https://www.eater.com/22215718/how-birria-tacos-conquered-america

I was scrolling through TikTok when I landed on a video about Birra tacos. The oozing cheese from the tacos made me crave them. So I began searching for recipes and I came across this article. The article is called “The Great Birria Boom” and it is written by Bill Esparza in which he talks about the history behind the famous birria craze. 

He begins by describing the history of how birria tacos became a “thing”. Birria was created in Tijuana, Mexico. In the 1950s, Don Guadalupe Zárate, a taquero, a person who sells tacos, opened a street stand. He had recently moved to Tijuana from Coatzingo and started to sell birria de chivo tacos, which is goat meat in adobo. He realized that the goat meat was very lean and switched to beef. The meat was dry and would stick to the pot. So many suggested he add water and it became a spicy beef stew, better known as consomme. 

Esparza continues his article by discussing the journey of two Mexican-American men, Teddy Vasquez, and Omar Gonzalez. They met at a fair in Coatzingo, Puebla, and were introduced to the birria tacos. Years after they moved to Los Angeles. Omar’s cousin had recently opened a birria truck in L.A. and invited him to work along with him. In 2015 the Birrieria Gonzalez truck opened with a goal in mind, to bring a part of Mexico to their Raza. They began promoting the truck on social media, causing them to attract attention.  

Teddy became distant and personal problems caused him to fall. He moved back to Tijuana. Once he was back up on his feet he started working in a taco stand called Birrieria El Paisa. As he fell in love with the Tijuana-style birria tacos, he decided to move back to Los Angeles and start a truck of his own. With the help of his social media promotion, his truck, Teddy’s Red Tacos, became well known. José Moreno was a cook near these taco trucks and also fell in love with this dish. So much that when he moved to New York City, he opened a truck of his own, and with social media promotion it also blew up.

I find it so fascinating how social media had such a positive effect on the dish. It made the dish popular and made people from different cultures try it. In some eyes, the exposure of birria tacos gave the dish a negative impact. Those living in Tijuana would call Teddy and question him for the birria alterations because its traditional look and taste were slowly drifting away. Birria tacos have turned into food fusion dishes as cooks began to make birria pizza, birriamen, birria egg rolls, and even birria pho. Mixing different cultural foods with the infamous birria tacos. Personally, I believe this had a positive impact on Birria because people decided to try a food they might have not normally tried. It also allowed small businesses to bloom and become well known.