We are surrounded by tacos, and I love tacos. Whether they be from food trucks, fast food, or bourgeois restaurants. I categorize tacos as authentic, hybrid, and fusion. Let's talk tacos.
Authentic tacos are something you would find in Mexico or parts of the American Southwest. The tortillas are usually corn, steamed and soft, the fresh ones are even a little stretchy. When I buy a kilo of these fresh, I usually eat a few in the car on the way home. The fillings are usually carnitas, asada, adobada, and chile verde. I grew up in New Mexico where flour tortillas are more common. Unlike the thin, doughy "membranes" you get in the store, a homemade flour tortilla is thick and flavorful with little burn-marks. I learned to make flour tortillas from mom and my aunts. In New Mexico we usually had ground beef in our tacos. My aunt Agnes would sometimes add mashed potatoes to extend the meat... ugh.
Hybrid tacos would be the americanized version with the corn-chip-like hard shells. My mom and her sisters used those too sometimes, but I've never seen them in Mexico so I'll consider them to be hybrid. They have ground beef with a grated cheddar, iceberg lettuce, and hot-sauce topping. Order a taco at Denny's or Taco Bell and that's what you'll get. More on these shortly.
Finally we have the fusion tacos which I would describe as protien and vegetables wrapped in carbohydrate. The most exotic example in my experience was Korean barbeque beef with cabbage on a spring-roll wrapper. Tacolike and yet totally wierd. Like La-Bamba sung in Japanese. Even the traditional places are serving hipster variations now, with fish and mango and pico-de-pendejo. There are some American fusion tacos as well which I will talk about next.
Here are a few of the tasty tacos from my neck-of-the-woods. Green-Go Tacos at the beergarden in Eugene, OR has tacos with fried corn shells. Their fillings are more barbeque than Mexican. They have a brisket taco with mango chutney topping and a pulled pork taco with coleslaw topping. Local faves Burrito Amigos and Burrito Boy both have the traditional flavors, I really like their Chile Verde tacos. Let's not forget Tacovore which has vegetarian and vegan tacos and also margaritas which you won't get at Taco Bell.
And speaking of that, let's talk about Taco Bell and Jack In The Box. I hadn't eaten either for years and then one day decided to get a bag of each and try them. The results were... nostalgic. Never mind their newfangled fancy menu, the regular Taco Bell tacos are the same as ever. I don't know if it's my memories or the actual food but I still like 'em. Back in the 1970s I lived three blocks from a Jack In The Box and I ate there regularly. They belonged to Ralston-Purina at the time and I used to joke about it. If you examine it carefully, the filling seems to be mostly meat but it comes across as some kind of food-guck. It's squeezed into a semi-soft fried corn tortilla with a really good hot sauce. In fact, despite it's rather disturbing appearance and texture, it's quite tasty. I'd have to rate Jack In The Box and Taco Bell tacos as equal. Kinda wierd but good nonetheless.