Taco

A typical plate of tacos in the Sena'akono region

The Tako, or Taco in Occidental Romanization, is a traditional dish in Loa cuisine, consisting of flatbread typically made with sourdough and wrapped about a filling of meat and vegetables. The filling is very diverse but typically consists of small rehydrated fish, river crab meat or fermented pork, ginger, okra and green onions, and is usually accompanied with a sauce of chilies, citrus and a spice blend consisting of poppy seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg and turmeric. The taco is a central aspect of Loa cuisine, with most Loa eating a variant of the dish weekly or even daily. It has even spread beyond the Vallosian subcontinent via the Loa diaspora, with notable regional variants in Pelaxia, Cartadania, Aciria, and other regions with a large Loa diaspora, like Burgoignesc Equitorial Osteicia and Sudmoll.

History

The taco originated in the 1920s after opening of the country following the events of the Takatta Loa Civil War. The government sought to expand the potential crops of the Loa and secure food safety, and so foreign crops such as wheat, potatoes, barley and lentils were introduced. Loa cuisine as a whole expanded in diversity around this time but was usually built upon older culinary traditions. The taco especially is thought to be derived from an earlier mainland street dish called losu'ihuilalo, or when translated directly "banana leaf stew". It was a mixture of meat and vegetable stew thickened and held together with taro starch and then steamed in banana leaves. These losu'ihuilalo are still regularly eaten everyday, though the connection between it and the taco is often lost.

With the introduction of wheat and flatbread into Takatta Loa, banana and lotus leaves stopped being used to hold food and instead were reserved for steaming. Around 1926, a street vendor named Hako'oa began selling huilalo which came to be a standard name for a food wrap at this time. This was the first recorded instance of a taco like food appearing, as Hako'oa also published a small pamphlet near his retirement in the same year due to illness. He passed away a year later but the pamphlet, and subsequently tacos, became popular around the nation. Tacos themselves are named on the third page, being rehydrated fish and okra (takokara huilalo as he originally called it) and are named tako due to a combination of the first two characters of takokara in the Old Loa Characters. Due to the accessibility of both of these ingredients, tacos in particular became extremely popular on the mainland and eventually in all of Takatta Loa.

In the 1950s, due to the establishment of the republic and constitution, many more Loa began migrating across the Kindreds and subsequently brought the taco with them into these regions. As a result, variations of the taco including new ingredients such as beef, chicken, tomatoes and sour cream began to emerge and eventually make their way back to Takatta Loa. The most popular of these included pork tacos and the inclusion of a chili sauce. These endure to this day and have become traditional in Loa taco cuisine. Further, during the late 20th century, Takatta Loa began to see the emergence of restaurants and restaurant chains, a previously unknown concept. The largest of these today is TakoBel'O, which specializes primarily in tacos.

Regional Variants

There are many regional variants and styles of tacos throughout not only Takatta Loa but also the world. The region with the largest number of styles is Ahoso, the birthplace of tacos. There are nearly half a dozen styles of taco in the city of Disa'adakuo alone. In addition, Takatta Loa recognizes a "national" style of tacos consisting of the original rehydrated fish and kora, which is celebrated every year on the National Taco Day of July 12th.