10 am
Sabor y Cultura
1 lemon bar
1 small coffee
2 pm
Taco Bell
Drive-Thru Diet combo (2 steak fresca tacos, 1 large Diet Pepsi)
1 5-layer cheesy burrito
This meal was to commemorate Glen Bell, the founder of Taco Bell, who passed away on Monday. Most non-Angelenos assume that LA has great Mexican food. That is true, but this city’s greatest impact on Mexican cuisine, for better or for worse, is in it’s Americanization. Along with El Cholo restaurant (which will inevitably appear in a future post), Taco Bell shaped how Mexican food was thought of in the States. Bell’s obituaries does a good job explaining his role in how he did it. Taco Bell was for many Americans, the first taco they’ve ever ate. With the explosive growth of the Hispanic population in the United States, the idea of a taco and burrito as exotic food seems far-fetched. But even now, I have some friends from the Midwest who’s first introduction to Mexican food was Taco Bell.
I haven’t eaten Taco Bell in a long time. They recently relaunched their health food line under the “Drive-Thru Diet” tagline. The ad campaign is a direct copy of Subway’s Jared Fogle, which is ludicrous. How can anyone willingly eat these disgusting tacos regularly without going crazy? Even a Kate Moss-Pete Doherty diet has more taste appeal. I tried a couple of these new tacos and they’re terrible. The steak is completely gray, flavorless and worst of all, watery. The only other ingredients are lettuce and tomatoes, so there’s nothing else to detract from that horrible, horrible meat. To chase these tacos down, I also got a 5-layer cheesy beef burrito. This is the one with two tortillas and a layer of cheese between them. Taco Bell’s cheese sauce is essentially Cheese Whiz. Nutritionally, this is the exact opposite of the Drive-Thru Diet meal, but it’s disgusting in it’s own way.
8 pm
2 chicken breasts
side of steamed white rice
2 glasses of water
I whipped up a quick marinade with sriracha sauce, sugar, sesame oil and a little soy sauce. There was no recipe, I just grabbed whatever was in my cupboard and threw it all together. It didn’t turn out that bad.
Eat With Joe 