Posted on 10/10/2007 10:25:36 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
It sounds like a fast-food grudge match: Taco Bell is taking on the homeland of its namesake by reopening for the first time in 15 years in Mexico. Defenders of Mexican culture see the chain's re-entry as a crowning insult to a society already overrun by U.S. chains from Starbucks and Subway to KFC. "It's like bringing ice to the Arctic," complained pop-culture historian Carlos Monsiváis. The company's branding strategy "Taco Bell is something else" is an attempt to distance itself from any comparison to Mexico's beloved taquerias, which sell traditional corn tortillas stuffed with an endless variety of fillings, from spicy beef to corn fungus and cow eyes. Taco Bell, a unit of Louisville, Ky.,-based Yum Brands, made its name promoting its menu to Americans as something straight out of Mexico. But it's a very different dynamic south of the border. Here, the company projects a more "American" fast-food image by adding French fries some topped with cheese, cream, ground meat and tomatoes to the menu at its first store, which opened in late September in the northern city of Monterrey.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
I wish I was an Oscar Myer Weiner...
You've likely had plenty of cow eyes (and MUCH worse parts), you just didn't know it.
A chimichangia is not authentic Mexican cuisine.
It is delicious, but, not authentic.
A chimichanga is not authentic Mexican cuisine.
It is delicious, but, not authentic.
Actually, I believe that Taco Bell does indeed have the Enchirito once again.
That’s cause a chimichanga is really Tex-Mex, not Mex-Mex.
Agreed.
My favorite is stuffed poblano peppers with queso cheese and pico de gallo.
Somewhere in the archives of FR is an article about a Pizza Hut opening in Rome, Italy.
I was a visiting professor at UT Arlington (TX) and was brought to a “genuine Mexican restaraunt.” He introduced me to the owner of this large, upper-scale restaraunt. who proudly told me he was going to specially prepare me a combination platter of “real Mexican food.”
All the meat, prepared several different ways, was goat - - yuch!
That is just silly. Pizza Hut in Rome. Taco Bell in Mexico. It is bad enough to try to out do the locals, but to send our WORST restaurants to do it is just sad.
With the corn fungus and cow eye tacos it might be more like run for the can.
This thread reminded me of my method of selecting Mexican restaurants when I lived in Southern California. The key things I looked for were the absence of other Anglo diners, the presence of lots of Mexican diners, a B rating from the health department, and a staff spoke bad English or no English. Always delicious.
Bring back the “Bell-Beefer”...remember those from my teen years. (Think taco meat Sloppy-Joe type sandwich).
The worst case of puking my husband ever endured was after eating at the Taco Bell in our little town here. He NEVER vomits. In the almost forty years we have been married I have seen him vomit two times. One from illness and one from booze. He projectile vomited before he could make it to the bathroom. Looked like something out of that movie the Exorcist - wasn’t green pea soup though. LOL THat said we do love Taco Bell. It was the one here that had a problem.
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