You might not have realized it, but tacos are a serious thing, especially on National Taco Day, which just so happens to be today, October 4th. So, if you love tacos then this is the ultimate holiday for you. There’s just no excuse why you shouldn’t eat some tacos today! So, call in sick, or take an extended lunch break, and head on over to your favorite taco making restaurant like Taco Bell or Chipotle’s and start celebrating. One taco just isn’t enough. Besides, this is a fiesta! So eat up! Things are about to get hot and spicy at popular taco restaurants all across the nation.But this year, the popular made-up food holiday fell on a Wednesday. But we don’t care, because we love this popular Mexican dish, and simply can’t stop with you one.
It turns out that it means “light lunch,” which is ironic because most of us who frequent fast food venues like Taco Bell wind up order like six of these suckers and we’re never in the mood to share.
According to Tacopedia (yes, it exists), tacos were invented around 1,000 and 500 B.C. and our ancestors used the tortilla as an edible spoon to scoop up all the tasty ingredients. Is your mouth watering yet?
While conventional tacos use beef or chicken, there’s also a vegan alternative that has had a major impact on the well-being of some people. Rumor has it that even FRIENDS celeb Jennifer Aniston might have figured out how to make some of these.
While most of us eat tacos for lunch, dinner, and any time in between, Mexicans have a different point of view. For example, Antojitos tacos can only be eaten during dinner while seafood tacos should only be eaten during lunch.
The actual word was invented in the 18th century in the Mexican silver mines and was used to refer to the explosive charges used in the excavation process. Essentially, a taco was a sheet of paper that was used to wrap around gunpowder and then placed on the rock face.
But did you know that the word wasn’t even mentioned in the States until it appeared in 1905 in a newspaper. Later on, the word was used to refer to pushcarts in L.A., and also used by the Chili Queens in San Antonio, where customers would flirt and buy tacos to these women in order to get their services.
The truck was used for catering, but also provided tacos to the bustling city. Today, you can pretty much find taco trucks everywhere you go across the nation.
According to NationalTacoDay.com, folks in the U.S. eat 4.5 billion tacos last year. Now that’s a lot of tacos in our tummies!
On March 8th, 2003, a flour taco weighing 1,654 pounds was made by Cocinex, S.A. De C.V., in the city of Mexicali, in Baja California, Mexico. According to the Guiness World Records, it’s the largest flour taco in the world so far.
Taco Bell founder, Glen Bell claims he invented the U-shaped taco in 1950. But according to the U.S. patent office records, the patent for the U-shaped taco was given to Mexican restaurant owners in the 1940s. But it wasn’t until 1947, when Fausto Celoria invented the first automated tortilla machine that making taco shells became oh-so much easier.
In fact, in New Mexico, the world’s largest Navajo Taco was built, and was over 10 feet in diameter, and used 150 pieces of fry bread, 65 pounds of beans and ground beef each, 90 pounds of cheese, 50 pounds of lettuce, and over 30 pounds of green chili. Maybe they should have invented a world’s largest Tums too.
In 1979, Maris Bustamante, a Mexican artist, registered the taco as hers, at least according to Tacopedia. She even claims the patent rights.
Students and volunteers from the National College of Professional Education, Tec Milenio University, and the Culinary Institute of Advanced Studies put their culinary talents together to create a humongous pork taco using 661 pounds of onions, 45 pounds of cilantro, 1,100 pounds of tomatoes, over a million and a half pounds of tortillas, and of course, lots of pork. The whole thing measured 73 meters and cost approximately $50,000 to make.
But if you were ever curious as to where this tasty meal came from, then wonder no more, because Ensenada, Mexico just so happens to be the birthplace of the fish taco.
Half of the entire U.S. population eats Taco Bell at least once a month. Now that’s a lot of love and dedication for tacos. And here you thought that the burger was America’s signature meal. It is, but tacos come awfully close, especially on National Taco Day.
