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Comment by lhenault | Hacker News Reader

As a French person who's been lucky enough to visit Mexico and taste amazing tacos there, I just want to apologize to every Mexican for this. "French" "tacos" are closer to the cursed child of a burrito and a kebab than a taco.

It doesn't have much in common with Mexican culture (nor French gastronomy) and is borderline cultural appropriation. If you want a taco-shaped kebab, rather try an Al Pastor.

> Pelonero had never been to Mexico, still hasn’t. “But I’ve watched a lot of series about tacos on Netflix,”

I guess he hasn't watched this one, or he wouldn't dare naming his things "tacos" :

https://www.netflix.com/title/81040704

And the "GigaTacos challenge" is just disgusting.

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> It doesn't have much in common with Mexican culture (nor French gastronomy) and is borderline cultural appropriation.

Coming from an American perspective, I'd say this is a good thing.

What y'all are seeing is exactly what we've been seeing (and what Europe as a whole - and the world as a whole - has been seeing for thousands of years): the proliferation of new cuisines. Calling them "tacos" is of course a bit of a sacrilege, but there's more than enough precedent for similarly-named food to have wildly different forms (see also: Spanish tortillas v. Mexican tortillas). And aside from that, this seems like your bog standard fusion cuisine - and given enough time, it'll have its own distinct identity, just like how Mexican food now has a distinct identity instead of being "merely" an amalgamation of Spanish and Aztec cuisines.

More broadly speaking, this is the same mechanism by which cultures proliferate and evolve into new cultures. Cuisine is one aspect of this, and here in the US at least it even helps drive that process; food is communication, and being the fatasses we are, we sure do a heck of a lot of it :)

My thoughts exactly! Have you seen what french kebabs are doing to Indian food now? You can get 'naan wraps'. Seriously, a cheese naan that's layered with mayo/lettuce and whatever meat you want inside. I don't mean to come off as a food snob, but what kebabs are doing now is pure bastardization of indian, french, moroccan, and greek gastronomy.

I miss my Mexican tacos...

The result of food bastardization is often delicious. In Houston the M&M Grill is an Arabic and Mexican fusion restaurant. . . . We hope you'll stop by soon to try our Hamburgers, Kabobs, Enchiladas or Chimichangas.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/m-and-m-grill-houston

>child of a burrito and a kebab than a taco

Isn't that a gyro?

Sorry, in France, we usually just say "kebab" rather than "döner kebab" / "gyro" (so if you go to Turkey and ask for a kebab expecting a gyro, you'll be surprised the first time).

But they usually come with pita bread, while "French tacos" are wrapped in wheat tortillas instead, use any kind of meat(s), have cheese, sauces, ...

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