A really informative ,interesting look at the Taco .Another excellent addition to the series.#NetGalley #bloomsbury

This was a really quick yet completely thorough look at a topic I’d never really given much thought to before. I’m definitely going to be recommending to my non-fiction book club when it comes out.

I had way too much fun reading Taco. This deep dive into the world of tacos is as flavorful as the food itself—mixing history, culture, and culinary insight in a way that left me both hungry and enlightened. I walked away with a new appreciation for the richness of Mexico’s food traditions and a better understanding of how tacos have been reimagined—and sometimes completely butchered—in the United States.

The author doesn’t hold back. From the shell to the seasoning, there’s a mouthwatering breakdown of what makes a taco truly great. It felt like a love letter to tacos—thoughtful, passionate, and packed with truth bombs.

And the chapter on Taco Bell? Pure comedy gold. I was cracking up. As someone who once lived off Taco Supremes in college (and now can’t stand the smell), it was incredibly validating to read an authentic Mexican perspective on those sad little un-tacos.

By the time I finished the book, all I wanted was to pack a bag and go on a Taco Trek across Mexico. If you love food, culture, and a little humor with your history, this book is absolutely worth the read. Highly recommend!

A huge thanks to NetGalley, the author & publisher for the opportunity to read this advanced copy.

When I tell you how much I love this series...!

"Taco" turned up on NetGalley ten minutes after, I kid you not, I returned from picking up my hold copies of "Doll" and "Doctor" at the library. Obviously it was an instant request, because while I am ambivalent about tacos (this is my fault, not tacos'; I am ambivalent about many foods that are widely considered delicious), I am not ambivalent about this series. Object Lessons takes readers through short, varied romps on subjects as varied as...well, as tacos and doctors, or tacos and pregnancy tests, or tacos and questionnaires...

Here we get an exploration of the mighty taco. In many ways this is a food tour: Sánchez Prado grew up in Mexico City, where tacos were (are!) a staple, and although he no longer lives there, tacos remain an integral part of the culinary side of his visits.

I am most compelled by Sánchez Prado's discussions of authenticity and what it means for a taco to be "authentic"—and whether that matters at all in the first place. He mostly focuses on tacos he has known and loved but also gets some fairly entertaining digs in at Taco Bell. Here I should perhaps note that I've never set foot in a Taco Bell, let alone eaten there—my family did not eat fast food when I was growing up, and I never developed a taste for most of it—and thus have no informed opinions about it, but I found the history of its founding interesting. I'm not sure I'm convinced by Sánchez Prado's refusal to try Taco Bell even for the sake of the book, but he has a point that taco as an adjective (even for someone who takes a liberal view, as Sánchez Prado does, of what a taco can be) is perhaps a bridge too far.

But a lot of the book is suited best for people who, you know, eat tacos (and eat meat) and, ideally, think it's a great idea to take their own taco tour somewhere. This should absolutely be required reading for any foodies visiting Mexico City in particular, though Sánchez Prado talks quite a bit about taco culture in other cities (LA, St. Louis, etc.) as well. This is also what made me not the best fit for the book, though, and the book in turn not entirely the book for me: as a slightly neurotic, nearly lifelong vegetarian, I don't get all that much stimulation from descriptions of meat-heavy dishes that I'll never eat; I long ago learned to skip over menu descriptions when there's meat involved, and it turns out that that's a hard habit to break...which is not ideal when reading a book with description after description of tortillas filled with some form of meat!

So go investigate the book, and the series, and perhaps some tacos—and take your taco recommendations from Sánchez Prado, not from me.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Taco is a good addition to the Object Lessons series. It is a brilliant idea to explore taco, Mexican culture, its food and impact via a conversationally academic text.

I recently read (and loved!) another book in the Object Lessons series so much that I decided to try another one!

Taco is filled with history, culture, and food. I learned a lot about Mexican food culture, Mexico's history, and the evolution and diversity of tacos. Our author is an academic, not a writer, and I found the reading dry and verbose at times. The book was short, but it still took me a few sessions to finish. There were a lot of circular references within the book ('which I talked about in Chapter X', 'as you'll see in the next chapter') and repetition which could have been cut. There's a noticeable overuse of the word 'modernity'. I was disappointed that we didn't get to spend much time in the author's story or perspective - I was hoping for a personal narrative through-line to complement the non-fic elements.

Ultimately, I'm glad I read this and there's a lot to be learned from the book, but the writing style was a bit too academic to keep it from becoming a new favourite.

3.5/4