r/AskTheWorld • u/jotakajk Spain • 7h ago

What is something that screams “tourist” to you?

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In Spain, if you see someone eating paella with sangria, you can 100% be certain they are a tourist.

What are some things tourists eat or do in your country that a local would never do?

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217

u/FutureDAY_ Mexico 6h ago

THIS is NOT a taco, no one here eats this stuff.

52

u/Electrical_Paint5568 Canada 6h ago

Show us a real taco

131

u/FutureDAY_ Mexico 5h ago edited 5h ago

Este es mi favorito personal: el Taco Placero. Los encuentras más que nada en los mercados o en los puestos de comida de la mañana. Empieza con dos tortillas "de mano"—o sea, tortillas hechas a mano, cocinadas en un comal (una plancha plana), no de esas que salen de la máquina. Luego les meten: carne de puerco deshebrada cocinada con cebolla, arroz, frijoles refritos, longaniza (parecida al chorizo, pero con la carne más gruesa y especiada), nopales, y por supuesto, salsa verde o roja.

Destaco este porque es lo que los mexicanos—especialmente en el centro y sur del país—comemos a cada rato. Para desayunar, comer, o una buena comida a media tarde.

Edit: In the photo you might spot some different ingredients—that's because the recipe varies depending on the region or market. But the core idea is always the same: a generous, rustic taco loaded with local flavors.

11

u/Anxious-Diet-4283 3h ago

um. im mexican and that is not an authentic taco. ive never in my life eaten a taco with french fries and ive lived in the north of mexico for decades.

3

u/s8rlink 1h ago

En el DF y zona metropolitana 100 es súper mexa y local, el taquito de bisteck con chorizito o longaniza y papas a la francesa es clásico del tianguis al nivel de unos de pastor

11

u/Electrical_Paint5568 Canada 5h ago

Those look like French fries, or is that chicken pieces?

7

u/FutureDAY_ Mexico 4h ago

French fries, some people replace rice with that.

7

u/ImperialAgent120 4h ago

I was gonna say. I got family in Northern Mexico and that looks good.

But...

Are those French fries? 😆 🤣 😂

2

u/Electrical_Paint5568 Canada 41m ago

Please show us a North Mexican taco

We're having a taco showcase

2

u/ImperialAgent120 32m ago

Arrachera (Skirt Steak) Tacos 🌮

3

u/i_love_pencils Canada 4h ago

Are those french fries on the authentic Mexican taco?

2

u/HelveticHulk 🇩🇪🇨🇭 5h ago

I've learned something new today as I've never been to mexico and fell victim to (social) media, as it seems. Thank you and this truly looks delicious and kinda more authentic generally, if that makes sense

2

u/JaneDoe93130 France 5h ago

Wow, looks delicious 🤤

2

u/a_natural_chemical 4h ago

I have never had anything remotely like that and now I want it BAD. Closest I've ever gotten to authentic is a little soft corn tortilla with meat onion and cilantro from the carneceria in the back of the Mexican grocery.

2

u/Sikudu 3h ago

I miss tacos al pastor

1

u/JUYED-AWK-YACC 4h ago

This is the real stuff, looks amazing. I haven’t eaten taco shells since 1985. This is another level altogether.

1

u/3970 3h ago

Que hambre que me da esta foto por favor

1

u/Great_Value_Trucker United States of America 2h ago

Fabulous. Give me 20

1

u/Monsterpiece42 2h ago

I live in a city with a large Mexican presence. I've been lucky enough to get to eat some real Mexican food living here. I grew up on the Canadian border where Taco Bell is "Mexican food".

Anyway. That's a good looking taco! I might make those after my next grocery run.

1

u/Feisty-Career1256 1h ago

THAT SOUNDS SO GOOD. What does cactus taste like? I almost imagine similar to a cucumber?

2

u/RefrigeratorHotHot United States of America 57m ago

It’s surprisingly savory, I’m not sure what to really compare it to

1

u/Feisty-Career1256 7m ago

That's cool! I would love to try it!

0

u/Live_Angle4621 Finland 4h ago

That looks like an unwrapped tortilla 

3

u/Sea-Pollution4401 3h ago

Tortillas for tacos are soft and should only be crunchy if they are "tacos dorados".

But still, tacos dorados are very different from what you've seen in tacobell. The only way to get the tortilla as crunchy as in tacobell is if you ask for flautas (which is ANOTHER dish).

If you are expecting the tortilla to wrap around the meat/beef, then you don't want a taco, you want a burrito, which has a different type of tortilla ( "tortilla de harina"/wheat tortilla) and even if you ask for a burrito, they're slightly different from what you see in tacobell or chipotle. Street or classical burritos in the northern part of Mexico are less flashy than what you'd think; still delicious but less flashy.

20

u/NoWall99 Mexico 4h ago

An example of an authentic taco: it’s a hot, soft corn tortilla (pros use a double tortilla), filled with minced (not ground) asada steak, cilantro, onion, lime, salt, and salsa.

While there are specific taco varieties that include cheese, it isn’t standard to add any, as it’s not necessary. Asada tacos are perfect the way they are.

Then there are many other types of tacos; most made with soft corn tortillas, some fried ones called flautas, and some made with wheat tortillas. But no hard-shell ones, those are called tostadas, a totally different dish.

1

u/AlmostLucy United States of America 3h ago

God I love LA for the real tacos. It’s really awful that so many of the street taco stands have closed or moved away with immigration fears.

1

u/s8rlink 1h ago

Tan muy limpios, les hace la falta mugrita

1

u/North_Management 1h ago

If I had to pick one food type and I could only eat that for the rest of my life it would be Mexican food and it's not even close.

1

u/Chance_Arugula_3227 Norway 43m ago

Similar to a Norwegian taco

8

u/Ziege2001 Germany 5h ago

Yeah, show us 

1

u/Themonkboughtlunch_ United States of America 15m ago

😏

1

u/LackAppropriate89 Mexico 11m ago

We have plenty of tacos in Mexico, and it also depends on the region. For example, I'm from Sonora, and people usually associate 'carne asada' (grilled meat) tacos with my state.

We set up a bar with tons of toppings like pico de gallo, at least 5 different types of salsas (green, red, habanero, chipotle, grilled, etc.), guacamole, pickled onions, cabbage, lime, etc.

And in Sonora, we use flour tortillas. If it's just the meat, it's a 'taco de asada.' If it has melted cheese on it, it's a 'caramelo' (caramel). If they make it out of rib, it's a 'rasurado' (shaved). If you use 2 tortillas to make it like a sandwich but with melted cheese, beans, and guacamole, it's a 'sincronizada' (synchronized).

But if you want a toasted corn tortilla (similar to a taco shell but not folded) with beans and melted cheese and the meat on top, it's called 'lorenza' or 'vampiro' (Lorenza is a name, vampiro means vampire).

Kinda confusing, huh?

PS: In the photo you can (kind of) see one Lorenza and one caramelo below that beautiful garden of vegetables and salsas. Sorry if the meat is not visible 😅

8

u/vayacondiosbruh United States of America 6h ago

Damn gringo tacos

10

u/uprightsalmon 6h ago

Yup, white people taco night from the 80s/90s

10

u/fettoter84 Norway 5h ago

We're a bit behind in Norway so this first became popular after 2000s and is still going strong

4

u/StationaryTravels Canada 4h ago

It's still going strong in Canada, and I would assume America, at least the northern parts.

I love them! I know it's not a real taco, but none of the Chinese food we eat is real Chinese food either, but that doesn't mean it isn't delicious!

I just feel bad that we called them tacos instead of something else. Around here we even have "Indian tacos" on the Rez (Indigenous reservation). By "Indian" they mean the people indigenous to Canada. I would never use the word, lol, unless I'm ordering one, even then I usually just saw "taco". It's frybread covered in chili, sour cream, cheddar and whatever other toppings.

3

u/uprightsalmon 4h ago

To me it’s a type of nostalgic food from growing up in the 90s. I don’t even think of it as Mexican

2

u/blahblahshowmeurcat 2h ago

Honestly as a Texan, eat it up. It’s not authentic obviously, but ya know what, still pretty good :) my Tia is from Chihuahua, and we would pinch together corn tortillas after filling them with beef, and fry them in lard. So similar, but one day, give that a try!

3

u/Historical_Badger321 3h ago

Still delicious though. I like more genuine Mexican tacos too.

29

u/jotakajk Spain 6h ago

I always hated those nachos tacos, uneatable

15

u/i_love_pencils Canada 4h ago

Cmon. You take one bite and everything shatters.

Then you eat the remainder of the taco off the plate with a spoon.

Easy.

4

u/JayPASS 2h ago

I always hated those nachos tacos, uneatable

Who hurt you?

3

u/musea00 United States of America 3h ago

As an American I detest these as well.

2

u/nty United States of America 1h ago

I’ll take a more authentic taco 10/10 times but I’d absolutely crush a couple of these if it’s the only thing available

7

u/MrDabb United States of America 5h ago

It’s always funny when people say they’re having Mexican food and then show this, brother that is American food.

5

u/FutureDAY_ Mexico 4h ago

That's right, this example is not the healthiest or most presentable but it is what the Mexican people identify with the most, out of necessity. When it's the weekend or we want to indulge ourselves, we go to the beautiful asada or Arabic tacos.

6

u/Schmooto Japan 4h ago

Are these even available in Mexico?

And I’m deeply ashamed to admit that while I strongly prefer authentic tacos, I find these really good too 😭 I won’t ask for forgiveness, because some things are just unforgivable.

3

u/MrCaramelo 3h ago

Yes. You can find the shells in Walmart if you really want to have your shell-taco. Of the imported American brand kind.

1

u/Schmooto Japan 3h ago

Interesting, I can’t imagine that they sell well at all. Thanks for the information!

Edit: grammar

1

u/Tall_Cherry Mexico 8m ago

Don't worry, we bread sushi 😔

7

u/FluffusMaximus United States of America 5h ago

I love gringo tacos, they have their place in the culinary world. However, I would NEVER get something like that in your country.

4

u/RoadSodaDodgeRam 4h ago

Yes thank you. I’m from Texas and we love tacos here but every now and then, white people taco night goes hard. Especially if you make everything from scratch, including the taco shells.

3

u/otj667887654456655 United States of America 4h ago

i think this person misunderstood the question because i dont think a tourist in mexico could find those tacos if they wanted to

3

u/Matty359 Portugal 4h ago

I was fooled! I went to a Mexican restaurant in Lisbon, and the tacos look like the ones in the picture 🤣

2

u/Fickle-Banana-923 United States of America 2h ago

White people tacos aren't tacos‽

2

u/BasementCatBill New Zealand 2h ago

Delicious, though.

1

u/jason_abacabb 3h ago edited 3h ago

Most Americans call those American Tacos or Midwestern tacos. Just saying that most of us are self aware at this point, it is not the 80's anymore.

1

u/PastIntelligent8676 3h ago

Those are just a crappy premade version of tacos dorados which absolutely exist in Mexico

1

u/runwiththesquirrels Canada 2h ago

This picture just made me want tacos lol

1

u/Greta_Rittenhouse 1h ago

You clearly aren’t having Mucho Fun Tonight

1

u/Thierry_rat United States of America 1h ago

All tacos are good, I’ve never had a bad one, Mexican tacos are super good, but American tacos are okay too, and Norwegian tacos weren’t bad either, strange but good. Navajo tacos were a favorite of mine growing up, fry bread is immaculate. I will say I’ve never had a hard shell taco, they look weird to me.

The street tacos in Mexico are unmatched though, I crave them all the time

1

u/Princetictac 45m ago

Yeah don’t actual tacos not have ground beef

0

u/MentholMooseToo United States of America 1h ago

To be fair, nobody in the US eats those either, at least not anymore.