Week 1: We Discover Street Tacos

“Discover street tacos” is perhaps the wrong phrase.

“Discover exactly how many places sell street tacos” is perhaps more accurate, but still misleading.

“Discover that there are dozens if not hundreds of places within walking distance of our apartment that sell street tacos” is the real title for this post.

We do not lack for tacos. We do not lack for sandwiches. We do not lack for pretty much anything that involves some combination of corn, meat, and flour.

Strategically, when we selected our lodgings we chose a place located closer to the downtown area — “Centro.” The other option was the more expat-friendly (and higher-end) neighborhood a bit further north, but I am a fan of walking as my main mode of transport and the idea of being close to the markets and improving my very limited Spanish via street conversations appealed. It was certainly less expensive to live here, at any rate, and the street tacos only serve to impress that point.

On every street (every! street!) there is at least one shop or cart or stall selling tacos and tortas. A torta in Merida is a taco that is served on a bread roll instead of a tortilla. It requires exactly one more ingredient (bread) and is much easier to eat on the go than tacos, so it has a place as the lunch-slash-snack of choice for many locals. There are other kinds of common local street foods that you’ll see, too. Some are familiar: nachos, burros (burritos, but without the -ito because they certainly aren’t little!). Others are local specialties: sopa de lima is one of my favorites (so far). It’s like a chicken tortilla soup but in a light broth of limey-chicken stock. And then there are local takes on words I recognize but the execution is different — empanadas, for example. Here they’re flat-ish and deep-fried, almost like a pupusa.

I have had tacos served with one tortilla and served with two. Spicy salsa and medium salsa (no such thing as mild here, amigos). Green salsas and red salsas. Pork, chicken, steak, and even vegetarian tacos. (Although I suspect that last one may have been the one to give me a GI infection. Best tread lightly around raw veg from the streets.) Tacos with cheese and tacos without. Probably every taco I’ve had has been a little bit different from the others, and I have eaten a lot of tacos in a short amount of time. Ditto for tortas.

Now, I’ve been living in Charlotte. “Un poco de todo” at Optimist Hall can quickly run you into triple digits if you’re not careful. Here, Tommy and I can eat for under $5 for both of us. Needless to say, we’ll be stimulating the local taco economy for many, many days while we’re here! Street tacos are my new go-to food.

Next time I do a food post, I’ll give you the DL on “queso de bola.” It is a phenomenon I have yet to understand.