# Oh Taco Bell... why can't I quit you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2009, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602 "2009-01-23T06:57:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/21 "2009-01-23T20:20:09Z")
> [@MeanJoe](#): > > One thing I did notice though on a recent business trip to California - somehow the Taco Bell food tastes SOOO much better than the ones here in Ohio. Any idea why that might be?? We are kinda famous for having good produce here. Alot of what you are experiencing is probably just that very little of what CA taco bells use is fairly fresh compared to may of its eastern counterparts. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/22 "2009-01-23T20:21:31Z")
> [@Johnny\_Q](#): > > There are times when nothing but bad Mexican will do. I agree…wait…are we talking about food. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/23 "2009-01-23T20:40:11Z")
I still love Taco Bell, I’ll eat there at any chance I get, which isn’t often because my girlfriend refuses to eat there. Oh Chili Cheese Burritos, how I love you so. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/24 "2009-01-23T20:58:57Z")
> [@MeanJoe](#): > > One thing I did notice though on a recent business trip to California - somehow the Taco Bell food tastes SOOO much better than the ones here in Ohio. Any idea why that might be?? Maybe due to the large numbers of legit Mexican restaurants here in California, they’ve got to maintain a higher level of quality just to compete. I’ve never noticed any icky feeling after eating at Taco Bell, but then again, I’ve never eaten more than a taco or two. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/25 "2009-01-23T22:15:18Z")
In the early '90s I had a job at a campus catering office that came with the perk of a $6 lunch credit every day. One of the places I could use that credit was Taco Bell. $6 bought a lot of Taco Bell back then, probably equivalent to about $10 today. I think I could get 2 of the big Burrito Supremes and still have money left over. Needless to say, I had no room in my stomach left over … Ah, youth. There’s no way I’m eating all that in one meal these days. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/26 "2009-01-23T22:46:33Z")
There’s a Moe’s right down the street from where I live, right past the Taco Hell. Haven’t eaten at the latter in 3 years. ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/27 "2009-01-24T00:40:30Z")
I get the same thing every time I go. 1 beef burrito 3 reg tacos 1 pintos and cheese I’m a pig. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/28 "2009-01-24T00:57:46Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > [Jim Gaffigan](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO9FHNNbbBI) can explain that. (5:30 into the video) Oh man I’ve been trying to find that for the longest time. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/29 "2009-01-24T01:33:19Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > I still love Taco Bell, I’ll eat there at any chance I get, which isn’t often because my girlfriend refuses to eat there. Oh Chili Cheese Burritos, how I love you so. I thought I was the only one that liked those! Do you remember when they were called Chilitoes? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/30 "2009-01-24T01:39:35Z")
I haven’t eaten at Taco Bell for at least 5 years, and sometimes I still get cravings _even though I’ve immediately regretted it after the first bite every single time I’ve ever eaten there_. They must put some kind of brainwashing agent in the cheese. Oh, well. It’s the one good thing to come out of no longer having a car. ETA: Speaking of bad late-night tacos, what the hell is the meat in Jack in the Box’s version? ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/31 "2009-01-24T01:43:46Z")
I get a craving every now and then, but manage to keep it to about once a year that I actually eat there. ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/32 "2009-01-24T01:58:41Z")
I have an old fondness for Taco Bell, because it’s the cheap, comfort food of my high-school and college days. It’s predictable, familiar, and almost always open. But I rarely vary from the tacos, soft tacos, or the Mexican pizza, so I don’t know about their new ventures into “cuisine.” I do wish they’d bring back the tostada, though. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/33 "2009-01-24T02:11:16Z")
I think the summary and signature dishes for Taco Bell are the Enchirito and the Mexican Pizza. These are about the most harmonious combinations of their limited pantry, the height of Taco Bell technology and taste. These “grilld” and “tostd” abominations that they try to pass off nowadays are assimilated and patched technologies. They just aren’t as good. They aren’t changing their menu, just changing a configuration. Except now, in the case of the Volcano Taco they are actually changing taste… that’s good ol’ YUM! doctrine for ya. As the volcano tacos are no longer available, maybe they have attained McRib status- Seasonal cash injection. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/34 "2009-01-24T02:32:45Z")
grilld, stuffd, and tostd. Blegh! ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/35 "2009-01-24T02:47:43Z")
> [@MissGypsy](#): > > I have an old fondness for Taco Bell, because it’s the cheap, comfort food of my high-school and college days. It’s predictable, familiar, and almost always open. > > But I rarely vary from the tacos, soft tacos, or the Mexican pizza, so I don’t know about their new ventures into “cuisine.” I do wish they’d bring back the tostada, though. It might vary from store to store, region to region, but I just had a tostada-- I Think it was the first one I had ever had at a taco bell ever, it was a new menu item. I think the entire possibility of the tostada was contingent on the new, flat, crunchy, cornmeal, taco shells that form the center of those crnchy, flour tortilla wrappd, natcho cheese stuf, grilld disks ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/36 "2009-01-24T03:02:21Z")
That spicy cheese sauce they use on the volcano taco is very well balanced. I’m trying to figure out what chile pepper blend they used. I think Cayenne is involved, but what else, I am not sure. Maybe an extract? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/37 "2009-01-24T03:42:45Z")
3 regular tacos and 2 spicy bean burritos for me, please. And a handful of “hot” sauce packets, thank you very much. Back in college, our apartment shared a fence with Taco Bell. There was a hole in the fence that everyone used for a short cut. My roommate would cruise over at closing time, hoping to scavenge anything they were going to toss out. He rarely came back empty-handed. That stuff may have been sitting under a heat lamp for awhile, but it was a free midnight snack to him. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/38 "2009-01-24T03:47:39Z")
Find yourself a White Castle. Ingest their griddled, onion infused slivers of greasy gristle served between steamed white bread buns with ketchup and a pickle chip. Maybe with jalapeno cheese if you’re the daring kind. Add a side of deep fried onion rings just to add to the empty, fatty calorie count. Realize that, as far as inexplicable abuse of your digestive system and taste buds go, you have found a new dominatrix. The Bell will be forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/39 "2009-01-24T04:11:54Z")
I can’t help it, I’m a slave to the Cheesy Gordita Crunch. _Sans_ bacon, if you please, that’s just naaaaaaasty. Toss a caramel apple empanada on top and my self loathing is complete. Oh, and lots and lots of Fire sauce–that shit’s chock full o’crack. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602/40 "2009-01-24T04:22:18Z")
> [@astro](#): > > (and I’m not a picky eater, trust me) :dubious: No! Really?? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-taco-bell-why-cant-i-quit-you/482602.md?page=3)