Have you ever wondered, since when, where and how did the idea of creating the delicious tacos come up? Actually there is no exact date, but it is believed that the dish has its origin in prehispanic Mexico. It is mentioned that because men worked all day in the fields, women engineered this food system for easy transportation and consumption at the working place.
However, the first historic taquiza (massive taco meal), was documented by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, in his chronicle, “True Story of the Conquest of New Spain” (La verdadera Historia de la Conquista de la Nueva España), organized by Conquistador Hernán Cortés, in the town of Coyoacán (today part of Mexico City) for his Captains and soldiers.
A taco is made up of two main parts, the stew and the tortilla with which it will be wrapped. Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, during his life wrote about several types of tortillas: laxcalpacholi, colored corn; the ueitlaxcalli, thin and white large tortilla; the ouauhtlaxqualli, very large, thick, rough and made with nixtamal, and the totonqui tlaxcalli, of white color.
Martha Chapa, in her book “Los tacos de México”, mentions that because in pre-Hispanic times, tacos used to be eaten in the street, that is why this traditional dish is now sold by street vendors in the main avenues of all Mexican cities.
It has also been mentioned that because the Spaniards could not pronounce the nahuatl word quauhtaqualli, as the natives called this dish, they only said taqualli and eventually the name taco wasadopted.
In Mexico, Taco Day is celebrated every March 31st, since the year 2004.
SMT Newsroom