Friday, March 6, 2015

Who eats tacos?

Growing up I rarely had mexican or tex-mex food.  My mum cooked infrequently and was fearful of spicy foods.  I am honestly not sure I had a burrito until I was nearly 20.  Taco?  I might have been 30.

Tacos always seemed like mini burritos to me.  They were basically the same ingredients just smaller and I never understood why you would not just eat a burrito.  Ashley and Kaleigh really like tacos and we have been eating them more often recently.


I still do not often see a huge difference between the taco and burrito but I am eating them often and enjoying them.  They have served as a wonderful quick food to eat prior to a Karate lesson for Kaleigh.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Vic,

I found this blog and thought it might interest you.

http://ohsheglows.com/2014/09/02/toffee-cinnamon-oatmeal-cookie-bars-vegan-gluten-free/

Anonymous said...

After reading your post about tacos, I was wondering about the difference myself... in the US, we use the term taco pretty loosely, which I think is what causes the confusion. If you go to an authentic Mexican place and ask for tacos, it's just going to be a little corn tortilla with meat, cilantro, and onion on it.

http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1cznj1/eli5_the_difference_between_fajitas_tacos/
"zmcleod
Mexican here
For what I see here the description of the dishes is quite different in us and mexico.
Tacos - are mainly made from soft corn tortillas, the hard shell variant is almost exclusive from the tex mex style. (Basically the tortilla was used much like in mid orient countries as an edible tool to eat your food. That is why most of our well known dishes are served that way) So tacos are nothing more than meat or whatever minced or sliced meat put inside a torilla. The most popular tacos in mexico are: pastor (pork marinated with local spices and slow cooked in front of stand up grill), carnitas (slow stewed pork), suadero (from the breast of the beef), steak and chicken. All of them served with finely chopped cilantro and onion as garnish. Lime is optional. Salsa is a customary must but can be opted out if you want.
Burrito - large flour tortilla, about 12 inches. Stuffed with beans (this is what makes a burrito a burrito) meat and/or rice and many other fillings. Mostly stuffed with cheese as well. The purpose of the burrito? It was like the take-out choice from past times. Since it was already wrapped in its own tortilla you could eat it wherever you were.
Many of these dishes vary depending on the part of the country they are made. In northern Mexico tortillas are mostly made from flour, in the center and the south are made from corn.
Source: I'm a chef :) "

Anonymous said...

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-a-burrito-and-a-taco.htm
"Tacos are an ancient food. The history of Mesoamerican cuisine has included some form of the taco for centuries. Traditional tacos are made with warmed corn tortillas around the size of a hand, folded or wrapped around a simple filling, and sometimes garnished with salsa, sour cream, or other sauces. Most tacos have a single element in their filling, such as carne asada or pulled pork. Some cooks also made tacos in hard shells, which were historically made with stale tortillas.
The burrito, on the other hand, is a relatively recent invention. The development of the burrito is usually credited to an enterprising 20th century merchant who wanted to sell plates of rice and beans without having to provide plates. He stumbled upon the idea of wrapping ingredients in an oversized wrapper made from a wheat tortilla, with the wrapper standing in as the plate and insulating the ingredients. Reflecting these origins, burritos are usually tightly wrapped to form a parcel, rather than simply folded or rolled, as with tacos.
The burrito also tends to have a mix of ingredients, such as rice, beans, and cheese or rice, meat, and vegetables. The tortillas used to wrap burritos are significantly larger than those used to package tacos, being closer to the size of a face, rather than the palm of someone's hand. Corn tortillas are rarely used for burritos, because they can crack and split when made so large, and burritos are sometimes made with flavored tortillas, like spinach or tomato tortillas."

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Burrito_vs_Taco
(This link has a chart in it)

-Amethyst