On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 001 Tacos de carnitas, carne asada y al pastor. Mexican food taco bell beef bean burrito of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling.

The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. The origins of the taco are not precisely known, and etymologies for the culinary usage of the word are generally theoretical. According to one etymological theory, the culinary origin of the term “taco” in Mexico can be traced to its employment, among Mexican silver miners, as a term signifying “plug. The miners used explosive charges in plug form, consisting of a paper wrapper and gunpowder filling. One possibility is that the word derives from the Nahuatl word “tlahco”, meaning “half” or “in the middle,” in the sense that food would be placed in the middle of a tortilla. There is significant debate about the origins of the Taco in Mexico, with some arguing that the taco predates the arrival of the Spanish in Mexico, since there is anthropological evidence that the indigenous people living in the lake region of the Valley of Mexico traditionally ate tacos filled with small fish. Others argue that the advent of the taco is much more recent, with one of the more popular theories being that the taco was invented by silver miners in the 18th century, however the first mention of the word “taco” in Mexico was in the 1891 novel Los bandidos de Río Frío by Manuel Payno.

It is said that unless a taquería offers tacos de lengua, it is not a real taquería. The hard-shell or crispy taco is a tradition that developed in the United States. The most common type of taco in the US is the hard-shell, U-shaped version, first described in a cookbook in 1949. This type of taco is typically served as a crisp-fried corn tortilla filled with seasoned ground beef, cheese, lettuce, and sometimes tomato, onion, salsa, sour cream, and avocado or guacamole. Various sources credit different individuals with the invention of the hard-shell taco, but some form of the dish likely predates all of them.

Beginning from the early part of the twentieth century, various types of tacos became popular in the country, especially in Texas and California but also elsewhere. In the mid-1950s, Glen Bell opened Taco Tia, and began selling a simplified version of the tacos being sold by Mexican restaurants in San Bernardino, particularly the tacos dorados being sold at the Mitla Cafe, owned by Lucia and Salvador Rodriguez across the street from another of Bell’s restaurants. More recently, the term has come to include flour-tortilla-based tacos mostly from large manufacturers and restaurant chains. In this context, soft tacos are tacos made with wheat flour tortillas and filled with the same ingredients as a hard taco. The breakfast taco, found in Tex-Mex cuisine, is a soft corn or flour tortilla filled with meat, eggs, or cheese, which can also contain other ingredients.

Some have claimed that Austin, Texas, is the home of the breakfast taco. Indian tacos, or Navajo tacos, are made using frybread instead of tortillas. This kind of taco is not known to have been present before the arrival of Europeans in what is now the Southwestern United States. Since at least 1978, a variation called the “puffy taco” has been popular. Commercial vendors for the home market also market soft taco kits with tortillas instead of taco shells. The tacodilla contains melted cheese in between the two folded tortillas, thus resembling a quesadilla. Where Did the Taco Come From?

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A Thumbnail History of Mexican Food”. Friesen, Katy June “Where did the Taco come from? Wrap It Up: A Guide to Mexican Street Tacos Part II: Nighttime Tacos”. Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook. Celebrating Latino Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Cultural Traditions . Human food uses: a cross-cultural, comprehensive annotated bibliography.