Tacos: A Love Story

It was a frosty cold evening. I was four years old. The harsh wind bellowed outside the windows of the warm, inviting home, as I stood on a wooden stool watching the snow blow through the world outside. I heard the calling of my family from the kitchen as I ran to meet them. There, my eyes fell upon the sight: a fresh, crispy tortilla shell, carefully cradling a heavenly mixture of beans and meat, topped with cool lettuce, tomato and sour cream, and swaddled in a blanket of sharp cheddar cheese. My mouth watered as the portable deliciousness of my first real taco submerged me in sabor de Mexicano. Olè.

Actually, I have no idea when I ate my first taco. Sorry, guys -- that entire story up there was fake. But, to be honest, I doubt anyone remembers their first taco, and that's a good thing. Tacos have become one of those staples in our lives that goes contentedly unnoticed on a day to day basis. But if this incredible south of the border food phenomenon is as good as we all know it to be, why is it so content to be taken for granted?

I'll tell you why: tacos love us.

Sure, it may sound strange being loved by food, but the evidence is inarguable. After all...

• They care about your teeth!
  
  We can't expect toddlers to munch on ultra crunchy supersized tortilla chips, can we? And our elderly populations can't be left to fend for themselves in the wilderness of dentures and sharp taco bits, true? Well, the taco knows their dilemma -- and it cares -- enough to come swooping in with it's softer side. It's mariachi meets Michael Bolton for your taste buds. What could be better?
  
• They respect your lifestyle choices! 
  
  So many of the delicious food items we know and love today can be shockingly abrasive on the issue of vegetarianism -- I'm looking at you, hot juicy steak. Other foods try to change themselves in an effort to seem more open, but ultimately come off as fake -- veggie burgers, anyone? That's why tacos are so cool. They're all like, "Come on, dudes, put whatever you want on me. I'm good either way." Yes you are, tacos. Yes you are.
  
• They go where you go!
  
  
  
  Too often, life happens: business trips, holidays, and emergency getaways pile up while your plates and bowls back home call over to the drawers, trying to console your crying silverware. It's a sad scene for all of us. But when you do sorrowfully depart from the kitchen and onto the road, enter the taco. It's ingenious portability makes it perfectly capable of coming with to Cancun or tagging along to Toledo. It's a little taste of home for the long road ahead -- and a cheesy one at that. Beats McDonald's any day!
  
  

So, hopefully, this post has awakened you to the love tacos have for humankind. Maybe it has inspired you to take a second look the next time you notice a perfectly cooked semicircle of awesomeness, and appreciate the pure joy that is the taco. And if you're looking for ways to return the love that tacos abundantly give to us... just go eat one. Trust me: it's what they would want.