Tacos predate the Europeans in Mexico and were discovered to be the food of choice by the indigenous folk in the Valley of Mexico. Obviously the Spanish wanted to stake their claim on such fine fare, and dubbed them “tacos.”
Taco Bell started as Bell’s Hamburgers and Hot Dogs in San Bernardino, CA back in 1950 by Glen W. Bell Jr.. Bell’s Hamburgers and Hot Dogs began as a hamburger stand selling fast foods such as burgers, hot dogs, fries, and shakes. Then, taking advantage that his stand was located in a Hispanic neighborhood, Bell started selling crispy-hard-shell tacos at 19 cents each.
Taco Bell uses at least 600,000 cows’ worth of beef per year. According to Taco Bell’s own website, they serve an average of 295 million pounds of ground beef every year.
Ensenada, Mexico is said to be the birth place of the fish taco.
A “Taquería” is a Spanish word meaning taco shop. Originally, the term “taqueria” was used to refer to street vendors, although the term has come to be used more generally to refer to any sort of establishment which serves authentic Mexican food.
One of the first taco trucks is thought to have started in New York when in 1966 two New York housewives operated an early version of the taco truck. Although the truck did not have a full kitchen, it was available for catering.
Friday officially marked National Cheeseburger Day, so lettuce give thanks for the mighty meat this weekend with a FactSlap column, served medium well:
Each year, Americans eat 50 billion burgers, or three burgers a week.
Hamburgers and cheeseburgers account for 71 percent of beef served in commercial hotels in the United States.
McDonalds sells 75 hamburgers a second.
Louis Ballast of Humpty Dumpty Drive was awarded the hamburger trademark in 1935.
The Jimmy Buffet song Cheeseburger in Paradise was first inspired by a boat trip that he took. The trip was hampered by bad weather and he was forced to eat nothing but canned food and peanut butter that was aboard the boat, leaving him dreaming of a cheeseburger.
The most expensive burger sold in America is sold from the New York City food truck 666 Burger. The $666 burger is wrapped in a gold leaf, topped with lobster, caviar, truffles, foie gras, and aged gruyere cheese melted with steam from champagne poured on a hot griddle. The good thing is you get $300 back, as the burger comes wrapped in three greasy $100 bills.
The biggest cheeseburger ever was cooked by a Minnesota casino in 2012 and weighed 2,014 pounds. It required a special oven, a crane, and a special bun that had to be baked for seven hours.
During the First World War the U.S. government tried to rename burgers as “Liberty Sandwiches” in order to promote patriotism and avoid using its original Germanic name.