Tacos have become a favorite food in many cultures, which is unsurprising. They are delicious, versatile, simple or complex, and nearly impossible to make wrong. People worldwide are having a love affair with this food for all these reasons and more.

Tacos have become so popular in the United States that they are taken for granted. Yet this food item that originated in Mexico is remarkable, because you can make a taco any way you want and are guaranteed it will be delicious. Think about it - there are not many foods you can say that about. Everyone loves a taco. In fact, they’re so appreciated that the United States has a National Taco Day on October 4 each year. Like most foods, the simple taco has a history that only makes it even more interesting and enjoyable.

Humble Beginnings of the Taco

The precise history of tacos is a little blurry, though history is furthest from your mind when biting into a loaded taco. Folklore says the nixtamalization process was developed about two thousand years ago by the Olmec people, a pre-Columbian group of Mesoamerica. Nixtamalization is a traditional process for preparing grain, such as the corn used in authentic tacos. Corn kernels are treated with lime and cooked, then after cooking, the corn is dried and ground up to use as flour to make pliable tortillas. Today, there are hard and soft corn shells. The soft shell is folded around a filling, and the hard taco shell is a fried tortilla shaped to hold the filling.

Jeffrey M. Pilcher, Professor at the University of Toronto-Scarborough, studies the history of Mexican dishes. His theory about the origins of the word “taco” is that it came into usage in the 18th century in Mexican silver mines. The word “taco” referred to the small charges used to excavate the ore. One of the first mentions of tacos is the miner’s tacos (tacos de minero) at the end of the 19th century. In 1905, tacos were mentioned in a U.S. newspaper, as Mexican immigrants arrived in Texas and California to work the railroads and mines. They brought their love of tacos and originally sold them as street vendors. Tacos were initially considered lower-class food and were associated with the Chili Queens of San Antonio, a group of women who sold the tacos nightly and at festivals.

Eventually, says Professor Pilcher, Mexican Americans reinvented the taco to incorporate available U.S. foods, such as hamburger meat rather than offal meat. They added ingredients such as iceberg lettuce, cheddar cheese, and tomato. When the Lebanese immigrants arrived in Mexico, they created tacos árabes (Arab tacos) made with shawarma (lamb originally). The children of the Lebanese migrants began using pork rather than lamb, and added pineapple. Voilà! Tacos al pastor becomes a standard Mexican dish. The original patent for the hard taco shells that made selling them in fast food restaurants possible was assigned to Mexican restaurateurs in the 1940s. In 1962, Glen Bell opened the first Taco Bell restaurant in Downey, CA, in, a restaurant made possible by hard shell tacos. Nowadays, authentic Mexican tacos are made with corn tortillas, but many American restaurants serve flour tortillas because they keep better.

Pick Your Filling

Professor Pilcher found during his research that Mexicans selling the food item to other Mexicans did not use the word “taco” in the restaurant name. Taco became the word used when selling Mexican food to people who were not Mexican. This immigrant food is now a beloved food item that can be as healthy (or unhealthy) as desired. It might be filled with only vegetables smothered in a favorite sauce or traditionally made with seasoned ground beef, rice, refried beans, sour cream, onion, lettuce, and Pico de Gallo salsa. A squeeze of lime is essential to authenticity, because it adds some acid that brings out the taco’s flavors. Go ahead and top it with cilantro, sliced radishes, chili peppers, and avocado. To be truly authentic, you should skip the cheese. Even today, most street tacos in Mexico do not have cheese.

You could also fill your taco with shredded pork, chicken, shrimp, sausage, or grilled steak. Tacos make a great breakfast filled with scrambled eggs, diced peppers and potatoes, all covered with a sauce. Guisado is a traditional Mexican taco filled with stew, mole, or pork cracklings. Dorados from Sinaloa are soft tacos filled with beef, shrimp, chicken, potatoes, and beans, then fried in oil. Canastas are steamed tacos served in a basket, and ahogados are tacos drowning in a non-spicy tomato sauce. Barbacoa tacos are made with barbecued meat that was marinated in the sauce. There are now a host of sauces to try, like salsa verde, avocado crema, cilantro sauce, mango salsa, and so many others.

Tacos Go Global in a Glorious Way

Tacos may have found their way to the United States in the late 1800s, but Americans are not the only taco fans today. Taco variations are found in the most unexpected places now, according to the travel agency Booking.com which tracks these kinds of details. You could travel to Bali, Indonesia and order tacos spiced with Balinese spice. There is a Taco Libre Festival in New Delhi, India, where tacos may contain surprises such as curry and jackfruit. Singapore, Paris, France and Santorini, Greece, are more cities where restaurants serve tacos – some authentic and some adapted to local preferences. That is the glory of the taco – it can be assembled however you want and with whatever ingredients you desire, and no one will complain.

Some countries do not necessarily call a taco a taco, but what is in a name? In Italy, a piada is a sandwich made with a folded taco containing meat, cheese, and tomatoes. When you cannot make up your mind, make or order campechanos, which consist of pork and beef topped with onions, herbs, and of course, a favorite salsa.

There is a fantastic variety of restaurants serving tacos today, some turning the basic everyday food into a gourmet item. Gourmet tacos are served in fine dining establishments, and these are usually tortillas left flat and exotic ingredients piled on top. Ingredients might include oysters or lobster, kimchi, mushrooms, caramelized cauliflower, or (yes) chapulín (grasshopper) aioli. You can even turn tacos into dessert, by adding a sweet filling like apple pie filling smothered in whipped cream.

The Amazing Taco

The taco has come a long way from ancient Mesoamerica to the modern table. However, here is a true statement: a simple, authentic taco like the street vendors still sell is both delicious and a standout among today’s many taco options. Next time you order tacos in a restaurant, be daring and try something with ingredients you would typically not order. As you bite into the taco, remember this is a food with a history still in the making, and you can be part of it. Delicioso!