Taco culture and history

Where the taco came from, how its name was born, how it is eaten and who has kept it going. Read in order for a short history of the taco, or jump to any topic.

• Pre-Hispanic roots of the tacoThe taco rests on foods and habits that are much older than its name: maize treated with lime, the tortilla the Mexica called tlaxcalli, the clay comal on…
• Corn and maize in MexicoMaize was domesticated from wild teosinte in southern Mexico roughly nine to ten thousand years ago, and Mexico remains its center of origin and diversity,…
• NixtamalizationNixtamalization is the Mesoamerican process of cooking and steeping dried maize in an alkaline solution of lime or wood ash, which loosens the hull, makes the…
• Etymology of tacoThe Spanish word taco, which in Mexico names a tortilla folded or rolled around a filling, is of uncertain origin; the leading explanations connect the food…
• History of the tacoThe history of the taco runs from pre-Hispanic tortillas wrapped around fish and insects, through colonial introductions of pork, beef and wheat, to the named…
• Tacos in Mexican-American historyTacos entered the United States through Mexican-American cooks and vendors, from the street food culture of San Antonio's chili queens and Los Angeles tamale…
• Women in taco historyWomen have been central to the history of the taco as tortilla makers, street vendors and the founders of some of its best-known businesses, from the women…
• Taco philosophyHistorians, critics and taqueros have written about what the taco means as well as how it tastes, treating it as cheap everyday food tied to working people,…
• Taco etiquetteTaco etiquette is the set of informal customs for ordering, eating and paying at Mexican taco stands and taquerías, from ordering by number and filling to…
• Tacos through the dayIn Mexico different tacos belong to different hours: stewed guisado and basket tacos, barbacoa and northern breakfast tacos in the morning and at midday, and…
• Taquería rolesA busy Mexican taquería divides its work among specialized roles, including the pastorero at the al pastor spit, the parrillero at the grill, the taquero who…
• Taco idiomsThe word taco appears in a number of Spanish idioms and slang expressions, some specific to Mexico, such as echarse un taco de ojo and echarle mucha crema a…
• Día del TacoDía del Taco is an unofficial celebration of the taco held in Mexico every March 31, launched by the broadcaster Televisa as an advertising campaign in 2007…
• Taco TuesdayTaco Tuesday is a custom, mainly in the United States, of eating tacos or offering taco specials on Tuesdays; the phrase was a registered trademark of the…
• UNESCO inscription of traditional Mexican cuisineIn 2010 UNESCO inscribed "Traditional Mexican cuisine - ancestral, ongoing community culture, the Michoacán paradigm" on its Representative List of the…
• Taco economy in MexicoSelling tacos is one of the most common small businesses in Mexico, ranging from bicycle basket vendors and curbside stands to fixed taquerías, and while…
• Taquerías in the Michelin GuideSince the first Michelin Guide Mexico appeared in May 2024, a number of taquerías have been recognized by the guide, most famously Taquería El Califa de León…