Taco Bell, I Don’t Even Know You Anymore

Please give me back my chili cheese burrito!

This is the Taco Bell I know. Photo by jonrev (talk) on Wikimedia Commons.

For me, the food at Taco Bell (or Taco Hell) has always just been a vessel for their hot sauce. I require three packets of hot sauce per taco. Four for a burrito.

I was introduced to tacos in San Antonio when I was about eight. I liked the first three so much that my mom allowed me to order three more. It would be a couple more years before I saw my next taco.

Fast food hadn’t arrived in Abilene, Texas, when we left in 1968 and moved to Ventura, California. I was in the fourth grade, and the closest thing I ever had to fast food was Burger Chef. They didn’t even have a drive-thru!

The first Taco Bell I visited looked like the one above. Living in Ventura was like arriving in fast food heaven. There was McDonald’s, Whataburger, Jack-in-the-Box, and Carls, Jr. (♫Carls Jr., It’s Out of this Word!♫), all of which I’d never had. We met 31 Flavors for the first time (which is now known as Baskin-Robbins). And some fish-and-chips place. Arthur Treachers?

A Whataburger location in Mesquite, Texas. The chain only operates in the South, with 761 locations in Texas alone. In my humble opinion, it is the best fast-food hamburger, with In-N-Out coming in a close second. Photo by Michael Barera on Wikimedia Commons.

Anyway, back to Taco Bell. It became my favorite fast-food place. Back then, they had…