Gustavo Arellano’s “Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America” is a terrible read and ultimately a waste of time but I made my way through the cheese and finished it. In the end I learned a whole lot more than I wanted to know about the history of corporate Mexican-ish fast food and developed a bit of mental indigestion. Are you interested in the history of Taco Bell? Cheetos? Doritos? El Torito? How about the combo # menu thing? Chipotle? The history of the reprehensible food items marketed under the Old El Paso brand? Do you want to know who first started putting margaritas in a frozen Slushee machine? You are? Well then you are a dolt and this book is for you! There are a few interesting bits but it mostly reads like a compilation of corporate press releases. Maybe I’m just not the intended audience.
Instead of defining the essentials of “Mexican Food” we get a plea to include all manner of crap into the category, and woe be to you if you dare question the logic.
“Those who dismiss Taco Bell, the taco pizza, even a church enchilada booth as somehow not Mexican because Mexicans aren’t the main consumers or creators miss an imperative point. We must consider the infinite varieties of Mexican food in the United States as part of the Mexican family-not a fraud, not a lesser sibling but an equal.”
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