April 27, 2023 • 33 mins
Eva and Maite dive into the history of street vending and explore the backstory of the taco. Rudy Espinoza, executive director of Inclusive Action for the City, joins the show to share how his organization helps street vendors in Los Angeles. Plus, Hungry For History visits the Piñata District in Downtown LA to talk to Merced Sanchez, an activist and entrepreneur.
Want to learn more about Inclusive Action for the City? Click here.
Books discussed in this episode:
- Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food, Jeffery Pilcher
- Los Angeles Street Food: A History from Tamaleros to Taco Trucks, Farley Elliott
- Food, Health, and Culture in Latino Los Angeles, Sarah Portnoy
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Did you know that street vending in Mexico has pre
Columbian roots and primarily took place in market places or tiangis.
So everything from ceramic cookware, cacao, vanilla, eggs, clothes, all
of it was sold, and one of the most popular
items was tacos.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
In today's episode, we explore the history of fucos and
street vending. My name is Eva Longoria and I am My.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
De Gomez Racon and welcome to Hungry for History, a
podcast that explores our past and present through food.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
On every episode, we'll talk about the history of some
of our favorite dishes, ingredients, and beverages.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
So make yourself at home.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Ewen Britchell.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So they weren't always called tacos. I thought fuckos were
always called tacos.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
No, they weren't always called tacos. So the concept of
a taco has existed for hundreds, maybe thousands of years,
but its exact origins are unknown. Some say that the
mere act of rolling food in adrtilla makes it a taco,
but the word bacco is actually relatively new.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
So where did the taco originate?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Like?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Where does the word come from?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
So, according to food historian Jeffrey Pilcher. He wrote a
book called Planet Taco, a Global History of Mexican Food.
He suggests that the word facco dates to the nineteenth
century and it first appears in the real Academiespaniola. The
Official Dictionary of the Spanish language, defined as a little
like a peg or a plug. Another theory is that
(01:40):
the word taco comes from the naulalco, meaning half, because
the ingredients are put in a taco in the center
of a dortilla, which is then folded in half.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
That makes more sense to me the no wadal word.
It could be that glaco I mean that sounds I
mean claco, sounds like taco, and it means half.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
But the other thing is that those those little pegs
or plugs. Miners in Mexico used to put these little
pegs with dynamite inside or with gunpowder inside. They would
roll them and they would put them in the mines.
They're basically little sticks of dynamite. So those were called tacos.
So this whole idea, and some of the first you know,
(02:19):
written recordings of facco were thatcos e minero minors tacos,
So it was sort of like this little bit of
dynamite that you're eating. So so that that's why there
are those two different theories. But the word itself dates
to the nineteenth century, so it's not that old.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah, because because there's writings of Spanish conquistadores like Bernaldiez
del Castillo who mentions warm corn tortillas on mochte Zuma's table.
So you know, it was discussed and that the tortillas
were used as sort of a spoon. But that technique
of using like tortillas as a spoon, that's also in
like I said, in India, where they use the non
(02:59):
as a spoon. I mean, there's a lot of cultures
that use a piece of something as a spoon, exactly. Exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Every culture has something, right, and every culture has something
that you you know, every street food, it's sort of
things that you eat with your hands as well. But
some can say that a taco, you know, that the
soul of the taco is the corn trtilla or the tortillya.
But the original tortillya, the original taco would have been
with corn.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah. And then so in the early nineteenth century, a
lot of people began migrating to Mexico City, you know,
for opportunities or region bringing their regional cooking skills with them.
But every region obviously has different foods. In Mexico City
became a melting pot of tacos. And I've experienced this
because there's a taco a mercado on Saturdays near our
(03:49):
house in Mexico City, and you have Mitua tacos from
Mitua Kan that goes the Yucatan that goes it. Like
there's all these different stalls and every region is so different.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
That is what's so interesting I feel about Mexico City
is that that it's such a melting pot of cuisines
from the entire country. And this is where I mean
you could say that the original tacco culture is in
these markets like the one that you're mentioning. You know
today one of the most famous pre colonial Tiangeese is
(04:23):
this marketplace of laate Logo that was in you know,
modern day sort of downtown Mexico City. But these danges
are are all over, like you have one by your
house in Mexico City. So this is this this culture
of street food, this culture of street food from all
over the country has existed since the nineteenth century.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
D'angi means what is that nawadl as well Tiangi.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yes, the word Tangeese comes from the Nawall word getsli,
two words from the now ill word Gangetzli, which means
open air market and the amiki, which means to sell
or trained. So the most important markets pre colonial market
was the one that's like and you could say that
(05:09):
they are modern day flea markets or modern day boigas,
modern day you know where you people come and sell
everything from food to clothes to cook wear, everything that
you could possibly find. But that was really the soul
of Mexico, when everybody would come together and buy what
they needed. One could argue that the Pinata District in
(05:39):
downtown Los Angeles is a modern day tianges.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, I've been there and I love it, and I'm
so excited because Hungary for History got a chance to
talk to one of these vendors in the Pinnata district.
Her name is Mercell Sanchez.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Numbers Sanchez, so evenlante.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
She is not only a businesswoman, but she's also an activist.
She's originally from the city of Buebla in Mexico.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
And she's been working at the Pinatta District for about
eighteen years. Mendo and she sells everything from baby clothes,
artistsan bags from Puebla. She sells Mexican candies, She sells
hot dogs and chi la las mole esquitoes, and she
(06:31):
has the most amazing faccos dorados. She has chicken ones
and potato ones. I have the tacos Papa Crispy, just
she's frying them right there with his green salsa, like
raw fresh, bright green salsa and a little bit of
caeso fresco. Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Even this topic of street vendors is so relevant today
because so many food venders are getting her arab by
the cops, by community. And one of the main reasons
she got into activism was because she witnessed food vendors
(07:13):
getting harassed by the cops and she saw their food
get thrown out, items that they had for sale get confiscated.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Yados, Yovia madress Alter.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
She said she even witnessed people getting deported, like single
mothers crying after having their shops destroyed.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, it's really really devastating it and she was sort
of seeing this happening around her, seeing it happening, you know,
to her as well, just being harassed for for just
trying to make a living. So she told us that
she started asking questions like what what can I do?
Like what can be done?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
On a who you that?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
And a friend of her told her about an organization
that was trying to help them, and that's when she
found out about eLAC, which is the East LA Community
Corporation based in Boyle Heights and East LA.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Yeah like communis poso misikos oh.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yes, So with the help of others, she started organizing
and she made a promise to herself. She said, I
don't care if this takes me twenty years, I'm going
to do it. Her husband even told her, like, who's
going to listen? You're just wasting your time, and she
told him, at least I'll have my head held high
knowing I did something because people don't know how much
we are suffering.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Latona.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Sure, it's really incredible, and you know, her hard work
paid off. It took ten years. It didn't take the
twenty years, but it took ten years, and in twenty eighteen,
the state passed a law legalizing sidewalk theings.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Well because of her hard work got Bravo to her.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yes, she's incredible. Thanks to her hard work and she
was organizing people. When she went to that first meeting
at eLAC there were seven street vendors, and she realized,
there's no way that we're going to make a dent
if it's just seven of us. So she was going
from vendor to vendor to vendor, spreading the word. It's
like you do you know when it's time to vote.
(09:06):
She was going to every until she had hundreds of vendors.
They went to Sacramento and I mean they got these
lost past.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Wow. Well, if y'all are in Los Angeles, make sure
to check her out in the Pignata district. It's called
Sammy's e Lomas. Stop by and try that.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Don't go anywhere. We get into the history of street
vending in LA and the modern day struggle this community
is facing.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
So winded street vending in Los Angeles begin it must
have been I mean, this must have been so long ago.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
It was so the city of La was established in
seventeen eighty one, so long ago, but not that long ago.
But so Mexico lost California in eighteen forty eight in
the Mexican American War.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
The entire Southwest California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada utahs.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yea six yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
So by eighteen fifty, California was part of the US,
but La was only seventy years old at the time,
so it went from being this little Mexican pueblo to
a city with an Anglo majority in very short period
of time. In his book Los Angeles Street Food History
(10:35):
From Tamaledos to Taco Trucks by Farley Elliott, he says
that the first signs of street food in La emerge
after eighteen seventy six, when the Southern Pacific Railroad linked
the city to the rest of the US and the
city really began to come to life. So we start
seeing them male vendors, so not necessarily bacco vendors, but
(10:57):
we start seeing that male vendors selling from cart from
the little wagons in what is now downtown Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Well, and it's so interesting like at this time, like
by the eighteen nineties, there was already the city government
was already trying to sanction or severely limit and curb
theamal vendors, Chinese food vendors. They were really restricting them
from being able to sell or banishing it all together,
which obviously was reflected a larger issue of discrimination towards Mexican, Mexican, American,
(11:29):
Chinese any other, right, any other. So there was a
lot of early efforts to regulate street food, and by
the turn of the century, the city forced the model
cart owners to pay for operating licenses as a way
to like weed them out. And this only helped destigmatize
the market for tamalies, but it didn't slow it down,
Like Mexican food was just too popular. They were like,
(11:52):
people wanted their tamals. Yeah, people wanted their tamalis. People
wanted the really good food. It was just, you.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Know, it was it was all about discriminating them. So
in nineteen ten, these segregation laws between white and non
white vendors limited the presence of Mexican and Chinese vendors
in downtown LA. So they continue to thrive outside of
the downtown area. But over time we start seeing these
(12:18):
you know, sit down restaurants, and these sit down restaurants
would further marginalized street vendors. But with each new wave
of immigrants came a new wave of street vending, you know,
rebirth of street vends.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Well, specifically the wave of Mexicans, you know, by the
nineteen twenties that migrated to the US during the years,
obviously the Mexican Revolution having a big part of that,
but the tradition of like street bending is one that
travels with them, and so we start seeing more than
theamalies by this time, we start seeing the buckles, and
you know that they were all the rage in La,
(12:53):
but like you see a lot of vendors. I the
first time I moved to La. My greatest memories Olvetta Street.
I love Olivetta Street. I went to a festival down
there and I was like, what is this place? And
Olvetta Street is one of the oldest streets, opened in
nineteen thirty and there's so much history down there to
(13:17):
who could own the stalls. And if you look at
Olvetta Street, you'll see it's an alley and the storefronts
are on the other side. And what happened was Mexicans
weren't allowed to own a storefront in the nineteen thirties,
so they could sell in the back in the alley,
but they couldn't have a storefront, and the alley became
more popular than the storefront. And that's how old Vetta
(13:40):
Street became an icon and really a heritage site of
Los Angeles. It's protected, it's celebrated now. So it's a
very I love Oletta Street. If you guys have a chance,
go check it out.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
It's a very cool, very very cool place. I love
it too. In her book, in the book Food, Health
and Culture in Latino, Los Angeles by professor of LATINX
Food Studies Sarah Portnoy, she says that in the mid
nineteen thirties, Los Angeles band vending on sidewalks downtown and
then in major business districts, and she goes on to
(14:18):
say that these actions restricted sidewalk activity and made sidewalk
vending more challenging. During the course of the twentieth century,
then La became a car city. Pedestrians and vendors were
pushed off the sidewalks, and the streets lost this former
vibrancy and commerce.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
So this c LA's a driving city. Like we're not
New York, We're not in York. No, it's not a
pedestrian city at all. And it's so sad.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
And so this hostility towards street vendors grew and persisted
for decades.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Yeah, well, you know, it's so funny because you know,
if you have ever flown into lax there's a Tom
Bradley terminal and it's the international terminal. And I've always like, oh,
why is the name Tom Bradley, Like I didn't really
understand why they were like, no, he was a really
good mayor and in the seventies, the La City Council
voted to ban sidewalk vending throughout the city. But it
(15:18):
was Tom Bradley who was the mayor that vetoed the
ordinance because he knew it would affect poor people and
he thought it was really important to encourage creating small
businesses and you know, giving poor people some economic mobility.
I mean. Despite this, sidewalk vending was officially made illegal
in nineteen eighty and at the time, you know, street
(15:38):
food was banned. But then there was a spike in
migration and a demand for this cultural food again by
this wave of new immigrants, and so a lot of
times vendors were seen as criminals and a lot were
arrested and beaten and served jail time. The ban basically
turned vending into this political issue, and it motivated street
vendors to organize himself, and so a lot of I mean,
(16:02):
I think a lot of organizations were formed. But in
nineteen eighty seven they began meeting and they established the
Association of Street Vendors AVA A Soires Ambulantes. It turned
into a political issue because street vending really bumps up
against immigration policies, police harassment, human rights issues, and so
(16:24):
in nineteen ninety four, the Special Sidewalk Vending District Ordinance
was enacted to allow selling in eight areas of Los
Angeles as part of this like pilot program. Even though
they did this, there were still like continuous harassment by
the LAPD, and you know, so the vendors continued to protest,
(16:46):
and you know, a lot of this still continues today.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
This pilot program was in the nineties. Right in between
twenty ten and twenty nineteen, police arrested over forty three
thousand people for legal sidewalk But there's an estimated ten
to twelve thousand street food vendors in LA selling everything
from bacon wrap hot dogs, take seti yas to thut
galls fruit all over Los Angeles, you know, and you wonder,
(17:14):
like why do they continue to do this despite risking fines,
police harassment, even imprisonment. Most of them are documented and
have very few employment alternatives, and they need to provide
for their family in street vending offers them this economic mobility.
I mean, they are these incredible entrepreneurs. I mean, they
(17:36):
do so much.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I mean, and street vending is technically legal in Los
Angeles now, but all the vendors say the permit is
so out of reach because it's either too expensive, you know,
the process to get one is super deterearing from getting one,
and so they still have a lot of a lot
of challenges and I think, you know, operating without a
(18:00):
permit is sometimes the only option because they have to
make a living.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
LA City Council approved a measure to decriminalize street vending,
So that was twenty eighteen, and this was with the
Safe Sidewalk Vending Act called SB ninety six. And then
in twenty twenty two, s B nine seventy two was passed,
and this attempted, you know, to facilitate greater access to
(18:27):
food vendors. But like you said, some of these permits
are just impossible.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Hungary. First, we got a chance to talk to the
executive Director of Inclusion Action, Rudy Aspinosa, to talk to
us about what his organization is doing to support the
street vendor movement.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Tell us who you are and how your organization helps
support the street vendor movement in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Sure, my name is Rudy. I serve as the executive
director of Inclusive Action for the city. Inclusive Action is
an economic justice organization that really focuses on getting capital
into the hands of people that haven't had it before.
We're a certified financial institution. We're a community development financial institution.
So a big piece of the work that we do
(19:28):
is we provide micro loans and business coaching to entrepreneurs
that include street vendors but also breaking mortar businesses. And
we also have a division to focus on policy advocacy,
and we prioritize that because we know to reach economic justice,
we have to address the systems that have caused income
inequality in our city and in our country, and so
(19:50):
as part of that advocacy work, one of the campaigns
we've worked on over the last decade is the effort
to leadalized stream vending. We're one of the co founders
of the La Street Vendor campaign in the most recent
California Street Vendor campaign.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
What is happening right now within the street vendors or
among the street vendors that you think people should be
most aware of.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I think that people should know that street vendors have
been struggling for many, many years, decades even to be
included formally in our economy. This has been even beyond
our work. There's been many people in other generations that
have worked on trying to legalize street ending in Los Angeles.
And what I want people to know is that there's
a history here that's beyond many of us, and I
(20:33):
want folks to know that in the last few years
that there have been great strides forward due to the
work of the coalition and street vendor leaders in our city.
Starting in twenty sixteen, we began to pass policies in
Los Angeles and in California that have created pathways for
street vendors to finally get permits. In twenty eighteen, Senate
(20:56):
Bill nine forty six pass that was championed by then
Senator Ricarolata, decriminalized sidewalk meaning throughout the state of California
and ask cities to create systems for sidewalk vendors. And
in this past year, we passed Senate BIL nineteen seventy
two with Center Arena Gonzalez, they change the retail food
Code to support street food vendors that we're having a
hard time getting public health permits. So people should know
(21:19):
that there's these new laws in place that the entire
state of California is getting adjusted to, and so folks
should be optimistic, but we also should be really vigilant
because just because we pass this laws doesn't mean that
everything's amazing now. Now our focus is really about making
sure these laws are implemented properly. And so we just
(21:39):
have this big passage this past year for street food vendors,
but the county health departments throughout the state of California
and cities have to learn what this law is about
and how to implement it properly. And so that's the work.
The work continues on for all advocates, is to make
sure that we're holding our cities accountable to these new regulations.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
So what can one do to help you?
Speaker 3 (22:09):
You're hosting a podcast, and I think we need people
like you that are elevating stories. We need people that
are designers that are thinking differently about how we design
our cities and how do we design virtual environments for
people to tell stories. We need activists, we need community organizers,
we need lawmakers. So my ask to friends that say
that they want to get involved is to consider what
(22:30):
is your gift and what's your skill and how can
you contribute that skill to a coalition. And so once
you identify how you want to help, I would say,
get plugged in. There's a lot of amazing activists out
here in organizations that are doing really great work. If
you're interested in microfinance, you have inclusive Action. If you're
interested in community organizing, you have organizations like Community Power
(22:53):
Collective and Cheat Lab that are focused on immigr rights.
If you're a lawyer, we work with an amazing team
of public Health so to provide free legal services to
street vendors and other businesses. And so there's there's so
many ways to get plugged in. And so what I
tell people is like find your skill and then think
about who are to try to learn about the organizations
(23:13):
that are already doing work and just you know, you know,
get get involved with them. They need your.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Help buying from them as well, just on that scale.
But then also and.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Tip them and tip them, yeah, totally and tip them,
and I think, you know, the one third thing that
I want to tell folks that are listening is the
role of our lawmakers. Our lawmakers are dealing with the
variety of priorities and maybe in competing priorities. Here in
LA we have a huge housing crisis, for example, and
homelessness is a huge priority for all of us, or
(23:44):
it should be. And I think that if somebody cares
about street vendors or small businesses or food entrepreneurs, we
have to make sure those lawmakers hear from us, and
they often probably they probably don't. So the more that
any constituent call their local city council member or their
state senator their assembly and says, hey, this is where
(24:05):
I live. You represent me. I'm really concerned about the
street vendor on the corner here, and I want to
make sure that they have what they need. What are
you doing about that? Once we ask questions to our
elected leaders, it plans to seed in their mind that
they need to work on that. And unfortunately, in the
early days of the campaign, when we were asking leaders
to step up, they would say, nobody's complaining about this,
(24:29):
so why should I prioritize this. Nobody's saying anything about
street vendors. And so the more we call and engage,
the better. There's a lot of amazing folks on social
media now that are showing telling stories or covering the
harassment the vendors are facing. Those are all things that
contribute to lawmakers paying attention.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
If there was one word to describe the people that
were a street vendors, what would that.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Word to be. I'm sorry, I'm kind of pausing because
I'm a little bit I'm a little sort of moved
by the question. I'm thinking about an entrepreneur that I
just got a Slack conment for my colleague. My colleague
about my word is visionary. And the comment that I
(25:21):
got in our organizational chat is one of our borrowers
who had a mobile was a mobile vendor. They came
to us years ago and they were like barely breaking even.
Speaker 5 (25:33):
With their business, and they applied for a loan and
they wanted to basically buy out the loan that they
had on their little hitch truck, on a little trailer
that was connected to the pickup truck.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
And they were, you know, trying to figure it out.
They're like, we work hard, and like I were cooking
for people and I'm just not making it work. And
so I just got a note of like, how well
they're doing now. It's like three or four years later
and they sold that that mobile facility, and I think
that they're opening up a brick and mortar now and
it's like they're doing well. And I think the entrepreneurs
(26:09):
in our city, in our communities are visionary people that
in the face of so many obstacles for their family,
they're saying, I'm not going to give up. I'm still
going to get out here. I'm going to be on
the public right away on the sidewalk. That's scary to
put yourself out there, think about the vulnerability that's required.
And they're saying, I'm going to continue to struggle because
I see I envision something better, and man, how can
(26:34):
we not support them?
Speaker 5 (26:35):
You know?
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Is what I think. So visionary is my word for them.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
That is beautiful. Thank you so much, Rudy.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Don't go anywhere, hungry for history will be right back.
So I think this is a dumb question. When did
tacos become popular in LA because I feel like in
(27:09):
the founding of LA it must be in the constitution.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Now well by the thirties, the tacos were you know,
it's just the wave of immigrants from Mexico that we're
bringing their foods with them. And by the nineteen thirties
that goes, we're super popular in Los Angeles, from trucks
to sidewalk set up.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
And it's funny, yeah, it's funny that you say trucks
because you know, the taco truck is like the famous thing. Actually,
food trucks in general were birthed out of street vendors, right,
and so you gourmet these gourmet food trucks now and
it's almost a bit of a gentrification, right of any
(27:50):
migrant food because all most of the street vendors is
immigrant food. And now you have, you know, these very
popular food trucks and food truck festivals, right, like I mean,
and these these trucks are like decked out and for
some reason that's okay, right, that's accepted, that's supplotted and embraced.
(28:12):
But you know, if you look at sidewalk setups, it's like.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, they don't have the trucks don't have the stigma,
you know, because they were the original the Loncetas. They
were the damal vendor from the turn of the century
became the loncera and you would see them parked. You
still see them sort of when they were construction workers,
(28:36):
so they're parked outside.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
You still have the.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Ones that are not all you know, made for hipsters,
that are for Mexican Mexicican American construction workers, so you
still see them, but now there are so many. I
think it started I would say, what like around two
thousand and seven or eight with the with the Kim
Chica set, yeahs Roy Troy, the Koji truck. And then
(29:01):
with the rise of social media, places like East Los
Angeles starting to become gentrified, like you said so, and
then with social media you have the truck saying I'm
going to be here, I'm going to be there. So
it kind of went hand in hand. And now the
food trucks they still face a struggle, not as much
as the street vendors, but now they're they're super hip.
(29:21):
I mean the Mariscos Carliscos, which is one of my
favorite trucks in the city, food trucks in the city.
The late Jonathan Gold featured them in the list of
one hundred and one best restaurants in La It's a
truck and it's not a hipster truck. It's just a
really good truck. They have the best trimp tacos in
the city.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
What's your favorite kind of taco?
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Oh my, I love tacosaso.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
I think I have me too, I do. Oh God,
I'm a big Tacos al Pastor fan. You know why
because they're the most similar to Mexico, like the Mexico
City tacos that I have, Tacos Pastor. I can have
them in East and it's pretty much the same.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
Mmm.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
They're consistent across borders. They're so good.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
There's a truck called There are two places where I
get my tacos at Pasta Fixed in La Leos Tacos they're.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
All over yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
And then there's one I don't know what it's called,
but it's across the street from Lows on Pico Boulevard
with just the pineapple and lime juice and some radish.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
That's my Yeah. I like for taco. I like the pineapple,
onions and cilantro. So what is for you? What's the
soul of the taco, the tortilla or the filling? What
I'm the it's the filling, the tortilla is the same.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
No, because if you don't have a really good tortilla,
then like if you take you pick up the taco
and the falls apart.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
You're right, You're right, You're right, You're right. Yeah, you've
ruined the experience, right Yeah. Yeah. Also, also you're right
because my chicken tacos pepped loves because mine are America
American eyed, because mine's not the taco bell taco, but
it's not the just heat the tortilla, the corn tortilla up,
I fry the corn tortilla. So it's I had to
(31:07):
be taco when I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
When I met you in Spain, you made them. They
were incredible.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Yeah, it's crying of the tortilla. So you're right. I
actually have to agree with you. Tortillas pretty I think
it's fifty to fifty then, but I actually think it's
I think it's thirty three thirty three thirty three because
this alsa makes a big difference.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
To the sasa makes a huge difference, and the fresh
lime juice. I feel like I can't have a taco
without squeezing some lime on it.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Yeah. Well, if anybody has seen my searching for Mexico,
Mexico City episode. We did a taco tour in Mexico
City and they're so like you said, Mexico City is
really the melting pot of all the tacos of the country.
And I went with the taco blogger and it was
like she knew exactly where to go. The guy that's
(31:51):
there that makes the the sweating tacos, what.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Is it.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Cansta? Yes, yes, which was I've never had one, never
had one either, And he had three different ones and
they were hot and warm, and he'd been there all
morning and he brought this all this stuff from his
house and I'm like, surely this is going to be
like eh, because you know it's two hours old or whatever. Nope,
(32:18):
it was. They were still warm, warm and delicious, and
he had these different salsas and oh, man, do you
know that.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
One of the earliest photographs of a taco from ne
Thean nineteen twenties is a woman selling those tacos a canasta.
So basically, they put the tacos in a basket and
then cover it with like some sort of plastic and
they know they with towels and they don't get soggy.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
They're super soft. And that's why it's a good tortilla
because it doesn't fall apart. We hope you guys enjoyed
this episode. I know I did. I'm actually super hungry now.
I think I'm going to make myself some chicken tacos.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Thank you, Thank you all for listening.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Hungary for History is an unbelievable entertainment production in partnership
with Iheart'smi Kultura podcast network.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
For more of your favorite shows, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Did you know that street vending in Mexico has pre
Columbian roots and primarily took place in market places or tiangis.
So everything from ceramic cookware, cacao, vanilla, eggs, clothes, all
of it was sold, and one of the most popular
items was tacos.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
In today's episode, we explore the history of fucos and
street vending. My name is Eva Longoria and I am My.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
De Gomez Racon and welcome to Hungry for History, a
podcast that explores our past and present through food.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
On every episode, we'll talk about the history of some
of our favorite dishes, ingredients, and beverages.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
So make yourself at home.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Ewen Britchell.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So they weren't always called tacos. I thought fuckos were
always called tacos.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
No, they weren't always called tacos. So the concept of
a taco has existed for hundreds, maybe thousands of years,
but its exact origins are unknown. Some say that the
mere act of rolling food in adrtilla makes it a taco,
but the word bacco is actually relatively new.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
So where did the taco originate?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Like?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Where does the word come from?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
So, according to food historian Jeffrey Pilcher. He wrote a
book called Planet Taco, a Global History of Mexican Food.
He suggests that the word facco dates to the nineteenth
century and it first appears in the real Academiespaniola. The
Official Dictionary of the Spanish language, defined as a little
like a peg or a plug. Another theory is that
(01:40):
the word taco comes from the naulalco, meaning half, because
the ingredients are put in a taco in the center
of a dortilla, which is then folded in half.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
That makes more sense to me the no wadal word.
It could be that glaco I mean that sounds I
mean claco, sounds like taco, and it means half.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
But the other thing is that those those little pegs
or plugs. Miners in Mexico used to put these little
pegs with dynamite inside or with gunpowder inside. They would
roll them and they would put them in the mines.
They're basically little sticks of dynamite. So those were called tacos.
So this whole idea, and some of the first you know,
(02:19):
written recordings of facco were thatcos e minero minors tacos,
So it was sort of like this little bit of
dynamite that you're eating. So so that that's why there
are those two different theories. But the word itself dates
to the nineteenth century, so it's not that old.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah, because because there's writings of Spanish conquistadores like Bernaldiez
del Castillo who mentions warm corn tortillas on mochte Zuma's table.
So you know, it was discussed and that the tortillas
were used as sort of a spoon. But that technique
of using like tortillas as a spoon, that's also in
like I said, in India, where they use the non
(02:59):
as a spoon. I mean, there's a lot of cultures
that use a piece of something as a spoon, exactly. Exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Every culture has something, right, and every culture has something
that you you know, every street food, it's sort of
things that you eat with your hands as well. But
some can say that a taco, you know, that the
soul of the taco is the corn trtilla or the tortillya.
But the original tortillya, the original taco would have been
with corn.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah. And then so in the early nineteenth century, a
lot of people began migrating to Mexico City, you know,
for opportunities or region bringing their regional cooking skills with them.
But every region obviously has different foods. In Mexico City
became a melting pot of tacos. And I've experienced this
because there's a taco a mercado on Saturdays near our
(03:49):
house in Mexico City, and you have Mitua tacos from
Mitua Kan that goes the Yucatan that goes it. Like
there's all these different stalls and every region is so different.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
That is what's so interesting I feel about Mexico City
is that that it's such a melting pot of cuisines
from the entire country. And this is where I mean
you could say that the original tacco culture is in
these markets like the one that you're mentioning. You know
today one of the most famous pre colonial Tiangeese is
(04:23):
this marketplace of laate Logo that was in you know,
modern day sort of downtown Mexico City. But these danges
are are all over, like you have one by your
house in Mexico City. So this is this this culture
of street food, this culture of street food from all
over the country has existed since the nineteenth century.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
D'angi means what is that nawadl as well Tiangi.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yes, the word Tangeese comes from the Nawall word getsli,
two words from the now ill word Gangetzli, which means
open air market and the amiki, which means to sell
or trained. So the most important markets pre colonial market
was the one that's like and you could say that
(05:09):
they are modern day flea markets or modern day boigas,
modern day you know where you people come and sell
everything from food to clothes to cook wear, everything that
you could possibly find. But that was really the soul
of Mexico, when everybody would come together and buy what
they needed. One could argue that the Pinata District in
(05:39):
downtown Los Angeles is a modern day tianges.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, I've been there and I love it, and I'm
so excited because Hungary for History got a chance to
talk to one of these vendors in the Pinnata district.
Her name is Mercell Sanchez.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Numbers Sanchez, so evenlante.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
She is not only a businesswoman, but she's also an activist.
She's originally from the city of Buebla in Mexico.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
And she's been working at the Pinatta District for about
eighteen years. Mendo and she sells everything from baby clothes,
artistsan bags from Puebla. She sells Mexican candies, She sells
hot dogs and chi la las mole esquitoes, and she
(06:31):
has the most amazing faccos dorados. She has chicken ones
and potato ones. I have the tacos Papa Crispy, just
she's frying them right there with his green salsa, like
raw fresh, bright green salsa and a little bit of
caeso fresco. Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Even this topic of street vendors is so relevant today
because so many food venders are getting her arab by
the cops, by community. And one of the main reasons
she got into activism was because she witnessed food vendors
(07:13):
getting harassed by the cops and she saw their food
get thrown out, items that they had for sale get confiscated.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Yados, Yovia madress Alter.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
She said she even witnessed people getting deported, like single
mothers crying after having their shops destroyed.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, it's really really devastating it and she was sort
of seeing this happening around her, seeing it happening, you know,
to her as well, just being harassed for for just
trying to make a living. So she told us that
she started asking questions like what what can I do?
Like what can be done?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
On a who you that?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
And a friend of her told her about an organization
that was trying to help them, and that's when she
found out about eLAC, which is the East LA Community
Corporation based in Boyle Heights and East LA.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Yeah like communis poso misikos oh.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yes, So with the help of others, she started organizing
and she made a promise to herself. She said, I
don't care if this takes me twenty years, I'm going
to do it. Her husband even told her, like, who's
going to listen? You're just wasting your time, and she
told him, at least I'll have my head held high
knowing I did something because people don't know how much
we are suffering.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Latona.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Sure, it's really incredible, and you know, her hard work
paid off. It took ten years. It didn't take the
twenty years, but it took ten years, and in twenty eighteen,
the state passed a law legalizing sidewalk theings.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Well because of her hard work got Bravo to her.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yes, she's incredible. Thanks to her hard work and she
was organizing people. When she went to that first meeting
at eLAC there were seven street vendors, and she realized,
there's no way that we're going to make a dent
if it's just seven of us. So she was going
from vendor to vendor to vendor, spreading the word. It's
like you do you know when it's time to vote.
(09:06):
She was going to every until she had hundreds of vendors.
They went to Sacramento and I mean they got these
lost past.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Wow. Well, if y'all are in Los Angeles, make sure
to check her out in the Pignata district. It's called
Sammy's e Lomas. Stop by and try that.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Don't go anywhere. We get into the history of street
vending in LA and the modern day struggle this community
is facing.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
So winded street vending in Los Angeles begin it must
have been I mean, this must have been so long ago.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
It was so the city of La was established in
seventeen eighty one, so long ago, but not that long ago.
But so Mexico lost California in eighteen forty eight in
the Mexican American War.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
The entire Southwest California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada utahs.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yea six yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
So by eighteen fifty, California was part of the US,
but La was only seventy years old at the time,
so it went from being this little Mexican pueblo to
a city with an Anglo majority in very short period
of time. In his book Los Angeles Street Food History
(10:35):
From Tamaledos to Taco Trucks by Farley Elliott, he says
that the first signs of street food in La emerge
after eighteen seventy six, when the Southern Pacific Railroad linked
the city to the rest of the US and the
city really began to come to life. So we start
seeing them male vendors, so not necessarily bacco vendors, but
(10:57):
we start seeing that male vendors selling from cart from
the little wagons in what is now downtown Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Well, and it's so interesting like at this time, like
by the eighteen nineties, there was already the city government
was already trying to sanction or severely limit and curb
theamal vendors, Chinese food vendors. They were really restricting them
from being able to sell or banishing it all together,
which obviously was reflected a larger issue of discrimination towards Mexican, Mexican, American,
(11:29):
Chinese any other, right, any other. So there was a
lot of early efforts to regulate street food, and by
the turn of the century, the city forced the model
cart owners to pay for operating licenses as a way
to like weed them out. And this only helped destigmatize
the market for tamalies, but it didn't slow it down,
Like Mexican food was just too popular. They were like,
(11:52):
people wanted their tamals. Yeah, people wanted their tamalis. People
wanted the really good food. It was just, you.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Know, it was it was all about discriminating them. So
in nineteen ten, these segregation laws between white and non
white vendors limited the presence of Mexican and Chinese vendors
in downtown LA. So they continue to thrive outside of
the downtown area. But over time we start seeing these
(12:18):
you know, sit down restaurants, and these sit down restaurants
would further marginalized street vendors. But with each new wave
of immigrants came a new wave of street vending, you know,
rebirth of street vends.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Well, specifically the wave of Mexicans, you know, by the
nineteen twenties that migrated to the US during the years,
obviously the Mexican Revolution having a big part of that,
but the tradition of like street bending is one that
travels with them, and so we start seeing more than
theamalies by this time, we start seeing the buckles, and
you know that they were all the rage in La,
(12:53):
but like you see a lot of vendors. I the
first time I moved to La. My greatest memories Olvetta Street.
I love Olivetta Street. I went to a festival down
there and I was like, what is this place? And
Olvetta Street is one of the oldest streets, opened in
nineteen thirty and there's so much history down there to
(13:17):
who could own the stalls. And if you look at
Olvetta Street, you'll see it's an alley and the storefronts
are on the other side. And what happened was Mexicans
weren't allowed to own a storefront in the nineteen thirties,
so they could sell in the back in the alley,
but they couldn't have a storefront, and the alley became
more popular than the storefront. And that's how old Vetta
(13:40):
Street became an icon and really a heritage site of
Los Angeles. It's protected, it's celebrated now. So it's a
very I love Oletta Street. If you guys have a chance,
go check it out.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
It's a very cool, very very cool place. I love
it too. In her book, in the book Food, Health
and Culture in Latino, Los Angeles by professor of LATINX
Food Studies Sarah Portnoy, she says that in the mid
nineteen thirties, Los Angeles band vending on sidewalks downtown and
then in major business districts, and she goes on to
(14:18):
say that these actions restricted sidewalk activity and made sidewalk
vending more challenging. During the course of the twentieth century,
then La became a car city. Pedestrians and vendors were
pushed off the sidewalks, and the streets lost this former
vibrancy and commerce.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
So this c LA's a driving city. Like we're not
New York, We're not in York. No, it's not a
pedestrian city at all. And it's so sad.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
And so this hostility towards street vendors grew and persisted
for decades.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Yeah, well, you know, it's so funny because you know,
if you have ever flown into lax there's a Tom
Bradley terminal and it's the international terminal. And I've always like, oh,
why is the name Tom Bradley, Like I didn't really
understand why they were like, no, he was a really
good mayor and in the seventies, the La City Council
voted to ban sidewalk vending throughout the city. But it
(15:18):
was Tom Bradley who was the mayor that vetoed the
ordinance because he knew it would affect poor people and
he thought it was really important to encourage creating small
businesses and you know, giving poor people some economic mobility.
I mean. Despite this, sidewalk vending was officially made illegal
in nineteen eighty and at the time, you know, street
(15:38):
food was banned. But then there was a spike in
migration and a demand for this cultural food again by
this wave of new immigrants, and so a lot of
times vendors were seen as criminals and a lot were
arrested and beaten and served jail time. The ban basically
turned vending into this political issue, and it motivated street
vendors to organize himself, and so a lot of I mean,
(16:02):
I think a lot of organizations were formed. But in
nineteen eighty seven they began meeting and they established the
Association of Street Vendors AVA A Soires Ambulantes. It turned
into a political issue because street vending really bumps up
against immigration policies, police harassment, human rights issues, and so
(16:24):
in nineteen ninety four, the Special Sidewalk Vending District Ordinance
was enacted to allow selling in eight areas of Los
Angeles as part of this like pilot program. Even though
they did this, there were still like continuous harassment by
the LAPD, and you know, so the vendors continued to protest,
(16:46):
and you know, a lot of this still continues today.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
This pilot program was in the nineties. Right in between
twenty ten and twenty nineteen, police arrested over forty three
thousand people for legal sidewalk But there's an estimated ten
to twelve thousand street food vendors in LA selling everything
from bacon wrap hot dogs, take seti yas to thut
galls fruit all over Los Angeles, you know, and you wonder,
(17:14):
like why do they continue to do this despite risking fines,
police harassment, even imprisonment. Most of them are documented and
have very few employment alternatives, and they need to provide
for their family in street vending offers them this economic mobility.
I mean, they are these incredible entrepreneurs. I mean, they
(17:36):
do so much.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I mean, and street vending is technically legal in Los
Angeles now, but all the vendors say the permit is
so out of reach because it's either too expensive, you know,
the process to get one is super deterearing from getting one,
and so they still have a lot of a lot
of challenges and I think, you know, operating without a
(18:00):
permit is sometimes the only option because they have to
make a living.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
LA City Council approved a measure to decriminalize street vending,
So that was twenty eighteen, and this was with the
Safe Sidewalk Vending Act called SB ninety six. And then
in twenty twenty two, s B nine seventy two was passed,
and this attempted, you know, to facilitate greater access to
(18:27):
food vendors. But like you said, some of these permits
are just impossible.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Hungary. First, we got a chance to talk to the
executive Director of Inclusion Action, Rudy Aspinosa, to talk to
us about what his organization is doing to support the
street vendor movement.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Tell us who you are and how your organization helps
support the street vendor movement in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Sure, my name is Rudy. I serve as the executive
director of Inclusive Action for the city. Inclusive Action is
an economic justice organization that really focuses on getting capital
into the hands of people that haven't had it before.
We're a certified financial institution. We're a community development financial institution.
So a big piece of the work that we do
(19:28):
is we provide micro loans and business coaching to entrepreneurs
that include street vendors but also breaking mortar businesses. And
we also have a division to focus on policy advocacy,
and we prioritize that because we know to reach economic justice,
we have to address the systems that have caused income
inequality in our city and in our country, and so
(19:50):
as part of that advocacy work, one of the campaigns
we've worked on over the last decade is the effort
to leadalized stream vending. We're one of the co founders
of the La Street Vendor campaign in the most recent
California Street Vendor campaign.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
What is happening right now within the street vendors or
among the street vendors that you think people should be
most aware of.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I think that people should know that street vendors have
been struggling for many, many years, decades even to be
included formally in our economy. This has been even beyond
our work. There's been many people in other generations that
have worked on trying to legalize street ending in Los Angeles.
And what I want people to know is that there's
a history here that's beyond many of us, and I
(20:33):
want folks to know that in the last few years
that there have been great strides forward due to the
work of the coalition and street vendor leaders in our city.
Starting in twenty sixteen, we began to pass policies in
Los Angeles and in California that have created pathways for
street vendors to finally get permits. In twenty eighteen, Senate
(20:56):
Bill nine forty six pass that was championed by then
Senator Ricarolata, decriminalized sidewalk meaning throughout the state of California
and ask cities to create systems for sidewalk vendors. And
in this past year, we passed Senate BIL nineteen seventy
two with Center Arena Gonzalez, they change the retail food
Code to support street food vendors that we're having a
hard time getting public health permits. So people should know
(21:19):
that there's these new laws in place that the entire
state of California is getting adjusted to, and so folks
should be optimistic, but we also should be really vigilant
because just because we pass this laws doesn't mean that
everything's amazing now. Now our focus is really about making
sure these laws are implemented properly. And so we just
(21:39):
have this big passage this past year for street food vendors,
but the county health departments throughout the state of California
and cities have to learn what this law is about
and how to implement it properly. And so that's the work.
The work continues on for all advocates, is to make
sure that we're holding our cities accountable to these new regulations.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
So what can one do to help you?
Speaker 3 (22:09):
You're hosting a podcast, and I think we need people
like you that are elevating stories. We need people that
are designers that are thinking differently about how we design
our cities and how do we design virtual environments for
people to tell stories. We need activists, we need community organizers,
we need lawmakers. So my ask to friends that say
that they want to get involved is to consider what
(22:30):
is your gift and what's your skill and how can
you contribute that skill to a coalition. And so once
you identify how you want to help, I would say,
get plugged in. There's a lot of amazing activists out
here in organizations that are doing really great work. If
you're interested in microfinance, you have inclusive Action. If you're
interested in community organizing, you have organizations like Community Power
(22:53):
Collective and Cheat Lab that are focused on immigr rights.
If you're a lawyer, we work with an amazing team
of public Health so to provide free legal services to
street vendors and other businesses. And so there's there's so
many ways to get plugged in. And so what I
tell people is like find your skill and then think
about who are to try to learn about the organizations
(23:13):
that are already doing work and just you know, you know,
get get involved with them. They need your.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Help buying from them as well, just on that scale.
But then also and.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Tip them and tip them, yeah, totally and tip them,
and I think, you know, the one third thing that
I want to tell folks that are listening is the
role of our lawmakers. Our lawmakers are dealing with the
variety of priorities and maybe in competing priorities. Here in
LA we have a huge housing crisis, for example, and
homelessness is a huge priority for all of us, or
(23:44):
it should be. And I think that if somebody cares
about street vendors or small businesses or food entrepreneurs, we
have to make sure those lawmakers hear from us, and
they often probably they probably don't. So the more that
any constituent call their local city council member or their
state senator their assembly and says, hey, this is where
(24:05):
I live. You represent me. I'm really concerned about the
street vendor on the corner here, and I want to
make sure that they have what they need. What are
you doing about that? Once we ask questions to our
elected leaders, it plans to seed in their mind that
they need to work on that. And unfortunately, in the
early days of the campaign, when we were asking leaders
to step up, they would say, nobody's complaining about this,
(24:29):
so why should I prioritize this. Nobody's saying anything about
street vendors. And so the more we call and engage,
the better. There's a lot of amazing folks on social
media now that are showing telling stories or covering the
harassment the vendors are facing. Those are all things that
contribute to lawmakers paying attention.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
If there was one word to describe the people that
were a street vendors, what would that.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Word to be. I'm sorry, I'm kind of pausing because
I'm a little bit I'm a little sort of moved
by the question. I'm thinking about an entrepreneur that I
just got a Slack conment for my colleague. My colleague
about my word is visionary. And the comment that I
(25:21):
got in our organizational chat is one of our borrowers
who had a mobile was a mobile vendor. They came
to us years ago and they were like barely breaking even.
Speaker 5 (25:33):
With their business, and they applied for a loan and
they wanted to basically buy out the loan that they
had on their little hitch truck, on a little trailer
that was connected to the pickup truck.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
And they were, you know, trying to figure it out.
They're like, we work hard, and like I were cooking
for people and I'm just not making it work. And
so I just got a note of like, how well
they're doing now. It's like three or four years later
and they sold that that mobile facility, and I think
that they're opening up a brick and mortar now and
it's like they're doing well. And I think the entrepreneurs
(26:09):
in our city, in our communities are visionary people that
in the face of so many obstacles for their family,
they're saying, I'm not going to give up. I'm still
going to get out here. I'm going to be on
the public right away on the sidewalk. That's scary to
put yourself out there, think about the vulnerability that's required.
And they're saying, I'm going to continue to struggle because
I see I envision something better, and man, how can
(26:34):
we not support them?
Speaker 5 (26:35):
You know?
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Is what I think. So visionary is my word for them.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
That is beautiful. Thank you so much, Rudy.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Don't go anywhere, hungry for history will be right back.
So I think this is a dumb question. When did
tacos become popular in LA because I feel like in
(27:09):
the founding of LA it must be in the constitution.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Now well by the thirties, the tacos were you know,
it's just the wave of immigrants from Mexico that we're
bringing their foods with them. And by the nineteen thirties
that goes, we're super popular in Los Angeles, from trucks
to sidewalk set up.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
And it's funny, yeah, it's funny that you say trucks
because you know, the taco truck is like the famous thing. Actually,
food trucks in general were birthed out of street vendors, right,
and so you gourmet these gourmet food trucks now and
it's almost a bit of a gentrification, right of any
(27:50):
migrant food because all most of the street vendors is
immigrant food. And now you have, you know, these very
popular food trucks and food truck festivals, right, like I mean,
and these these trucks are like decked out and for
some reason that's okay, right, that's accepted, that's supplotted and embraced.
(28:12):
But you know, if you look at sidewalk setups, it's like.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, they don't have the trucks don't have the stigma,
you know, because they were the original the Loncetas. They
were the damal vendor from the turn of the century
became the loncera and you would see them parked. You
still see them sort of when they were construction workers,
(28:36):
so they're parked outside.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
You still have the.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Ones that are not all you know, made for hipsters,
that are for Mexican Mexicican American construction workers, so you
still see them, but now there are so many. I
think it started I would say, what like around two
thousand and seven or eight with the with the Kim
Chica set, yeahs Roy Troy, the Koji truck. And then
(29:01):
with the rise of social media, places like East Los
Angeles starting to become gentrified, like you said so, and
then with social media you have the truck saying I'm
going to be here, I'm going to be there. So
it kind of went hand in hand. And now the
food trucks they still face a struggle, not as much
as the street vendors, but now they're they're super hip.
(29:21):
I mean the Mariscos Carliscos, which is one of my
favorite trucks in the city, food trucks in the city.
The late Jonathan Gold featured them in the list of
one hundred and one best restaurants in La It's a
truck and it's not a hipster truck. It's just a
really good truck. They have the best trimp tacos in
the city.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
What's your favorite kind of taco?
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Oh my, I love tacosaso.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
I think I have me too, I do. Oh God,
I'm a big Tacos al Pastor fan. You know why
because they're the most similar to Mexico, like the Mexico
City tacos that I have, Tacos Pastor. I can have
them in East and it's pretty much the same.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
Mmm.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
They're consistent across borders. They're so good.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
There's a truck called There are two places where I
get my tacos at Pasta Fixed in La Leos Tacos they're.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
All over yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
And then there's one I don't know what it's called,
but it's across the street from Lows on Pico Boulevard
with just the pineapple and lime juice and some radish.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
That's my Yeah. I like for taco. I like the pineapple,
onions and cilantro. So what is for you? What's the
soul of the taco, the tortilla or the filling? What
I'm the it's the filling, the tortilla is the same.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
No, because if you don't have a really good tortilla,
then like if you take you pick up the taco
and the falls apart.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
You're right, You're right, You're right, You're right. Yeah, you've
ruined the experience, right Yeah. Yeah. Also, also you're right
because my chicken tacos pepped loves because mine are America
American eyed, because mine's not the taco bell taco, but
it's not the just heat the tortilla, the corn tortilla up,
I fry the corn tortilla. So it's I had to
(31:07):
be taco when I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
When I met you in Spain, you made them. They
were incredible.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Yeah, it's crying of the tortilla. So you're right. I
actually have to agree with you. Tortillas pretty I think
it's fifty to fifty then, but I actually think it's
I think it's thirty three thirty three thirty three because
this alsa makes a big difference.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
To the sasa makes a huge difference, and the fresh
lime juice. I feel like I can't have a taco
without squeezing some lime on it.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Yeah. Well, if anybody has seen my searching for Mexico,
Mexico City episode. We did a taco tour in Mexico
City and they're so like you said, Mexico City is
really the melting pot of all the tacos of the country.
And I went with the taco blogger and it was
like she knew exactly where to go. The guy that's
(31:51):
there that makes the the sweating tacos, what.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Is it.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Cansta? Yes, yes, which was I've never had one, never
had one either, And he had three different ones and
they were hot and warm, and he'd been there all
morning and he brought this all this stuff from his
house and I'm like, surely this is going to be
like eh, because you know it's two hours old or whatever. Nope,
(32:18):
it was. They were still warm, warm and delicious, and
he had these different salsas and oh, man, do you
know that.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
One of the earliest photographs of a taco from ne
Thean nineteen twenties is a woman selling those tacos a canasta.
So basically, they put the tacos in a basket and
then cover it with like some sort of plastic and
they know they with towels and they don't get soggy.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
They're super soft. And that's why it's a good tortilla
because it doesn't fall apart. We hope you guys enjoyed
this episode. I know I did. I'm actually super hungry now.
I think I'm going to make myself some chicken tacos.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Thank you, Thank you all for listening.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Hungary for History is an unbelievable entertainment production in partnership
with Iheart'smi Kultura podcast network.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
For more of your favorite shows, visit the iHeartRadio app,
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