The Tacoshed

This touches upon several complex topics ranging from globalization to locavorism to climate change to mexican cuisine. None of which I feel like getting into today. So for the time being, this will simply serve as an interesting factoid the next time I bite into a taco.

From Good...

The goal was to map the local “tacoshed,” which, much like a watershed, establishes the geographical boundaries of a taco’s origins—the source of everything from the corn in the tortilla to the tomatoes in the salsa. The taco the group deconstructed was from Juan’s Taco Truck in San Francisco’s Mission District, where every ingredient had been purchased from either Costco or Restaurant Depot, and had been chosen because it was the absolute most economical option possible.

The students were surprised to find that several ingredients were produced locally, such as the salt, which had come from just south of San Francisco. Other ingredients had come from much further away. The various spices in the Adobo seasoning had traveled a combined 15,000 miles. The avocados had traveled from Chile, the rice was imported from Thailand, and the aluminum foil, which originated as an aluminum alloy was mined in New Zealand, and had traveled farther than any of the taco elements.

According to the class findings, within a single taco, the (19) ingredients had traveled a total of 64,000 miles, or just over two and a half times the circumference of the earth.