Today, I’m going to review episode two of Ugly Delicious; an episode entitled Tacos that again, isn’t exactly about the food. I’m starting to see where the narrative of this show is going. While talking about food and the world surrounding it, Chef Chang is also talking about larger issues, and the way that food plays into those issues…and I really like it.
The episode opens with a fantastic quote from Jonathan Gold, a food reviewer from the LA times, who says that the taco has more deliciousness per square inch than anything else in the world. I’m hard-pressed to find a decent argument to this point, so now the stage is set for an in-depth dive into the world of tacos. According to Mr. Gold, the keys to a great taco (from a truck) are first, that if you see some words on the menu that you don’t understand, that’s a GREAT sign. Second, if you see a package of tortillas, run away. If they’re not making their tortillas by hand, it’s not going to be close to authentic, or good in any way. Finally, a taco truck needs to have an array of salsa, or as Chef Chang says, their salsa game needs to be strong…I believe it.
The importance of corn in Mexican cuisine is then explored, something I learned about in culinary school. Corn as we know it (more accurately described as Maize) was the staple of the Aztec people for centuries. Once you soak the maize in an alkaline mixture, the nutrients packed into the food are released, and you can sustain an empire…something that the Spanish didn’t realize, much to their detriment when they brought it back to Europe.
Anyway, back to the episode. We talk to a series of people who’ve immigrated to Mexico over the last century, most notably the European refugees who ended up there after WW1, and how these immigrants have had an extremely positive effect on Mexican cuisine. The idea that Mexico is as much or more of a melting pot than America is discussed…and I think I agree with it. There’s a great line, that Mexico has always welcomed its immigrants, while there’s always been this undercurrent of xenophobia in America…which is completely true. From the Chinese, to the Irish, to the current scorn thrown towards immigrants from South America or the Middle East, America hasn’t been as eager to embrace our immigrants and their culture as we could have been…and it’s affected our food detrimentally.
Chef Chang and the rest of the crew talk about how almost every culture has a wrapped food that they’ve embraced…and this REALLY resonated with me. I come from a Norwegian background. My grandmother made a food called lefse my entire life. The way that I’ve always described it, and people recognize, is that it’s a potato based tortilla. In fact, my mentor at culinary school had a line that completely agrees with this as well. He would say “everything is a wonton”. By this, he means that every culture has a regional filling, inside a regional casing. For example, Pizza is a wonton. A calzone is *definitely* a wonton, and a pizza is just an open faced calzone. I can give a host of examples of this, but when you look at the food around the world, this is definitely true…and this episode echoes this.
Finally for this review, we are introduced to Mitla, a Mexican restaurant on route 66 in San Bernardino, CA. The story is told by a food historian, Gustavo Arellano, of how Glen Bell (of Taco Bell fame) had a burger place across the street from this restaurant. Mr. Bell wanted to mass produce burgers as a business, but the original McDonalds was just up the street from him, so this was out. Instead, he would go to Mitla, deconstruct their tacos, and eventually came to the realization that industrializing this taco recipe would be his path to success. The current owner of Mitla(the grandson of the original owner) talks about this, where he makes the quintessential point of this episode, and of the effect that the taco has had on America in general. He isn’t bothered by the fact that his family’s food was “stolen” to build an empire. He talks about how the American experience isn’t just taking in other cultures. It’s also about how America can assimilate what YOU do, and make it part of the whole.
To put an exclamation point on the point of how America is made better by assimilating other cultures, Gustavo talks about how he found a picture online from a white supremacist website, of them eating Del Taco, like it was no big deal. They don’t realize that for all of their blind hatred for people different than them, they will still eat their food like it’s no big deal. This is America summed up…and something that can be viewed as a tiny victory for multiculturalism and what America stands for. I completely agree, and back up the idea that food can unite us all, if we’ll allow it to. An excellent episode, 4/5 stars…or corn tortillas, if you prefer. 🙂
