Taco
Published on 9. October 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
160 pages
979-8-7651-3562-4 (ISBN)
Description
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
Taco is a deep dive into the most iconic Mexican food from the perspective of a Mexico City native. In a narrative that moves from Mexico to the United States and back, Sanchez Prado discusses the definition of the taco, the question of the tortilla and the taco shell, and the existence of the taco as a modern social touchstone that has been shaped by history and geography.
Challenging the idea of centrality and authenticity, Sanchez Prado shows instead that the taco is a contemporary, transcultural food that has always been subject to transformation.
Taco is a deep dive into the most iconic Mexican food from the perspective of a Mexico City native. In a narrative that moves from Mexico to the United States and back, Sanchez Prado discusses the definition of the taco, the question of the tortilla and the taco shell, and the existence of the taco as a modern social touchstone that has been shaped by history and geography.
Challenging the idea of centrality and authenticity, Sanchez Prado shows instead that the taco is a contemporary, transcultural food that has always been subject to transformation.
Reviews / Votes
Starting with a tour of Mexico City taco shops, this book takes us so much farther, to Los Angeles and Monterrey, of course, but also to Berlin and Seoul. Ignacio Sanchez Prado serves up tradition and modernity, memory and authenticity, politics and identity, all wrapped in a fresh tortilla with plenty of salsa. * Jeffrey M. Pilcher, author of Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food * This book is both a fantastic cronica across a diverse global tacoscape, and an introduction to the vast knowledge of a master tacologo. Sanchez Prado has written a book to be reflected on and savored, preferably with a taco, either basic or elevated. * Santiago Vaquera-Vasquez, author of Nocturno de Frontera * In his taco tour de force, Ignacio Sanchez Prado pays homage to a beloved childhood food and a Mexican culinary icon. He moves beyond well-worn debates about authenticity and tradition to demonstrate how the taco was a central feature of a uniquely Mexican modernity. * Ronda L. Brulotte, author of Mezcal in Oaxaca: A Craft Spirit for the Global Marketplace *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Dimensions
Height: 162 mm
Width: 123 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
151 gr
ISBN-13
979-8-7651-3562-4 (9798765135624)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Person
Ignacio M. Sanchez Prado is the Jarvis Thurston and Mona van Duyn Professor in Humanities at Washington University in Saint Louis, USA. He is the author of seven books, including Naciones intelectuales: Las fundaciones de la modernidad literaria mexicana 1917-1959 (2009, winner of the LASA Mexico 2010 Humanities Book Award) and the editor or co-editor of fifteen books. His public writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, Words Without Borders and other publications. He serves as editor of two book series: Latin American Cinema at SUNY Press and Critical Mexican Studies at Vanderbilt University Press. He served as the Kluge Chair for the Cultures of the South at the Library of Congress in 2021.
Content
Preface
1. Taco Tour
2. Taco de Nada
3. Pillows of Wheat and Lard
4. We Have Never Been Authentic
5. They Have Always Been Authentic
6. Tacos Without Mexicans
7. Elevated and Gentrified
8. Every Taco Everywhere All at Once
Further Reading
Acknowledgments
Index
1. Taco Tour
2. Taco de Nada
3. Pillows of Wheat and Lard
4. We Have Never Been Authentic
5. They Have Always Been Authentic
6. Tacos Without Mexicans
7. Elevated and Gentrified
8. Every Taco Everywhere All at Once
Further Reading
Acknowledgments
Index