I Can’t Sleep - Tacos | Can't Sleep? Learn About Mexico's Most Iconic Street Food

Episode Date: May 22, 2026

Tacos started as practical handheld food and somehow became a topic people argue about with surprising intensity. In this episode, we go through the history of tacos, how they spread beyond Mexico, the regional styles that people defend like sports teams, and why a tortilla filled with meat turned into an entire personality category. There’s history, migration, street food culture, fast food adaptations, and at least a few moments where melted cheese complicated everything more than necessary. It’s steady and consistent, with no whispering and no sudden changes, just enough to give your mind something to follow as you wind down. Happy sleeping! Read with permission from Taco, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taco), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. — Ad-free episodes: icantsleep.supportingcast.fmHave a topic in mind? Request a topic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast, where I help you drift off one fact at a time. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster, and today's episode is about tacos. Spotify, it's Jay Shetty. Are you one of those media strategy people? Scrolling through spreadsheets, searching for an audience that pays twice as much attention to your ads than they do on social? Let me introduce you to fans. And they're here with me on Spotify. Trust me, I know fans. They don't skip. They stay for hours. They don't. They don't. move on, they manifest. They're not a demographic group. They're fans. Spotify advertising. You're among fans. A taco is a traditional Mexican dish consisting 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. A taco can be made with a variety of fillings. including beef, pork, chicken, seafood, beans, vegetables, and cheese, and garnished with various condiments, such as salsa, guacamole, or sour cream, and vegetables such as lettuce, coriander, onion, tomatoes, and chilies. Tacos are a common form of antojitos, or Mexican. in street food, which have spread around the world. Tacos can be contrasted with similar foods, such as burritos, which are often much larger and rolled rather than folded.

Takitos, which are rolled and fried, or chalupas, toastas, in which the tortilla is fried before filling. 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, writing at the time of the Spanish conquistadors, Bernal Diaz del Castillo,

documented the first taco feast in Georgia, enjoyed by Europeans, a meal which Ernoisse arranged for his captains in Koyoakhan. 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. One of the oldest mentions of the term taco comes from an 1836 cookbook. Nuevo and Sincillio Artes de la Cucina, Reposteria and Refrescos, by Antonio Carillo. In a recipe for a rolled pork loin. Lomo de serdo enroliado.

She instructs the readers to roll the loin like they would a taco de tortilla, or tortilla taco. An early mention of the word taco comes from the novel, El Ombre de la Situacion, 1861. by Mexican writer Manuel Pino. They surrounded the father's bed, and he put in a pillow on his legs, which served as a table, began to give the example,

and a pleasant gathering was formed, which was completed by the mother, who always entered last, waving the one hand from right to left, a large cup of wide atolle, while with the other she carried right to her mouth a tortilla taco, filled with a spread of red Chile. These instances disprove the claim that the first mention of the word taco in Mexico

was in the same author's 1891 novel, Los Bandidos de Rio Frio. It should also be noted that the term taco was regional, specifically from Mexico City and surrounding areas, and that other regional names existed. In Guaraguato, Guerrero, Michoacan, and San Luis Podosi, the terms used were burrito and burro. While in Yucatan and Kintanauru, the term used was Cozito. Due to the cultural influence of Mexico City, the term Taco became the default.

In terms like Burrito and Cozito, either became forgotten or evolved to mean something different in modern times. In 2024, El Califah de Leon in Mexico City became the first taco stand to win a Michelin Star. Traditional variations. Tacos alpastor, shepherd style, tacos de adobada, or tacos arabes, Arabas, Arab tacos, are made of thin pork steaks, seasoned with adobe seasoning, then skewered and overlapped on one another, on a vertical rotisserie, cooked and flame broiled as it spins like chihuamma. This variation has roots in Mexico's Lebanese immigrant population. Tacos de assador, spit or grill tacos, may be composed of any of the following.

Cairne asada tacos, Tacos de Tripita, tripe tacos, grilled until crisp, and chorizo asado, traditional Spanish-style sausage. Each type is served on two overlapped small tortillas, and sometimes garnished with guacamole, salsa, onions, and cilantro, coriander leaf. Also prepared on the grill is a sandwich taco called mulita, little mule, made with meat served between two tortillas, and garnished with Waxaca-style cheese. Mulita is used to describe these types of sandwich tacos in the northern states of Mexico, while they are known as gringas in the Mexican South, and are prepared using wheat flour tortillas.

tacos may also be served with salsa. Tacos de Camarones, shrimp tacos, also originated in Baja, California, in Mexico. Grilled or fried shrimp are used, usually with the same accompaniments as fish tacos. Lettuce or cabbage,

Bico de Gallo, avocado, and a sour cream or citrus mayonnaise sauce. all placed on top of a corn or flour tortilla. Tacos de Pescado, fish tacos, originated in Baja, California, and Mexico, where they consist of grilled or fried fish, lettuce or cabbage, beca de gallo, and a sour cream or citrus mayonnaise sauce, all placed on top of a corn or flour tortilla. In the United States, they were first popularized by the Rubio's fast wheat. food chain, and remain most popular in California, Colorado, and Washington.

In California, they are often found at street vendors, and a regional variation is to serve them with cabbage and coleslaw dressing on top. Tacos Dorados, fried tacos, literally golden tacos, called flautus, flute, because of the shape, for takitos, for which the tortillas are filled with pre-cooked shredded chicken, beef, or barbacoa, rolled in an elongated cylinder and deep-fried until crisp. They're sometimes cooked in a microwave oven or broiled. Tacos swedados, sweaty tacos, are made by filling soft tortillas with a spicy meat mixture, then placing them in a basket covered with cloth.

The covering keeps the tacos warm and traps steam, sweat, which softens them. Tacos de Bidia stewed meat tacos are made with goat or beef, roasted or stewed with spices, and typically serve with the broth from cooking the meat as a dipping sauce. Originating in the Mexican state of Alisco, Biria was mentioned in a 1925 article in the El Paso Herald. The Takarilla El Remedio in San Antonio began offering Biriadei de restacos in their current form in Texas in 2018.

Offerings by taco stands in California and across the southwest United States began occurring at about the same time. As an accompaniment to tacos, many taco stands will serve whole or sliced red radishes, lime slices, salt, pickled or grilled chilies, hot peppers, and occasionally cucumber slices or grilled combri onions. The hard shell or crispy taco is a tradition that developed in the United States. 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. Such tacos are sold by restaurants and by fast food chains, while kids are readily available

in most supermarkets. Hard-shell tacos are sometimes known as Tacos Dorados, golden tacos in Spanish, the name that they share with takidos. Various sources credit different individuals with the invention of the hard-shell taco, but all of those credited seem to have been reproducing a dish that already existed. Beginning from the early part of the 20th century, various types of tacos became popular in the U.S., especially in Texas and California, but also elsewhere. By the late 1930s, Ashley Mexican Food and Absolute Mexican Foods were selling appliances and ingredients for cooking hard-shell tacos,

and the first patents for hard-shell taco cooking appliances were filed in the 1940s. The first U.S. published cookbook to provide a recipe for a hard-shell taco was the Good Life, New Mexican Food, by Fabiola Cabesa de Baca Gilbert, published in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1949. In the mid-1950s, Glenn 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 at the Mitla Cafe, owned by Lucia and Salvador Rodriguez, across the street from another of Bell's restaurants. Over the next few years, Bell owned and operated a number of restaurants in Southern California, including four called El Taco. The tacos sold at Bell's restaurants, where many Anglo-Americans' first interested in the

production to Mexican food. Bell sold the El Taco restaurants to his partner and built the first Taco Bell and Downey in 1962. Two years later he began selling franchises and by 1967 had 100 locations. Traditionally, soft-shelled tacos are made using corn tortillas, cooked to a softer state than a hard taco, usually by grilling or steaming. More recently, the term has come to include flour tortilla-based tacos, mostly from large manufacturers and restaurant chains.

In that 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. 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. However, food writer and O.C. Weekly editor Gustavo Arellano responded that such a statement reflects a common trend of whitewashed foodways reporting. noting that predominantly Hispanic San Antonio, Texas, never had to brag about its breakfast taco love.

Folks there just called it breakfast. Since at least the late 1930s, a variation called the Puffy Taco has been popular in the lower Rio Grande Valley in the surrounding area. Henry's Puffy Tacos, opened by Henry Lopez in San Antonio, Texas, popularized. the variation, in which uncooked corn tortillas, flattened balls of mossa dough, are quickly fried in hot oil until they expand and become puffy. Fillings are similar to hard-shell versions. Restaurants offering this style of taco have since appeared in other Texas cities, as well as in California where Henry's brother Arturo Lopez opened Arturo's puffy taco and Whittier. not long after Henry's opened.

Henry's continues to thrive, managed by the family's second generation. Kits are available at grocery and convenience stores and usually consist of taco shells, corn tortillas, already fried in a U-shape, seasoning mix, and taco sauce. Commercial vendors for the home market also market soft taco kits

with tortillas and potatoes. instead of tachor shells. The tachodea contains melted cheese in between the two folded tortillas, thus resembling a cassidia. A flour tortilla or wheat tortilla is a type of soft, thin, flatbread made from finely ground wheat flour. Made with flour and water-based dough, it is pressed and cooked similar to corn tortillas.

The simplest recipes use only for, flour, water, fat, and salt, but commercially made flour tortillas generally contain chemical leavening agents, such as baking powder, and other ingredients. Although it has its origin in Mexico, the flour tortilla was invented once the Spanish introduced wheat to Mexico in the 16th century. According to historical sources, the Spanish first introduced wheat to the lands around Mexico City in 1523. Having found great success, the cultivation of wheat soon spread beyond the central Mexican plateau through Catholic monks. It reached the region of Michoacan in the 1530s, with the Franciscans, while the Dominicans brought it to Oaxaca in the 1540s, and gave grain

to the inhabitants of that region to produce flour and prepare. prepare and live and bread, which was traditionally prepared for religious ceremonies in the Catholic Church. The wheat-growing region in Mexico was in the temperate and cold regions, between 4,000 and 6,000 feet to 9,000 feet above sea level. The majority of wheat was produced in central Mexico, with the main wheat growing regions being the Lerma Valley, the Adlisco, and San Martin valleys in Puebla, the Baccio region, and the Valley of Oaxaca. These areas produced the most valued and esteemed wheat in the country. Within these regions, the largest producing states were Chalisco, Guanajuato, and Puebla.

The top six wheat-producing states in the 1890s, based on the median yield measured in hectaliters, were Helisco, Sakatecas, Guanajuato, Chihuahua, Puebla, and the state of Mexico, with the exception of Chihuahua, all in Central Mexico. In 1884, report on the commerce between the United States and Mexico states, wheat grows on the plateau of Mexico at from 6,000 to 9,000 feet above sea level, and between the 18th and 24th parallels of latitude. The wheat-growing area of Mexico, par excellence, extends from, say, Puebla near to Colima. about 500 miles east and west.

And from southern Michoacan to Sakatecas, about 400 miles north and south. This plateau is broken by mountain ranges into a number of rich districts, especially adapted for the growing of wheat, namely the Lerma Valley, roughly 200 by 16 miles, the Bajo, 200 by 200 miles, Aguasalientes, 50 by 50 miles, the San Luis Potosi and Carrero District, 150 by 30 miles.

Considering that most wheat production was in central and southern Mexico, not in the north, it is probable that wheat flour tortillas may have originated in this region. Flower tortillas could be found in places like San Luis Potosi. another of the wheat regions of Mexico, but which is no longer considered an area where flour tortillas are considered a staple. A recipe for flour tortillas appears in the Mexican cookbook, Dictionario de Cucinaio de Cucino de Cucinoo Mexican in Forma de Dictionario, 1845. A cookbook was recipes mainly from Central and Southern Mexico.

based on historical records, corn tortillas were the main staple bread in northern Mexico, and what is now the southwestern United States in the 19th century, just as in central and southern Mexico. In fact, we very rarely find mentions of flour tortillas, and when one does, they're usually second to corn tortillas as the main tortilla. Corn tortillas were the staple bread in New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Texas. One of the most common folk origin stories is that flour tortillas were invented in northern Mexico, based on the erroneous belief that wheat could only be grown in the north,

while corn could only be grown in the south. Some argue that hot and arid climates, like that of Sonora, or less supportive of growing corn. Thus it grew poorly while it was more suitable for wheat. Because of this, some argue that the Spaniards did not know how to make corn tortillas in the north, so they decided to make them from flour. But the evidence proves the opposite, as most wheat was grown in central Mexico until the mid-20th century.

While corn was plentiful in northern Mexico and the American Southwest, and constituted the main dietary staple of the inhabitants of the region, and was in no way hampered by the harsh, hot, and dry climate. Others attributed the origin of flour tortillas to the Jews, specifically the Crypto-Jews and Conversos, the exiled Spanish Jews that lived in Mexico. According to this hypothesis, these Jews invented or introduced the flour tortilla as a substitution for matza or unleaven bread, supposedly because they considered corn as non-coher since it was fed to pigs. But the Mexican Jews were mostly Sephardic, and had a completely different diet and never followed such restrictions. Thus corn was considered kosher. In fact,

evidence from the 17th century Mexican Inquisition in the Archive general de la nation shows that Jews in northern Mexico were consuming corn tortillas, because they had no access to wheaten, unleavened bread. And in many cases, their consumption was used as evidence against them, as was the case of Salomon de Machoro, a Sephardic Jewish man who was denounced and tried in 1650 for having consumed corn tortillas with fish and vegetables. fish and vegetables during Passover. Wheat tortillas are a staple of the northern Mexican

states and throughout the southwest United States. Tortillas vary in size from about six to over 30 centimeters depending on the region of the country and the dish for which it is intended. Industrially produced tortillas typically contain numerous chemicals in order to ease the production process, controlled texture and flavor, and to extend shelf life. Work has been done at Washington State University to develop methods for producing tortillas on a mass scale while still only using whole wheat, water, oil, and salt, with a fermented flour and water sourdough starter replacing chemical oveners. Today, personal and industrial tortilla making equipment has facilitated at a very much of a

and expedited tortilla making. Manually operated wooden tortilla presses of the past led to today's industrial tortilla machinery, which can produce up to 60,000 tortillas per hour. Tortillas are now not only made from May's meal, but also from wheat flour. Homemade and store-bought tortillas are made in many flavors and varieties. Tortillas remain a staple.

in Mexico and Central America, and have gained popularity in market share elsewhere. In the U.S., tortillas have grown from an ethnic to a mainstream food. They have surpassed bagels and muffins, and have now become the number two packaged bread product sold in the U.S. The tortilla industry, tortillas, and their products, tortilla chips, testato shells, and taco shells has become a $6 billion a year industry.