The global tacoshed

Where did your taco come from?

By Culinate staff

May 18, 2010

The current issue of Meatpaper magazine (issue 11, for those counting) features back-to-back articles on local eating.

The first, a report on a project undertaken by architecture students at the California College of the Arts, details an attempt to map out where every component of a local taco came from, down to the aluminum-foil wrapper. The beautifully mapped results would make Edward Tufte envious.

The second article documents another California taco stunt, this time pulled off by a Los Angeles nonprofit called Materials & Applications. The challenge? To grow (including the tilapia) all the elements necessary for making fish tacos.

As the magazine notes, fish farming and tomato gardening turned out to be a lot harder than expected, and by the time of the nonprofit’s scheduled celebratory fish-taco party, extra supplies had to be purchased elsewhere.

Arty followers of the M&A weren’t quite prepared for the full-on fishstravaganza that took place at the party, either:

Witnessing the act of catching and killing a fish for dinner was, surprisingly, horrifying to many attendees. They had come for art, and for tacos, but were not expecting to be confronted with the full story of how a fish taco is made.