever find yourself in the area it’s still a great place to eat.

I'm Australian and was at Venice Beach near some restaurants. There was a sign announcing Taco Tuesday on the pavement. I saw a young guy, maybe in his twenties, just going about his business when he saw the sign and out loud said "Taco Tuesday!" and sort of hit himself in the head in devastation for forgetting it was Taco Tuesday. Then he carried on doing whatever he was doing. As a tourist it was probably the funniest thing I saw when I was in L.A. except when the Scientologist woman kept grabbing my arm to try to drag me to their blue building because she thought my son and I were genuinely interested in Scientology. We were asking her a lot of questions not because we wanted to sign up but because we thought it was hilarious that actual Scientologist stand around street corners in West Hollywood trying to convert people.

When you mentioned Bell opening his taco stand in Cali. in 1964, it sparked an incredible memory for me! My dad was stationed at Port Hueneme naval Base near Oxnard in 1966 during the Vietnam war, so we had moved from New Orleans where we had been living (originally from MS), to the base. I was wasn't quite 7 at the time, but I remember my mom taking us out in our big old red and white Dodge sedan (yeah, it had the back fins😄) to get lunch, and for some reason she chose a Taco Bell. I distinctly remember sitting on the back good of the car, in the shade, holding my very first taco, wrapped in paper, with half of it uncovered, and mom showing me how to tilt my head so all the filling didn't fall out on my clothes! 😄 Wow, talk about a trip into history! My folks are gone now, and my 63rd birthday is in 4 days. Thanks for bringing such a wonderful memory back to me, Max. It's a fabulous birthday gift! 😊❤

I had a coworker from Mexico for a while. He would often offer me one of the chilis that he brought with his lunch. He said for a Mexican lunch you have to take a bite of your lunch followed by a bite of green chili. Some days he'd hand me a jalapeño, other days a serrano. When I asked why he got different types he replied that it didn't matter to him as long as they were green.

When you were saying how taco meant everything else besides the food it reminded me of when I was a kid (native spanish speaker but non-mexican) and encountered the word taco meaning the food for the first time. I spent my early childhood in the Dominican Republic before returning to the US and the word taco to me meant a high heeled shoe. I remember looking at the elementary school lunch menu in the US, seeing tacos were going to be served, and being REALLY confused as to why they were going to serve woman's shoes as a meal. Someone described to me what it was but I just pictured a hard tortilla shell shaped in the form of a woman's shoe, filled w/ meat and shredded cheese where the foot would normally go. I had never had mexican food before so I thought that it was some strange and elaborate mexican dish. I was confused but also very curious to see these edible shoes. When I finally saw what it was I thought that the english speakers at the school must have mistranslated something...or something very strange was going on w/ mexican spanish🤨 Years later I learned from some mexican friends that high heels to them are called tacones but to me tacones are the thick, chunky heeled version of a high heeled shoe, not the thin ones which are tacos. So if I'm with family and speaking in spanish the word taco will first and foremost mean a high heeled shoe... w/ the mexican/american food being a minor, secondary meaning since it's not a food we would typically eat so it would almost never come up in conversation w/ that meaning.

I worked with a guy who was of Mexican heritage, and he told me that in his house growing up, a taco was a snack that consisted of any kind of leftovers inside a tortilla.

A small note: The author mentions this can be done with xitomate or tomate. In the center of Mexico we call Jitomates (Xitomate) to what you usually call red tomatoes. And we call "tomate" what you would call green tomatoes. It's possible that the author intended this recipe to be made with red tomatoes since he mentions "xitomates" and then just clarify that in other parts those are called "tomates".

I work in a Tex-Mex restaurant. And when he talked about cutting up the chiles without gloves. I laughed. I know the effects of "spicy hand". LOL