>> From the Library of
Congress in Washington DC.
>> Bonnie Benwick: So, before I tell
you a little bit about the author,
I need some audience participation.
If you've ever had a taco in this
country, enjoyed the taco, stand up.
I want to show her something.
Stand up. This, this
is taco nation, right?
Here we are.
I mean, you know, like what
better food in the world
and why wouldn't she
make a Tacopedia book.
It just seems like unnatural.
She brought with-- She
brought the Spanish version.
I have the English version,
it's why we're here today,
and that was first published in
2015 and republished this year.
And it's just a treasure trove.
It's on my desk as a
reference at work, of course.
In addition to the really cool map,
which is why it's called
"Tacopedia".
You just get to find
out all kinds of things.
Plus, she's managed to fit, you
know from my perspective, like six
or eight recipes on a single
page, like that's unheard
of in the cookbook world.
And part of the reason why she got
to do this is for what she wrote
in the book, which I'll
explain in a minute.
But to give you a little
bit of her background,
Deborah Holtz is the
cofounder and director
of her country's Trilce Ediciones.
I've butchered that I know.
It's a publisher best known for
its popular culture books as well
as poetry books and
children's books and essays.
And the editors and publishers
themselves are well-trained
and their geographical position
makes them ideal to talk
about Latin America as
well as United States.
She also served as president
of the Mexican Alliance
of Independent Publishers.
And she has said that her company
has sought to introduce risky
and different books aimed not
only at the Mexican market
but at international markets
because Mexico's proximity
to the United States is
beneficial in this way.
The US has the world-- this--
And this is the author's words,
"The US has the world's largest
Hispanic population and ethnicity
and which is about to become the
country's second largest ethnic
minority of which 34 million
people are either Mexican
or of Mexican heritage."
And that-- So that
represents, as you can imagine,
a good marketing opportunity
for people in her business.
Now, about "Tacopedia" itself,
I'm also going to use her
and her coauthor Juan Carlos Mena
who did the many illustrations
and great design of the book.
She says, "It occurred to me there
must be something deeply rooted
in our culture that makes tacos
this culinary wonder loved
by the whole world, that ensures
the tacos are peerless contribution
to the culinary universe
are perfectly cooked
that the salsas have just
the right level of spice
and that the tacos are filled
at 5 o'clock in the afternoon--
5 o'clock in the morning as if it
were 2 in the afternoon and served
to people of all social classes."
She realized that like-- unlike
any other dish, tacos are the--
one of the most definitive
traits of Mexican culture.
And so, to pay tribute to it, that's
how they came up with this book,
and she'll tell you all about it.
And she's explained to me through
this book what tacos al pastor is.
And I thought, I knew that
as a food professional.
So, without further
ado, Deborah Holtz.
[ Applause ]
>> Deborah Holtz: Hi,
thank you so much.
Hello. Thank you everybody
for being here.
I'm very, very incredibly excited.
This is the first time
I come to this fair.
It's a very different fair
from the ones I used to--
or I'm used to go like the book
fairs in Mexico and other countries.
There are basically publishers
that put their stands et cetera.
And being here in this author
feast is really amazing.
I would like to thank
especially the Mexican embassy,
our ambassador Alberto Fierro
and from the institute--
Cultural Institution
of Mexico and Gustavo.
And obviously, the people at
the National Book Festival
for having the brilliant idea
of having three Mexican
authors today in this festival.
I think, it is important
to make a stand.
I am Mexican and I'm
very proud of it.
I don't think that's
being a criminal.
So, being here before you is great.
And I thank you all for
being here and listening
to this taco presentation.
I made this PowerPoint so it could
be clearer why we thought that,
as Bonnie was explaining,
that we needed a taco book
being such an obvious thing.
And well, we-- I suddenly
realized as any other Mexican does
in a taco place at 5 o'clock in the
morning after coming from a party.
We all go to have tacos
before going to bed.
I know that's not very recommended
by a doctor, but that's what we,
Mexicans, do at all
times of the day.
So, I went to this party.
And after the party at 5 o'clock,
we went to a taco place and,
you know, a bit drunk, tipsy.
And I was like there, you
know, sitting at the table
and suddenly I was
looking at the taquero,
the guy that makes the tacos.
And I was amazed at the-- by the
speed at which he could make a taco
like tens, thousand, I don't know
how many tacos by the minute.
The woman from the salsa
had the salsa ready.
The waiter had already
cleaned the table.
The tortilla woman had the
tortilla right on the dot, hot,
because everything with a taco
has to be done in the minute.
And I started thinking, "Wow, these
guys are amazing, they didn't go
to the fast food university
or anything, you know.
Something must be happening that all
of us are sitting here at 5 o'clock
in the morning, people that are
going to work, people like me
that are half drunk, you
know, coming from a party.
And so, there must be
something in our DNA
that explains why all
this is happening."
So, I had this like eureka moment of
doing "Tacopedia" because I thought
that this reflected not only a dish,
you know, something you eat like,
you know, a pizza or a burger,
which are great kinds of food.
But this, you know, has-- had roots
way beyond the time we were living
in our past and obviously,
with all the pre-cultures
of Mexico, the Aztec, et cetera.
So, that's how it all started.
It took us four years to get
together all the information.
And this is a presentation
I put together for you.
So-- I'm sorry, I have to-- OK.
So-- Well, as Bonnie said, the book
was first published in Spanish.
I'm going to show you images of
the book published in Spanish.
But we're fortunate enough to
have it now published in English
by Phaidon, a great
publishing house.
And so-- Well, the obvious question,
and this is how it all
started is, what is a taco?
It may seem an obvious question.
Everybody knows what a taco
is, but not really everybody.
OK.
[ Laughter and Applause ]
This guy is sitting in front
of a basket something
saying he loves Hispanics.
I don't think Mr. Trump
knows the difference
between Mexicans and Hispanics.
And he certainly does
not know what a taco is.
So, this image, you
know, made me very happy
that we have a "Tacopedia".
If one of you can later send him
a book, I will be very grateful,
and all of the Mexicans will.
So-- Well, there you
have the commentaries.
"A taco bowl is just a taco with
a big beautiful wall around it,"
which I love and, "The best taco
bowls are made by immigrants
who resent a rich prick
calling them rapists.
Love, inauthentic Mexican."
So-- Well.
And it seems, you know, I'm
very happy for this translation
because when we talk about
tacos, there seems to be
like confusion, you know.
All countries export their
main dishes obviously,
you have Italians,
Chinese, et cetera.
But Mexican food, for obvious
reasons, became very popular
in the United States, especially
because of the large chains,
Taco Bell and then Chipotle,
which have loads of restaurants.
And there, you can
see the importance
of Mexican food in
the United States.
So, it's now $43 billion
what it makes
in the food market
in the United States.
And obviously, the largest
chains dominate the market.
So, I think, there's
a big difference
between a real taqueria where--
which we have there
and the Taco Bell.
And the tacos at Taco Bell
calls tacos and a real taco.
So, thank you for the opportunity
of talking about the real tacos.
So, this is "Tacopedia"
published in English.
And the first pages, we wanted to--
since it was all born in a taqueria,
in many taquerias in Mexico,
this is the way they tell
you what tacos you can order.
So, we figured, we would
do the index of the book
like you see the tacos
in a taqueria.
And as you might see and we will see
later on, we have 16 types of tacos
and we'll be talking about them.
So, just to make the point, for
example, this is a taqueria,
nothing to do with Taco Bell.
So, Alejandro Escalante who is
the guy who did the research
and we worked very
close together with him,
me and my partner Juan Carlos Mena
who is responsible for the design,
believe that tacos
is the very backbone,
the heart of what Mexican--
being Mexican is.
It is, you know, in the
bottom of our hearts,
it's not just the food we eat, it's
a whole representation of our way
of understanding life, our
way of relating to each other.
And obviously, when
we say we want to eat,
we have the synonymous expression
of, I'm going to eat a taco,
even if you're going to
have ptomaine, you know.
Having a taco is synonymous
for us for eating.
And tacos are very
ancient in our culture.
The first tortilla is believed to be
invented 1,000 years Before Christ.
And so, we wanted to begin with this
book explaining where the tortillas
and where maize came from.
So, the first, you
know, thing to know is
that tortillas obviously
come from maize.
Maize is a plant that was
originally from Mexico,
from the state of Puebla.
And the story goes that there is a
very ancient legend among Mexicans
that say that we owe the discovery
of maize kernels to an ant.
It was a black ant that told
Quetzalcoatl, the Mexican god,
you know, the feathered serpent,
that there was these grains
in a mountain called Tonacatepetl.
And so, the ant showed Quetzalcoatl
the way to the mountain.
And that's how maize was discovered.
And after that obviously, many gods
related to the maize which was,
you know, the main deity for the
Mexicans in all of the cultures
in Mexico and in the other
southern countries like Guatemala,
Central America and some
countries in South America.
We have many types of maize.
Maize was not the plant
as we know it right now.
It breeded, you know, with
many different types of maizes.
And right now, we have,
I don't know, like 40,
50 types of different maizes.
But what is amazing about
maize is that with maize,
you can't make a tortilla, you know.
Many people don't know that-- you
think you take, you know, a corn,
the ear of corn, and you crush
it and you make a maize dough,
and with that, you have a tortilla.
No, totally wrong.
The greatest discovery of all this
is not corn itself, but nixtamal.
The dough with which you make
a tortilla is called nixtamal.
And this incredible invention,
we don't know who to--
I don't know who to clap to because
there's no inventor or discoverer
that is mentioned in the history of
Mexico, who came up with the idea
of having this alkaline water
heated at night with lime,
just as the lime we
use for construction.
So, you heat that water with lime.
And there, you put in the maize
kernels so they are soften.
And then, you wash them,
you take out the hull
and that's how you make the
basic ingredient for a tortilla.
What is incredible about
this process as well is
that unlike maize, nixtamal
has much more vitamins
and protein that maize itself.
What this process of cooking
provides is of a thing called niacin
which makes possible
to absorb vitamins.
So, that talks of an
incredible tradition.
And it can show us that our
very ancient people were very,
very well-fed because they ate
tortillas and of course, they hunted
and had game, fish, frogs,
ant, insect as we will see.
And from the maize, a whole variety
of different dishes can be made
from drinks like pinole,
atole, et cetera,
as well as alcoholic beverages
when you leave it to ferment.
Here is the nutritional fact.
We thought it was important
to have the nutritional facts
of the tortilla in the book.
And you will find that it's not only
not fattening, much less fattening
than bread, but very
nutritious for its vitamin,
proteins, et cetera, et cetera.
An average Mexican consumes
130 pounds of tortillas a year.
Wow, quite a lot.
If we would have that
without the Coke,
we wouldn't have the first
place in obesity in the planet.
So, flour-- So, we
have the tortillas,
they have always been made with
the same process, the nixtamal
and afterwards you crush
the grains with a metate,
which is made out of
volcanic stone and there's
where the woman traditionally
makes the tortillas.
It was not until 1947, imagine,
when the first machine--
tortilla machine appeared
with a guy named Celorio.
But these machines have
exactly the same technology
as the first tortillas ever made.
The volcanic stones are the ones--
I'm sorry, that crush the grains,
and that's how tortillas come about.
So, we have many utensils, you say.
Well, we have many things that
are credited for having a tortilla
and to keep tortillas
and producing tortillas.
Instead of having a very boring
list of everything that is involved
in a tortilla, we thought
we could make a lottery.
So, we made a lottery with
all the different instruments
that are involved in its production,
where you have the tortilla press,
the tenate which is where you keep
the tortillas, well obviously,
nopal because you can make
nopal tortillas, a taco maker,
the metal stove, et
cetera, et cetera.
So, this is a taco lottery.
And you can find all
about it in the book.
Then, we have obviously, the
animals you put inside the taco.
Tacos obviously, are made
out of the tortilla itself
because for making a taco, you
have obviously a holy trinity,
as we call it, the tortilla,
the filling and the sauce.
So, this book starts with the
tortilla then we go to the fillings.
And the Spaniards, when they
came, brought along the animals
that are usually now eaten inside
tacos because the ancient Mexicans
and in Mexico, there were no cows,
there were no sheep,
no lamb, no pigs.
So afterwards, you know, when they
came, they brought these animals
which are now very important
part of making a taco.
So, we have the three basic
animals that are used to make tacos
with their parts-- four-- I'm
sorry, including the goat.
And now, you know, when we
get to part 2, it's taco time.
And taco time means
we're going to make--
like traveling through the 16 basic
types of taco we have in Mexico.
These are the 16 from the
pages of each type of taco.
We put them together so
you could see, you know,
how they are very similar
in their layout.
And the first taco we start
with is tacos on the grill.
Of course, tacos on the grill
are the most popular tacos.
As you see in the-- what
is this, right-hand side--
all the way to the right-hand side,
we have a map of Mexico stating
in what part of Mexico these
type of tacos are consumed.
Then, we have the animal
it is made with.
And finally, the instrument
you use to cook it.
So, in all the 16 types of
tacos, we have that reference.
And we start obviously, with the
history of that type of taco.
The grill, well obviously,
the first grills
for the Mexicans were
made with wood.
It was a wooden bed or
with-- even with a maguey,
which is a plant we'll talk about
later, and they put their food.
Before animals came
with the Spaniards,
they cooked dogs, fish,
game, et cetera.
And so, tacos on the grill
became very popular, but--
especially in the northern
part of Mexico.
We will find out through the book
that taco is such a rich, rich,
rich, rich dish that it
has thousands and thousands
of interpretations
because each region
of the country has
different backgrounds
and that produces a different
type of preparing the food
and of ingredients obviously.
So, tacos on the grill are eaten
in the northern part of Mexico.
And in that part, they don't
eat as much maize tortillas.
The Spaniards who went
to the northern part
of Mexico brought along as
well flour, wheat flour.
So, there's a custom there
to eat the tacos with flour.
Here in the United States, flour
tortillas are very popular.
Those are done with
flour and a bit of lard
to give them their
plasticity and their flavor.
So, that's the northern
part of Mexico.
And, you know, thinking about
the way we talk about ourselves,
the way we eat, et cetera, we
thought that we had to put some
of the popular culture
sayings because everything we--
you know, the double sense
jokes, et cetera, we make,
there are many related to the taco.
For example, here, we have one
where the meat of el carnicero said
that from the head to the
cola, that means to the butt,
everything is bistec de
bola, it's a way of saying,
that woman is whoa, you know.
So, it's a-- So, we have many of
these sayings related to taco.
For example, you put a lot of cream
into your tacos means
you're very conceited,
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
So-- And instead of
having, you know,
dots to separate the paragraphs,
we made these illustrations
of people eating a taco.
So, every time you come to
a separation of paragraphs,
we have people eating a taco.
And finally, since it all
started in a taqueria,
we wanted to end each chapter
with an interview with a taquero.
Being a taquero is one of the most
incredible professions in Mexico.
It is sometimes inherited
by generations.
And people that know how to do
tacos are very proud of their trait.
And they're incredible to watch.
So, this is a-- Every
chapter ends with the recipes
because although it's great to go
to the best taquerias on the planet
and if you can, there's
nothing that competes with that.
But if you insist of making tacos
in your home, we put the recipe
of those tacos at the
end of each chapter.
And then obviously, a small list
of the best tacos in Mexico.
Then, we have tacos on the grill.
The grill was brought
as well by the Spaniards
as I was saying before we had
the wooden stove, et cetera.
And these tacos are
written in the whole
of Mexico, it come from any animal.
And what makes the
difference is the preparation,
the sauces, the chilies, et cetera.
And according to the
region, these vary.
So here for example, we have a very
famous song by a Mexican composer
for children music, Cri-Cri.
And this is called the comal which
is the ancient way of cooking.
It was in a grill,
but the ancient grill.
And really, the grill is
just a reloaded version
of our ancient comal.
So, this is a conversation
between the comal and the pot.
And-- So, just to show you how
the taco culture is embedded
in everything you can think about.
And well obviously, the interview
with this taquero whom I love
and he's in the cover of our
Mexican version, this is the guy.
We love this guy because he says,
well, coming out-- what did I do?
Coming to Yucatan-- was it me?
OK, right, coming to-- I mean,
coming to Mexico and to Coyoacan
and not eating tacos at El-- at
the place called El Chupacabras is
like going to the zoo and
not seeing the monkeys.
So, we love that, you
know, what this guy said.
So, we decided to put it on the--
I don't know, if I missed
some-- yeah, there we go.
So, this is the guy
from El Chupacabras.
And then, we have the very
famous tacos al pastor.
These tacos were invented recently.
They were brought obviously, by the
migrants from the orient, Arabs,
Greeks, Indians, et cetera.
It's just a vertical grill.
But the-- An interesting
thing about tacos al pastor is
that unlike shawarma, gyros or
doneraki which are the oriental way
of doing these tacos, in Mexico,
we substituted the lamb for pork.
So, most of the tacos al
pastor are done with pork.
And the important thing is how
you marinate the meat during the
night time.
You have like 24 hours
marination of the meat.
And nobody knows exactly
why it has a pineapple.
So, if anybody knows here, why,
where, who invented the thing
of having a pineapple at
the top, nobody knows.
It has an onion at the bottom
and this pineapple at the top.
And these are the taqueros.
They are, you know, a feast to see
because they can do loads, loads,
loads, loads of tacos by the minute.
And there are a lot of, you
know, when kids go to eat tacos,
they have these competencias,
however you say it,
of how many tacos can
you eat by the minute.
So, it's not only the making,
but the eating as well.
And-- Well, I have to say that tacos
al pastor then suffered another
transformation in Mexico City.
This is the only taco-- well
with taco transformation,
we can be credited for I think,
which is to put onion and cilantro,
that's coriander in the taco,
which is called the garden.
So, you have tacos with garden,
thanks to a Mexican
taqueria called El Tizoncito.
Then, we have the barbacoa
tacos, very easy to make,
you just do a hole in your
garden, about six feet deep.
And inside the hole, you
put some volcanic rocks,
you can get them anywhere,
volcanic rocks.
And on top of the volcanic
rocks, you put maguey leaves,
which is the plant out of which of
its different varieties you get out,
tequila, mezcal, et cetera.
Maguey is a very important
plant in Mexico.
So, they put these maguey
leaves and the lamb,
it has to be a very young lamb.
Preferably, before the
lamb mates, that's a very--
they call it kid lamb, I think,
which is at least 45 days old.
And they do this because
when the lamb mates,
it secretes a substance from, I
don't know, it's like a hormone
or something that makes
the meat stink.
So, that's why it's preferable
to kill a very young lamb.
And so, these are the
barbacoa tacos.
And this type, besides
being a special taco,
it's a type of cooking.
So, we use this pit on the ground
to cook many things, cochinita pibil
and many other dishes
that are representative
of different parts of the country.
Birria, for example,
is a type of barbacoa,
but it's done in a different way
with different marination
and it has a soup.
You always see the
soup with the birria.
And it's specifically eaten
in the central part of Mexico,
especially in Jalisco, Guadalajara.
I guess that many of you
have been to Guadalajara.
So when you go there, the
thing to eat is birria.
I'm going to go a bit faster.
How much time do I have?
Because I still have
like 13 tacos to go.
So, the head meat tacos, I don't
know, I don't eat head meat tacos
but our-- there are people
that would give their lives
for a good head meat tacos.
There's the part which
is called maciza
which is the strongest
part of the head.
And then obviously,
you can eat the cheek,
the tongue, the eyes, et cetera.
And then, if you don't
know which one you want,
you can have a combination of every
thing which is called a combo.
So, you can have all
the head, you know,
sliced into pieces inside your taco.
These tacos are great because
they are homemade every single day
by usually the guy and his wife
or just the guy or just the wife.
But you can usually see around the
country these guys with their bikes
and a basket beside-- in the back
part covered with some plastic.
And inside that basket, there's
these tacos, which they heat--
they maintain the heat
so you can eat them,
usually like at 12
o'clock and daytime.
So, if you go around Mexico,
you'll see these guys, you know,
just they are in the corner,
and you can have a taco sudado.
They're usually filled
with-- filled--
I'm sorry, with beans or with mashed
potatoes prepared in a certain way
and obviously, meat tacos.
Then, we have the carnitas
tacos which is pork tacos.
And one of the great
things about this taco is
that not only the meat is
used, but the skin is pressed,
and a thing called
chicharron is eaten as well.
And it's a big favorite
with guacamole.
Chicharron with guacamole is one
of the derivatives
of this type of dish.
Then, we have the chilorio
tacos, which are eaten
in the northern part of Mexico.
It's, again, a taco which
is similar to chorizo.
But instead of putting it in a
tripe, like you do with salami
or stuff like that, it's
just eaten like that.
And it's a thing of the
State of Sinaloa, probably,
you've heard of Mazatlan.
And then, that's where they
eat these chilorio tacos.
Cochinita pibil is the most famous
dish from the Yucatan Peninsula,
Quintana Roo, Yucatan and Campeche.
And this type of tacos are done
exactly the same way as the barbacoa
and the birria, which you saw
with this pit on the ground
and they put-- exactly, the
same process, but with pork.
And here, the interesting thing is
the pork is marinated with a lot
of salsas and spices
that were not Mexican.
All these spices came from Europe
like, for example, we have oregano.
They put pepper, we
didn't have pepper,
pepper is one of the
important ingredients for this.
And afterwards, you have to put
onion, we didn't have onions either.
You have to put those onions
in a special type of vinegar
and then you put it on top of
the taco and it's delicious.
That onion is done with
peppercorns as well.
The stewed tacos which
are my favorite
because I stopped eating
meat, as you might imagine.
The stewed tacos are any type
of thing you can, you know,
cook like rajas, chili rajas and
then with vegetables like the flower
of the squash, which are
delicious, et cetera, guacamole
and many other things that can
be done to eat stewed tacos.
And then, this is my favorite.
We became so obsessed with
these parts of the book
that we recently did a book
especially on eating insects
because insects are one of the
most ancient traditions in Mexico,
not only in Mexico but in
many parts of the world.
And somehow, insects have
been satanized, they're like--
seen like the devil itself because--
well basically, because of the
movies and all the science fiction
that always-- you know, the bad
guy has the face of an insect.
So, we're very scared of
insects but we shouldn't be
because insects are
the living creatures
that have the most high content
of protein in the planet.
If you compare an insect to a
cow, it has like 30% more protein.
And the process it takes to
produce a kilo of protein
of insects takes the third part
of energy as producing meat
that comes from cows, et cetera.
So, we think that eating insects
will be the future of this planet.
We became fascinated
with the subject.
I brought you-- This is the book we
just published called "Agridofagia",
which means eating
grasshoppers or crickets.
And I think it's interesting to
know how-- besides, you know,
all the incredible dishes
that are eaten like crickets,
the worms that grow in the leaves of
the maguey, the two types of worms
and the jumiles, which
you have to eat alive.
I haven't eaten those.
But it's supposed-- Then,
you know, it crawls,
you can see people eating those
and crawling through the--
to the faces of the people that are
eating them because the flavor comes
out when you eat them alive.
And obviously, you can
eat all types of insects.
But what is incredible is that
Mexico has the most important number
of edible insects in the world.
We have 549 species of insects
which makes us a very rich country.
And I hope we, you know,
can do something about it.
Then, insects are being
processed to do flour with them.
And it is the flour that has the
highest protein content you can
ever find.
I think, there's a big
industry here in Texas.
And in Canada, they're doing
this flour thing as well.
And now, you have crunch bars,
even dog food made out of insects
with very high protein content.
Well then, we have the mixiote
tacos, which are pig tacos,
but they are wrapped
around a very fine layer
that the maguey has,
this outer layer.
With it, you wrap the meat.
And so, it gives it
an incredible flavor.
Sadly enough, the maguey is a
plant in danger of extinction.
So now, they sell you
these very fine papers
which with you can wrap
the mixiote around.
And my favorite as well,
the seafood and fish tacos.
We have two very large
coasts in Mexico,
the Atlantic and the Pacific.
And fish tacos have
become very popular.
You have now, for example,
fish tacos al pastor
which is marinated fish in the style
of the pig thing but with fish.
And all through the coast, you
have seafood and fish tacos
that are fantastic
depending on the catch.
For example, in Tijuana,
in a place called Rosarito,
you have lobster tacos
that are eaten
with a gigantic tortilla
called tortilla sobaquera,
which is made with flour.
And it's called sobaquera
because it's
so big you could put
it under the armpit.
And so, these tacos
are made with lobster.
And what is amazing is that you put
butter into it with rice and beans.
And it's the most delicious
thing you will ever taste.
I strongly recommend
that you go to Rosarito
to eat these lobster tacos,
they're one of a kind.
And-- Well, as you can see there,
there we see where
these tacos are eaten.
And finally, suadero tacos
which is different parts
of the body of the pig and the cow.
Deep fried tacos, which are any
kind of taco that you deep fry them.
And we thought it was interesting to
have the instructions to eat a taco.
Not only, you know, more
or less you have an idea
of the vast array of tacos we have.
And now, it's important
to know how to eat it.
Because if you eat a taco
like this, all the guacamole
and the salsa will drop in
your shirt, which is not good
and you will not look like a
taco expert if you do that.
So, you have to incline
your body and you have
to take the taco lifting
your-- this finger like that,
because you can't hold
the taco like this, no,
it's-- no, not done that way.
And then, you know, everywhere
where there's a taco place,
there always is a dog around.
So, you don't have to kick
the dogs, they're friends.
OK. And-- Well, many people say,
"OK, but what about enchiladas
and all the other types of tacos?"
Well, we believe, OK, these
are derivatives from the taco,
but they're not a taco because
you can't eat them like this.
You wouldn't want to eat
an enchilada like this.
So, these are like cousins of--
to the taco which are enchiladas,
and of course we have
thousands of way of--
ways of doing the enchiladas.
The quesadillas of course
which are not properly tacos
because the tortilla is
folded in another way.
And strangely enough, although
quesadillas means cheese
with a tortilla, the majority
of quesadillas are
not done with cheese.
So, that's a mystery.
They're called quesadillas because
of the way you fold the tortilla.
But inside, you can find, I don't
now, mushrooms, the flower of--
squash flower, I'm sorry, et cetera.
So then, we have the very popular
tlayudas from the state of Oaxaca
which are gigantic tostadas that can
measure up to, I don't know about--
I don't know how to say it
in inches, but very big.
And they're done with a very
special cooking process with lard,
with beans, with cheese,
avocado, the meat of your choice,
especially tasajo which is the meat
they eat in Oaxaca which is a meat
that is cured in salt and that way,
you can keep the meat fresh
for a long, long time.
That way, the meat is done as well
in the northern part of Mexico,
where not always we
had refrigerators.
So this way, you can keep the
meat fresh for a long time.
So, we have tlayudas.
And then, we have this appendix of
all the near cousins of the tacos,
where we have tamales, et cetera.
We call it vitamin T,
which are tacos, tamales,
and it's what makes us strong.
So, this is the vitamin T where
we have the picadas, pellizcadas,
salbutes, sopitos, chambergos,
gorditas, gorditas with pork rinds,
cazuelitas, et cetera, et cetera.
And obviously, the tamales
which are, you know,
another book in itself
because there are loads
of different types of tamales.
And I was telling you in
this holy trinity of the taco
that entails the tortilla,
the filling.
There couldn't be a taco
book without the salsas.
So, we have the recipes
for 36 different salsas,
the main difference being those that
you cook or those that are uncooked.
And obviously, the flavor
depends on the incredible number
of chilies we have
available in Mexico.
And we couldn't leave
out the guacamole,
which is a chapter in itself.
And there are many ways
of doing a guacamole.
Everyone can swear by the bible
which is the best guacamole
in the world.
There are those who say that
you absolutely have to put lemon
into the guacamole, others
that say that pepper.
But what we are sure--
very sure about is
that you don't put green
beans in the guacamole.
The New York Times which
is a very respectful
and fantastic publication
came out with this taco--
guacamole recipe with green
beans, and everybody went crazy,
especially President Obama who
immediately tweeted, please, no,
there's no green-- the
peas, peas, I'm sorry,
green peas in the guacamole.
And finally, came to
terms of agreement
with Jeb Bush on the subject.
So, that's a guacamole.
And this is the whole salsa.
So, as we were finishing the book
and having all these references
to the-- to all the parts of Mexico
that have all these different types
of tacos, we figured out that
our map is a map of a taco.
So, we did this tacography to
show the incredible vast amount
of tacos we have and that
any region you go to,
you will have a different type
of taco and within that region,
millions of different types
of preparing that taco.
So, this is just to show you how the
taco itself is a universe and it's,
well I think, one of the
most rich dishes we can eat.
It shows that our culture
is embedded in a very,
very rich antique tradition
that makes us, you know,
very proud of our food
and of being Mexican.
And I'm very happy to have
shared this with you today.
Thank you.
[ Applause and Cheering ]
Well, we-- before going
to the questions,
I don't know how much time I have.
No time? Well, there's--
no questions.
We did this video.
I'm going to show you
this video just
to show you what joy it
is to eat tacos in Mexico.
And I hope I can invite you all
to share this joy coming to Mexico
and of course, sharing
this with the many Mexicans
that have made America a
great country to live in.
Thank you for-- to all the Mexicans
that have brought you
the tacos here.
And this is the video.
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[ Applause ]
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
OK. Thank you.
Thank you all.
[ Applause ]
>> This has been a presentation
of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at loc.gov.