This is the star sandwich among 15-25 year olds.
Wheat pancake, cheese sauce, meat and fries, the tacos have established themselves as the current phenomenon of fast food.
"
A gastronomic blasphemy for the Mexicans of France
", reveals the documentary of France 5
Mexican cuisine, it does not lack spice
.
This exciting culinary immersion has no equal in dismantling received ideas.
Mercedes Ahumada, a chef from the State of Mexico, remains speechless in the face of this preparation.
"
A taco is a corn tortilla or else it's not a taco,
" she decides.
It's as if, in Mexico, they produced a sparkling wine and they said it was champagne
”.
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Tacos are not just a simple sandwich
Against all expectations, the tacos as we know them in France were born in… Grenoble, according to a recipe developed by three brothers.
To justify the name given to their sandwich, one of them, Salah Dardouri, explains:
“It's a seller, easy to remember and the pancake is used by Mexicans”
.
An answer that is far from satisfying Mercedes Ahumada because, for her, tacos are not just a simple sandwich.
“
It represents our culture
,” she sums up.
In Mexico City, we buy this snack throughout the day in taquerias.
Sometimes the beef that garnishes it has simmered for 24 hours!
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It was during the industrial revolution that the working class imagined this preparation based on corn tortillas, "
cereal inseparable from the traditions and history of this country
", the documentary reminds us.
The tacos become the meal that the women prepare for their men when they go to work in the mines, in the fields or in the city.
“
People have no idea what our kitchen can be.
My job is to introduce them to my culture
,” says Mercedes Ahumada.
No copy-paste
In the meantime, the factory that manufactures the tortillas marketed in supermarkets is in Belgium.
Fully automated manufacturing where only additives allowing preservation are added manually.
For Arnauld Demoulin, director of private labels for the Paulic group, “
the goal is not to copy and paste what Mexicans like to eat
”
.
“
These are Mexican influences, there is a concept behind it
, he justifies.
People want to find a bit of exoticism on their everyday table
”.
Especially since the market for Mexican-sounding products is experiencing strong growth: +20% in 2021.
Basically, do we really eat Mexican food?
It turns out that nachos, fajitas and other chili con carne have nothing to do with mexican but are more like tex mex food.
“
This cuisine comes from a culinary crossbreeding
, deciphers Loïc Bienassis, food historian.
Texas, which has belonged to the United States since the middle of the 19th century, is a frontier zone.
There is a large part of the population of Mexican origin.
Obviously, they came with their cuisine and adapted to local tastes
”.
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So what about the real Mexican cuisine, listed in 2010 as a World Heritage Site by Unesco?
Fernando Martinez Zaval, renowned chef in Mexico, reveals its richness to us, likes to remind us that there are 150 varieties of pepper in Mexico, and dwells on the mole, a sauce containing up to 40 elements and which requires two days of preparation.
Obviously, it is a question of guacamole, which must be eaten as soon as it is prepared, unlike the industrially produced one which, thanks to additives, can be kept for several months and can sometimes contain only 14% avocado...
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