# Why is everyone's main complaint about Taco Bell the fact it's not "authentic Mexican food"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 18, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915 "2020-06-18T18:33:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/41 "2020-06-18T20:56:42Z")
> [@Asuka](#):
>
> I also feel this way, Del Taco does have “fresher ingredients” at least that’s what they say and how they taste to me. But Del Taco quesadillas are worse than Taco Bell ones simply because Taco Bell puts some sort of “jalapeno sauce” on their quesadillas while Del Taco just has two cheeses as their Quesadilla gimmick.
I like the sauce on Tango Bravo’s quesadillas, but not when they put a shitload on them. I’ve been trying to find an impostor recipe for it so I can make my own, it seems like it would go well with the queso Oaxaca I use when I make my own quesadillas.
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### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2020, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/42 "2020-06-18T21:22:07Z")
> [@dalej42](#):
>
> When I was in college, going vegetarian was the thing and thus Taco Bell worked well as it fit a student budget.
Oh, man, that was totally me. I was fashionably vegetarian towards the end of high school. Taco Bell bean burritos and 7 layer burritos were my jam. Also, veggies-only Subway. However, Taco Bell is nowadays about an every 2-3 year craving.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/43 "2020-06-18T21:25:44Z")
My main complaint about Taco Bell is that their ground beef has the consistency of Cream of Wheat. I find the texture pretty gross.
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### Author:  [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2020, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/44 "2020-06-18T21:47:00Z")
I like Taco Bell. For reference, I’ve lived in Mexico for five years. My first wife was from Leon, Mexico, and cooked Bajio-style food all the time. I’ve travelled from the Sonora desert to Quintana Roo and nearly every place in between, eating and appreciating the food everywhere I’ve gone. There is awesome and wonderful food everywhere you go in Mexico, and its regional variations are distinct.
There was even a TV show called “Gringo en Mexico” that pretty was an old man version of me. Tony Bourdain had nothing on me.
I’m the type of person that goes to a “Mexican” restaurant in the United States and is pissed off because it’s “Tex-Mex” or “New Mexico” or has Sysco rice and yellow cheese, even if it tastes good, because I go there for Mexican food, not Tex-Mex.
Taco Bell doesn’t pretend to be what it’s not, and it tastes awesome.
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### Author:  [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2020, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/45 "2020-06-18T22:02:33Z")
> [@johnspartan](#):
>
> To take another swing at the original question, why is this the main complaint about Taco Bell… what would other complaints be?
>
> It’s messy AF to try to eat while driving or even sitting in a stopped car, which makes it kind of surprising how well it’s gotten over as a national drive-thru chain.
>
> There’s the cliche about “Montezuma’s Revenge”, but hey… beans and heavily oily and/or fried food will get most digestive systems…
Off topic a bit but do most people eat in the car after going to a drive-thru? I don’t, I hate eating in a car.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2020, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/46 "2020-06-18T22:07:33Z")
I’m not a fan of in-car dining either (who wants the car to smell like french fries?) but a lot of people like to do it.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2020, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/47 "2020-06-18T22:13:49Z")
“Mexican” definitely isn’t conducive to eating-while-driving. That’s the strong suit for hamburgers and the like.
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### Author:  [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2020, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/48 "2020-06-18T22:36:22Z")
> [@madsircool](#):
>
> El Pollo Loco fucked up their beans when they stopped simmering them with whole chilis (which I just loved eating).
Preach it!
~VOW
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2020, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/49 "2020-06-22T04:02:16Z")
I don’t care if it is real Mexican or real Tex-Mex, when I order a taco I like to receive a real taco, not a cold shell filled with cold condiments topped with cold cheese. Hell-Jack In The Box makes something closer to what a taco is than Taco Bell does.
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### Author:  [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2020, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/50 "2020-06-22T04:11:00Z")
I tend to eat my lunch in the car in a nice shady spot behind Hades Annex (place of irk). The breakroom is way too noisy, with several who tend to have their lunch when I do lacking in volume control or ability to take social cues such as a book in front of my face.
I do tend to favor more authentic (taqueria-type) Mexican food, but can enjoy Taco Bell as a category of its own, and have never found that it causes any digestive issues.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2020, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/51 "2020-06-22T12:20:30Z")
In what sense is “Tex-Mex” or “Mexicali” not Mexican? Do you have a list of which regions of Mexico count and which ones don’t? Or is it just a matter of which government has current control of the regions where the food is from?
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### Author:  [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2020, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/52 "2020-06-22T14:40:05Z")
Exactly. If I’m hungry and my choices are Taco Bell or wait another hour, I’ll wait. My personal rankings only put White Castle below Taco Bell (but I’m not much at a fast food fan of any chain).
ETA: Going to have to learn how to properly quite… eventually
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2020, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/53 "2020-06-22T15:08:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> In what sense is “Tex-Mex” or “Mexicali” not Mexican? Do you have a list of which regions of Mexico count and which ones don’t? Or is it just a matter of which government has current control of the regions where the food is from?
It’s absolutely Mexican. Just not from Mexico. Anyone who claims otherwise is basically trying to be snooty and shit all over local US variants of Mexican food.
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### Author:  [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2020, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/54 "2020-06-22T15:10:09Z")
Hell if people can call Dominos/Pizza Hut/Papa Johns “pizza”, then there is leeway to call Taco Bell “Mexican”
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### Author:  [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2020, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/55 "2020-06-22T15:52:55Z")
Fast Food ethnic food is going to be a pale imitation of the cuisine. I mean Panda Express is not a good example of “Chinese food”. That being said, Taco Bell doesn’t really claim to be all that authentic. I will say that it is my favorite fast food. I used to have it for lunch all the time until the location near my office closed (and now I am sad as a result - though for the last 3 months it hasn’t mattered).
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### Author:  [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/56 "2020-06-22T19:28:15Z")
> [@bump](#):
>
> Same goes for Mexican food. What they eat in the Yucatan is pretty different than in Baja California, for example. And what’s served in restaurants and what the common people eat isn’t the same either
Indeed, we had a thread here several years ago that started out with the question, “What is the difference between a burrito, a soft taco, and a chimichanga?” and eventually devolved into three Mexicans from different parts of Mexico arguing amongst themselves about the correct way to make a taco.
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### Author:  [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/57 "2020-06-22T20:26:42Z")
> But \*\*madisrcool \*\*has it right. Mexican food is about as ridiculous of a notion as “American food”. I mean, gumbo is American food, a New England boiled dinner is American food, fry bread is American food, fajitas are American food, and so on. The only common thread is geographical.
>
> Same goes for Mexican food. What they eat in the Yucatan is pretty different than in Baja California, for example. And what’s served in restaurants and what the common people eat isn’t the same either
I would disagree that Mexican cuisine being regional means there is no authentic Mexican food. Rather, I would say that all of those styles of cuisine fall under the umbrella of “authentic Mexican food”. Likewise, I would say both barbecue and New England clam chowder are forms of authentic American food.
> [@](#):
>
> That said, what we see in the US as “Mexican food” is generally either the traditional style of food from the Mexican border states, or is some sort of fusion of that and Anglo dishes, or using Anglo ingredients.
This, honestly, is my main complaint with how Mexican food is usually presented in the USA. Not that it isn’t authentic, but that the majority of Mexican restaurants here serve only one style of Mexican food. Because of that, many Americans get the incorrect impression that that’s the _only_ style of Mexican food.
I’ve seen some Chinese restaurants with different sections on the menu for Szechuan style dishes, and Cantonese style, etc (yes, I know they’re still highly Americanized). Maybe Mexican restaurants should do something similar, with sections on the menu for Yucatan style dishes, and Baja style dishes, and Sinaloan style, etc., to give customers a taste of the different regional styles of Mexico.
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/58 "2020-06-23T20:03:26Z")
Thanks for posting that link on foods that the Aztecs ate. I never knew that peanuts originated in the Western Hemisphere! I always thought they originated in Africa. But apparently they originated in either Brazil or Peru and were grown as far north as Mexico. The Spanish brought them back to Spain from where they moved to Africa. And the Africans brought them to the east coast of North American. TIL something!
As for Taco Bell…I’ll eat a taco bell taco about once every 7-8 years, but they’re not something I like all that much. There are way too many better places EVERY where here (and often as cheap as TB) that I have no interest in going out of my way to get Taco Bell.
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### Author:  [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2020, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/59 "2020-06-23T20:31:57Z")
Someone trying Taco Bell, disliking it, and thinking they don’t like Mexican food does not seem unlikely to me. They will likely hear at some point that it isn’t authentic, but how many will write that off as hipster snobbishness?
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyones-main-complaint-about-taco-bell-the-fact-its-not-authentic-mexican-food/855915/60 "2020-06-23T20:37:47Z")
Sadly, the restaurant nearby that specialized in the cuisine of the Yucatan closed last year to be replaced by something totally un-needed anywhere. So we are left with the chains, the upscale and, luckily, about a jillion Madre & Padre hole in the walls that serve dishes from all over Mexico. Still dominantly Sonoran, of course, but the local Mexican grocery/take-out is run by a family from Guadalajara, and they bring back heavenly shit that is never imported in bulk to the US.
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