SuppliedTaco Tuesday, like its successor Wing Wednesday, is a product of the West’s obsession with food-related alliterations. Weekly, we are obliged to consume tacos only due to their placement in a dictionary. As odd a tradition Taco Tuesday is when you really think about it, at the end of the day, the rationale is not important. Very rarely do we have to ask ourselves “why are we eating tacos,” more often than not the question is “how many?”
And despite my love for tacos, I do have an issue with the mentality that has developed after the introduction of Taco Tuesday. In its current state, Taco Tuesday has seemingly become exploited for capitalist gains at the cost of taco excellence. Many restaurants drive customers in through taco-centric deals, but the end product is unsatisfactory. A sloppily assembled mess of meat, cheese and lettuce on a hard or soft shell does not make a taco in my book, but instead a poor imitation. The low production cost enables the low prices, but that also has a cost: taco quality.
And thus, the mentality behind Taco Tuesday is flawed. We should be celebrating tacos, not desecrating them. The $1.69 tacos found on campus are just a shell of the real deal. Call me a taco snob or a Mexican food elitist, it does not matter to me; if there is one thing I know, that is a good taco. I know the shift from cheaply assembled tacos to a premium product would be pricey, but it is needed for the promotion of taco excellence. Besides, in the end, is it not priceless?
