Celebrate National Taco Day

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National Taco Day is celebrated on October 4. Tacos are served on wheat or corn tortillas that are soft or hard. Corn tacos shaped like U are hard and crunchy. Tacos are popular dish served in many Mexican restaurants and traditional restaurants. They are made with beef, pork, chicken, fish, vegetables, beans, cheese and other toppings. Many restaurants have promotions for Taco Tuesday with a special menu designed just for this event.

Some local restaurants in Connecticut offer promotions on National Taco Day. Some of them are Taco Bell, Long John Silvers, and IHop. Other restaurants to check are Puerto Vallarta, Geronimo's Southwest Grill, Bar Taco, Tomatillo Taco, Chipotle, Wood and Tap, and Moes. Check out your local Mexican restaurant and chains like Senor Panchos to see if they have special promotions that day.

A Short History of the Taco

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In 1520 Hernando Cortez mentioned native flatbread to King Charles. He called it tortillas and it is believed he did this on October 4. In 1914 some cookbooks contained taco recipes. A cookbook in 1929 called Romanian Spanish Mexican Cookery contains six taco recipes.

In 1962 the fast-food restaurant Taco Bell was founded. Jeffery M. Pilcher a history professor and author wrote Planet Taco A Global History of Mexican Food. He believes the word taco originated with the silver mines in Mexico in the 1800s. The word means the charge used to remove the ore from the mines.

The miners wrapped gunpowder in pieces of paper and inserted it into holes that they carved into the walls. They lit the paper and it removed the silver from the walls. The first tacos were mentioned as served to workers for the railroad and mines. Many were immigrants. Tacos were considered street food served by street vendors like the Chili Queens of San Antonio Texas. They sold hot and spicy tacos at the open market.

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Lebanese workers started to make lamb served on tortillas and it was called a taco arabes. They changed the recipe to pork instead of lamb thus creating the popularity of pork tacos. Glen Bell in CA brought a franchise model of the taco restaurant to the United States. He used the name taco because Mexican restaurants did not use this word in their restaurant names. Bell is credited with allowing other racial and ethnic groups to sample tacos.

In the 1940s hard tacos were made by frying tortillas and forming them into a U. This was the around the time they started to make hard corn tacos. Tacos are made of wheat or corn stuffed with meat, pork, chicken, fish, assorted vegetables and other ingredients. In the 1880s tacos were sold by Mexican street vendors.

Govenor Robert L. Gomez sent Mexican food as gifts to politician to promote San Antonio Mexican restaurants. He eventually made Taco Week and Taco Month a holiday in Texas as a way to promote restaurants.

How To Celebrate National Taco Day

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Visit your local Mexican restaurant for lunch or dinner with family, friends or co-workers. Order a taco entree and try something new that you never had before. Tray a fish or seafood taco, vegetarian, pork, chicken or beef taco with special sauces and veggies. Choose a soft tortilla or a hard crunchy corn taco, If you don't want to stay at the restaurant try takeout.

Look online for taco recipes and make them at home. You can shop for ingredients at the local supermarket. Buy flour tortillas or corn taco shells. Have a party and let your friends bring ingredients for a different type of tacos. Go to the library and take out a Mexican cookbook and pick out a taco recipe to try.

If you don't want to make them yourself try taco kits that come with soft tortillas or hard corn tacos, seasoning ,and sauces. You have to supply the meat, seafood or chicken and vegetables. Look for Old El Paso Taco Dinner Kit, Ortega Grande Taco Kit or Taco Bell Taco Kits in the frozen section of your supermarket or Walmart.