We need to talk about the tacos

Back in December I was waiting in downtown Toulouse for some friends to show up for drinks, and since the bar was really warm I waited outside. Next to the bar was one of the ubiquitous "Snack" restaurants, selling kebabs, burgers, nan, etc.

Except then I saw this:

And that is not a taco. First of all, it's all wrapped up like a burrito. Second of all, it has frickin' fries INSIDE. And lastly, someone put it on a panini grill. And tacos never had cheese sauce.


Then in January I saw this for a soon-to-open restaurant in our neighborhood (sorry for the quality, it was about 10:30pm).

The rectangular, grilled, sauce-filled "taco" apparently is the recognized standard. Note that under the logo it says "Veritable French Tacos".

And finally this Tuesday I saw another place near Place du Capitole that was offering "tacos".

The name of the restaurant was "Chicken-Tacos"

I've only rarely eaten from one of these kebab places, and these fake tacos aren't likely to change that. But the seemingly sudden invasion of fake tacos seemed really strange.

After a bit of internet sleuthing, it would appear that this comes from Lyon, and the original chain is O'Tacos. The chain has existed for a while, but I can only guess that the popularity of "tacos" has suddenly increased because O'Tacos has recently franchised itself. Clearly the kebab places are jumping on the bandwagon.

Here's a really good description of the phenomenon from http://www.observatoiredelafranchise.fr

"C'est en 2007, au coeur de la capitale des Alpes, que le fondateur décide de travailler cette version irrésistible du tacos dite "Tacos à la française". A l’antipode de son cousin mexicain, le "French Tacos" est adapté aux modes de consommation des Français, qui passe notamment par l'incorporation de frites, un standard de la restauration rapide dans l'hexagone, mais ce n’est pas encore assez "frenchie". La "French Touch" arrive ensuite, une délicieuse sauce fromagère, inspirée du savoir-faire français, qui fait tout de suite l'unanimité auprès de tous, et déclenche le succès sans précédent de l'enseigne."

O'Tacos describes its product as "l'antipode de son cousin mexicain", and it's clearly repackaged Franco-North Africain fast food. I still am puzzled by the concept of consciously creating something that has nothing to do with tacos, but calling it that anyway.


Here are a couple blogs and websites I found that talk about the phenomenon.

I just want to eat

Tacos Lyonnaise: How the French Do Mexican Food
http://bondyblog.liberation.fr/201408090001/le-tacos-nouvel-lubie-du-fast-food-banlieusard/

http://oumsafiya.canalblog.com/archives/2012/03/06/23690239.html