Last week, as seemingly all of the American food media tripped over itself to create listicles around National Taco Day, I shook my head in disgust.
It is “celebrated” on October 4, the same day as National Vodka Day, three days after National Pumpkin Spice Day, and a day before National Apple Betty Day. They’re all part of what my Dallas compa Jose R. Ralat describes as a ‘silly sad fabricated food holiday‘ wave concocted by chains and PR people to capitalize on America’s current fascination with food culture.
But that’s not how National Taco Day used to be.
Its full history is far more complex and fascinating than anything any corporation could ever concoct. Indeed, National Taco Day is a metaphor for the course of Mexican food in the United States: introduced in good faith by Mexicans as a proud representation of mexicanidad, then appropriated for consumerism by outsiders, and eventually wiped clean of its sociopolitical history so the masses could mindlessly enjoy it.
And, like most things involving Mexican food in the United States, our story begins in San Antonio, Texas. (And features a cameo by Austin trying to take credit for someone else’s genius.)
Sorry, Los Angeles: The Alamo City is the true cradle of Mexican food in the United States. As I document in my 2012 book, Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America, it’s where Americans first discovered that Mexican food was delicious instead of poisonous. Residents gifted America with chile con carne, chile powder, tortilla chips, masa harina, the combo plate, mass-market cookbooks, Mexican dinner home kits, and served as the national springboard for the nachos and breakfast tacos of South Texas.
San Antone also gave the United States not just National Taco Day, but National Taco Week and even National Taco Month.
The holidays were the brainchild of Roberto L. Gomez, Esq. (he wasn’t really a lawyer but rather gave himself the title because his middle name was Esquivel). The former city council candidate and occasional columnist for the San Antonio Express and News’ society pages was head of the San Antonio Social Civic Organization (SASCO), whose members were among the many Mexican-Americans who took part in the so-called “Viva Kennedy!” campaign that helped to secure Latino votes for JFK across the Southwest in the 1960 election.
In 1961, SASCO sent Kennedy a 48-pound tamale for the president’s birthday “on behalf of citizens of the United States of Latin heritage,” according to a press release. An armed motorcade flanked by charros on horseback accompanied the gift to San Antonio’s airport.
From there, per national and international dispatches, the tamale was lost in the White House kitchen, ostensibly eaten by staff.
Gomez had hit PR gold. SASCO sent Kennedy a donkey piñata the following year filled with Mexican candy, then a humongous praline the year after, earning more positive press. In 1964 came the game-changer: a 55-pound taco to fellow Texan Lyndon B. Johnson.
The gifts were all done tongue-in-cheek, but also as a reminder to presidents: We Mexicans have political power, too.
The National Taco Council was thus born, both to promote Mexican restaurants in San Antonio but also pride in being Mexican. “A culture that produces such a unique culinary masterpiece as the taco, symbol of Mexican foods,” the Council stated in promotional material, “deserves greater recognition.”