National taco day is upon us once again, some restaurants are giving out free tacos, and some people are creating tacos with plenty of variations. According to nationaltacoday.com, the word taco is the Mexican version to our English word for sandwich.
But, first we some taco history, there is a mystery on who was the person who created the taco. But according to taco expert Jeffrey M. Pilcher, the word originates from the silver mines in Mexico in the 18th century. This was the word the workers referred to when they needed to extract the ore. The pieces of paper were wrapped around gunpowder and placed into holes carved in a rock
The first references to the taco were described as Tacos de Minero— miners tacos. The history continues when the arrival of the Spanish in Mexico in the 16th century. According to anthropologists have said that the evidence is that the inhabitants of the lake region of the valley of Mexico ate their tacos with small fish. The fish, however, were replaced with small live insects and ants in the states of Morelos and Guerrero, while the locust and snails were their fillings in Puebla and Oaxaca.
Photo by Christine Siracusa on Unsplash
Now, of course, taco bell believes that they created the hard shell taco, but the hard shell was founded way before taco bell became a brand. Fabiola Cabeza de Vaca Gilbert first founded the taco in the year of 1949 in a cookbook. The taco has come a long way since the 18th century. But how many ways can you make a taco? The possibilities are endless. One of the known taco combinations is the Taco de Cabeza, in this taco the brain, tongue, eyes, and lips of a cow’s head. Some others include shrimp tacos, tacos Dorado’s that means fried tacos. Then there is the famous taco al pastor, which is the shepherd’s style taco. The taco al pastor ingredients mainly consist have spiced pork that is cut from a vertical spit over an open flame. You see a lot of this in Mexico and possibly even in El Paso too.
Besides the variety of lunch tacos, breakfast tacos are served in restaurants everywhere, but more so in the southwest. The ingredients start with a corn or flour tortilla that is rolled and stuffed with a mixture of meat, eggs, and cheese and topped with onions, salsa, and avocado. Am I making you hungry?
Here is the list of deals I was able to find. Sadly I couldn’t find anything in Las Cruces, but in El Paso, there is nothing but deals almost everywhere too.
- First, taco bell is offering a taco day for only $5
- On the border, the restaurant is offering endless tacos for $9
- Cold stone creamery is selling waffle tacos today
- QDOBA – the members of the Qdoba rewards program get double or triple points only depending on what tier they are on within the program.
- Last and certainly not least Red Robin. For a limited time only, you can get the Taco Double served with bottomless steak fries for $7
With all these good deals happening today I hope you can take advantage of it and get your discount tacos. Hope you enjoyed the history of tacos and were interested in how they came to be in our country. So if you see a local taco stand, go and support small businesses. I’m sure they will gladly appreciate it.