Art of the Taco Local Chef and World Traveler, Randy Russell, Breaks Down the Art of the Taco.
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Story & Photos by Randy Russell
nless you grew up near the southern border of Texas, New Mexico or California, your first taco experiences as a kid were most likely the versions from Taco Bell, or those store-bought hard taco kits your parents used to make. Crispy shell, chili powder seasoned ground beef, shredded iceberg lettuce and yellow plastic-like cheese shreds. Let’s not talk about those atrocities and what the U.S. food processing industry did to something so beautiful as a true south of the border taco. Let’s talk about the authentic ones—their history, the varieties and what makes them so special. First, we have to talk about the tortilla. When you think of real tacos, you think soft corn tortillas. The origin of the corn tortilla dates all the way back to Mayan times in the Mesoamerican region, which is modern day Mexico and Central America. In Mexico, the native plant was a staple to early civilization’s diet in the area. The Mayans learned that if you soak the corn in lime, it separates the skins and allows the kernel to be ground easily into
26 | JUNE 2023
Al pastor, Mexico City
a paste mixed with water. This process is called nixtamalization. The same process is used today using alkaline solutions, which is how we get masa, the building block of corn tortillas. In the 16th century, the Spanish arrived in the area and took note of the small flat corn cakes being made. In Spanish, torta is the name for a cake, so the Spanish called these “little cakes” and the name “tortilla” has stuck for centuries. Now, this is where things start getting exciting for me. As an avid world traveler, a chef and lover of cultures and foods from around the world, I quickly learned that very few foods we think of today are purely authentic to the region we associate them to. There’s a lot of bad things that came from colonization and the influences of other cultures around the world, but food is one of the positives we can celebrate and embrace. The Spanish returned to Europe with this newfound tortilla, subsequently wheat flour was then introduced from Europe to Mesoamerica, and the flour tortilla was born. Around the same time, the Greeks used the same method with chickpea meal and made a tortilla with it. From there, the sharing of crops, ingredients and methods took off, and the worldwide culinary explosion began.