The invention of cues dates back at least 500 years. Over time, a Mexican dish has gone from hard-working livelihood to gourmet status, with pan-cultural appeal.
In 21st century America, it’s hard to imagine life without heels. Tacos are on the menu of high-end restaurants and not-so-high-end restaurants and all sorts of restaurants in between. School canteens serve them.
But before tacos became ubiquitous—and in a gourmet version with a margarita bar, if you’re lucky—there was a time when neither Californians nor Texans knew about folded tortillas and savory fillings. In fact, the history of tacos can be traced back to a time not too distant when Mexican visionaries began experimenting with tortillas wrapped in the traditional Indian and later peasant diet of rice, beans, vegetables, and chili peppers; and later, after the conquest of Mexico, meat.
They may predate the arrival of Europeans in Central America, and perhaps fish tacos were the first form. Anthropologists point out that the explorer Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492-1584) discovered a food similar to a taco among the indigenous people of the lake district of the plateau of the State of Mexico.
Del Castillo ended up becoming governor of Antigua Guatemala. However, there is no record of whether or not he hired taqueros for diplomatic entertainment during his rule.
The actual word “taco” may have come later. SmithsonianMag.com, the online magazine of the revered Smithsonian Institution, warns that the actual origins of tacos (the food) are murky, but it seems the name is related to the dynamite used in silver mining during the 18th century. Paper-wrapped explosives were used to blow up rocks in precious metal mines. When the word appeared in print some 100 years later, it was in that context, “el taco del miner” (miner’s taco).
It remained a working-class staple for some time, being shunned by European settlers for more continental fare. Don’t worry, the proud Mexican citizens adopted it as part of their Aztec (not European) heritage.
Around the 1880s, Mexican immigrants in Texas began selling tacos in Austin, first to festival goers and then to tourists interested in the flavors of Mexico without the worries of bandits south of the Rio Grande. The ingredients that were evolving were used in the first half of the 20th century, depending on agricultural factors and ethnic origin.
Austin’s food carts were replaced by restaurants and eventually eclipsed by a non-Mexican named Glen Bell, the founder of Taco Bell restaurants. It’s safe to say that millions of people ate their first taco at Taco Bell. The chain may use somewhat banal American ingredients (eg, iceberg lettuce), but the tacos have always been versatile and adaptable to local tastes.
Now catering private parties and public events alike, taco companies serve up a wide variety of tacos (and their cousin, burritos) with a virtually unlimited number of filling options. And just as tacos fed hungry workers long ago, the nutrients in tacos can be remarkably healthy and filling for modern eaters of all socioeconomic backgrounds.
Will the cue continue to evolve in the future? It’s hard to imagine they won’t. As long as flavor continues to burst with texture, flavor, and spice, tacos will likely be the fun food of choice for generations to come.
