What’s up with the Mexican pizza returning at Taco Bell? Why are vegetarians getting so hyped? Isn’t Taco Bell, like, some crappy fast-food spot? Instead, one of the most fascinating top vegan restaurants is hyping me!
On May 19th, Taco Bell brought back their Mexican pizza in so many ways: a win. I am going to note that it is, of course, a part of the exploitative fast food industry much like many other chains, but that being said, I’m well aware. But sometimes, you’re traveling and/or under the influence or desperate to eat something after midnight, and Taco Bell is there to save you.
The South Asian/Vegetarian Connection Taco Bell has been an institution for South Asians looking for vegetarian options in the US for, quite literally, decades. It is actually among the few fast-food chains in the last 20 years that has legit vegetarian options! I seriously cannot recall having eaten anything other than fries on the road 10 years ago.
Long before Burger King added the Impossible burger to their menu, and before chains like Chipotle/Qdoba arrived on the scene-prettymuch before anything, really-Taco Bell had a bean burrito, quesadilla, and many of their other items could be made vegetarian.
Besides fries-which may as well have been fried in animal fat, yeah I’m talking about you, Portillo’s-vegetarians, and South Asian immigrants and their kids who don’t eat beef or are plant-based have barely had options in the penance of fast food chains. It’s super comforting to have that anchor there even if a person doesn’t eat fast food or Taco Bell all that much. In fact, according to a recent NPR article, the Mexican pizza – or at least a version of said pizza – was born in 1985, well before vegetarian foods went mainstream in the US.
But beyond that, Taco Bell was kind of the haven for South Asian folks, and vegetarians, who could just substitute beans for beef. Taco Bell, at least in comparison with other fast food chains-which to me always seemed a little bland-really pushed spice and flavor. Spice and flavor being of course an integral part of South Asian cuisine.
My Discovery of Taco Bell
I didn’t grow up vegetarian or steeped in South Asian culture, but the gravitational pull of Taco Bell was strong in my childhood and adolescence. Everything was just so flavorful and crunchy, and it was the cool place that my vegetarian friend in high school would take us to when we could leave campus for lunch.
Therefore, since my vegetarian turn for ethical reasons at 19, my affection towards Taco Bell only grew more. I always get their bean and cheese burrito: simple yet satisfying with crunchy raw onions; order the Mexican pizza with the substitution of beef for beans and do the same thing with their Enchirito, because basically, it is just an enchilada with more glamour: hello Taco Bell, can you please bring this item back?.
Being a half-Indian person who became vegetarian found solidarity with other vegetarians from South Asia who also had an attachment towards Taco Bell. So when they took away the Enchirito AND the Mexican Pizza at Taco Bell, I was so devastated-joining all of my fellow Taco Bell lovers in that shared sadness. I was down to only my glorious bean and cheese burrito and am really not a big Crunch Wrap person/hate sour cream.
And then, there was the announcement on this glorious day of April: the return of this loved Mexican pizza on May 19th, courtesy of Taco Bell, and all the South Asians/vegetarians rejoiced across America. On May 19th, I joined other lovers of Mexican pizzas to have a Mexican pizza feast in the park. The weather was great, and I was so hopeful of really eating something that is nostalgically me.
Well, here is how it went. The Mexican pizza was just as delicious as it was before! I give it 4/5 stars!
But a few changes were made to it. Less sauce: I really love a good sauce, and this Mexican pizza did have much more cheese and less of the tomato sauce, making it a little less flavorful to me. Thankfully, my friend had brought Taco Bell Fire hot sauce that we just poured over our Mexican pizzas.
Black beans: instead of having refried beans in the vegetarian Mexican pizza, in this case, besides the refried beans, they had put black beans into it, giving the pizza filling an additional dynamic texture. I just loved that addition.
I had prepared a vegan Mexican Pizza at home as it is my favorite. Even the recipe for making it I have.
But nothing beats the crunchy flour tortilla shells and perfectly melted cheese blend; I never cook dairy at home, so to eat cheese really is a big deal for me. So, I’m so excited to have another great vegetarian option for those few times I am on the road or have needed something after midnight; please do not take this off the menu again, Taco Bell!
I know, it is just fast food. But for those of us who suffered through the miserable vegetarian options, and scoured the fast-food landscape for anything exciting and flavorful, Taco Bell was a beacon. The Mexican pizza story can mash nostalgia for that miserable time with colorful, taco-terrace adventures today. It was about retrieving an irreplacable item, not about the appeasement of late-night appetites, but reclaiming a lost item of food identity against a world of burgers and fries.
Let me be quite candid: calorie-laden fast food does not regularly populate my diet, but there is just something magic in that every-once-in-a-great-while guilty pleasure. Taco Bell married those crazy, arid beans and warm tortillas to that wonderful quesadilla-like crunch in a way that would still sing comfort at 2 AM. It’s in this comfort of the reintroduction of the Mexican pizza that the thrill lies: to be in a position where one can relive those high school, carefree days and channel their youthfully rebellious sense as it savors every crispy, cheesy glory.
