Taco is a Mexican food that consists of a folded tortilla filled with such ingredients as meats, vegetables, and cheeses. Tacos are enjoyed around the world. They may be eaten as a main dish or as a snack.
A traditional taco consists of two main parts: a corn tortilla and a filling. Common fillings include beef , pork , and spicy peppers . Authentic Mexican tacos are topped with cilantro and white onions. Some taco fillings are associated with a particular region. For example, campechanos are a taco popular in the southern Mexican states of Campeche and Tabasco . They are made with a combination of carne asada (grilled steak), longaniza (pork sausage), and chorizo (spicy pork sausage). In the United States, tacos are often topped with lettuce, tomato, and shredded cheese and served in a crunchy corn shell. Flour tortillas have also become popular. The simple, informal nature of the taco helps to inspire creativity among chefs, resulting in tacos with such nontraditional fillings as fish, fried chicken, falafel (deep-fried chickpea patties), and kimchi (pickled vegetables).
Some historians believe tacos were named after small explosives used by Mexican miners, because they resembled the loads of gunpowder wrapped in paper. The dish was called tacos de minero, or miner’s tacos. These early tacos, developed in the 1800’s, were similar to modern taquitos, a Mexican dish of a rolled tortilla filled with meat and cheese and then deep-fried.
People can buy tacos at restaurants or from street-food vendors or food trucks. Places that specialize in tacos are called taquerias. People can also make tacos at home.
