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Bubba

Jan 17, 2006, 8:03 AM

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Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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Every extranjero living or planning to live in Mexico knows that locals have digestive systems that are more tolerant of food borne diseases but that foreigners can safely eat at street taco stands as long as they observe that the particular stands are popular among the locals. Right?

From Guadalajaras's MURAL, Community Section, Monday, January 16:

El Salto: (an industrial suburb of Guadalajara) - Aricle Summarized by Bubba:
Local emergency rooms were inundated with over 150 inhabitants of the Colonia Las Pintas de Arriba in El Salto early this morning suffering from severe abdominal pain, nausea and vomitting. It seems all had eaten tacos from a couple of street taco stands popular among residents of that city. At first, it appeared to be clenbuteral related but later it was found that the victims had eaten tacos made with rotten beef and not viscera .

It's a good idea, if you wish to retire to a foreign country that you read the local press to help cut through the bullshit.

wyhaines

Jan 17, 2006, 9:06 AM

Post #2 of 24 (3741 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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One person's bullshit is another person's practicality.

If a person goes someplace new, and one sees specific usage patterns among the locals regarding where they eat or do not eat, prudence suggests that one might learn something about where the good places to eat are by observing these patterns.

This isn't somehow made untrue because something bad happens with one of those eateries.

Even with the best of decisions, crap happens sometimes.

A person doesn't have to look to very far in the US to find food poisoning from a resturant making lots of people ill (or, a few years ago, unpasturized juices in the grocery store), or some employee who had hepatitis potentially exposing hundreds of people, all of whom rush to get gamma globulin shots.

But even with all of that, if there are two resturants or two street vendors, and one has long lines, while the other stands nearly deserted, odds are that there is a good reason for that.

alex .

Jan 17, 2006, 9:13 AM

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Re: [Bubba] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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Make sure that you choose a taco stand that has dogs lying about. If there are no dogs, then where are they?
Alex

Bubba

Jan 18, 2006, 9:17 PM

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Re: [alex .] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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Sometimes it's so easy to miss the point. WyHaines missed it altogether, Alex got it no problem.

Esteban

Jan 19, 2006, 7:28 AM

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Re: [Bubba] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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There is also another tell tale sign: If a taco costs less than 7 pesos, there is a reason.

Bubba

Jan 19, 2006, 7:45 AM

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Re: [Esteban] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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I believe I may have seen some of those under 7 peso tacos Esteban refers to on TV Azteca this morning still on the hoof in the huge San Barnabe livestock market in the State of Mexico which has been cited for exceptional cruelty to animals for over a year now without reform. Many of these animals were crippled and diseased with repulsive sores and lesions. The camera showed several incidents of cruel treatment of these pathetic beasts with absolutely no regard by those exhibiting this cruelty to the fact thay they were being filmed for national television.

Enjoy that taco.

(This post was edited by Bubba on Jan 19, 2006, 7:51 AM)

caldwelld

Jan 19, 2006, 8:03 AM

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Re: [Bubba] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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What's to get here? An old fart (your self-characterisation) harping on an old saw is even less amusing than on the first harp? Give it up. You may be old but not old enough to have your own “myths”.

Re dog, I believe it highly unlikely that locals would ever offer a gringo any. That delicacy is, I am sure, served only among the cognoscenti.
dondon

Gringal

Jan 19, 2006, 9:12 AM

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Re: [Esteban] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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Geez, this thread is leading me to vegetarianism. Hot dogs, indeed.

Back in the old school cafeteria, anything ground up and served as food was referred to as "mystery meat" by my peers. Nothing has changed, so I am inclined to avoid foods with unidentifiable sources. I buy chunks of roast at the market and watch them ground, for my burgers. Can't do that at the taco stands, but how hard is it for anyone to find something else for lunch if they're concerned about the filling source?

Bubba

Jan 19, 2006, 9:15 AM

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Re: [caldwelld] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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DonDon:

Please address your comments regarding dogs to Alex, not Bubba since it is he who brought up the subject.

Personally, I would rather be fed fresh dog meat than rotten beef. Of course we all know the other Mexican myth - that one can digest decayed meat as long as one generously adds lime juice and hot peppers.

The reason, by the way, that I am indeed and old fart is that I don't buy these myths and avoid putrid meat whenever possible.

CCarol

Jan 19, 2006, 2:22 PM

Post #10 of 24 (3449 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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Well, I have to jump in and ask here about Taco's Al Pastor - mmmmmm they are so good! Do you all eat those? It's about all I ate on my last trip and I never got sick once. I know it hanging on that big "thing" outside and has pineapple in it, but I've never known anyone to get sick from one. Maybe I've just been lucky(?)
Carol

"Be kind, for everyone you know is facing a great battle." (Philo of Alexandria)

ignacio

Jan 19, 2006, 4:07 PM

Post #11 of 24 (3423 views)

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Re: [CCarol] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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Hum.... let's see, when I was in the US Air Force, the cooks took the meat 'leftovers' covered them with a thick white sauce, and called that specialty dish "SOS", short for sh__-on-the-shingle.

I often wondered what this leftovers were, and where they came from.

(This post was edited by ignacio on Jan 19, 2006, 4:09 PM)

Ron Pickering W3FJW

Jan 19, 2006, 4:24 PM

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Re: [ignacio] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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SOS Good stuff !!
Getting older and still not down here.

sfmacaws

Jan 19, 2006, 6:24 PM

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Re: [CCarol] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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Tacos al Pastor is one of my favorite foods. I use the same (according to Bubba misguided) reasoning when choosing a place to eat that as any other street food. I look for a clean establishment, separate people handling the food and the money, and a brisk turnover of customers. I've declined to stop at one place in San Miguel that was so deserted every time I passed that I was sure the meat on the stick had been there for a week and you never know if they turn off the propane when there aren't any customers or bother to refrigerate the meat at night. If it is popular, the food is going to be fresher because it is sold faster. YMMV

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

CCarol

Jan 19, 2006, 8:37 PM

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Re: [sfmacaws] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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Maybe I just like food! I think SOS is yummy too. I'm also too trusting...I ate tacos Al Pastor all over the place. Never thought to see how they handled it at night or in heat of the day. I'm told someday I'll get REALLY sick! Oh well...safe so far.
Carol

"Be kind, for everyone you know is facing a great battle." (Philo of Alexandria)

Bubba

Jan 20, 2006, 6:00 AM

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Re: [CCarol] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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The reason tacos al pastor never make you sick is that they contain no organic material, simply discarded FedEx boxes. Shephards carried this stuff for months without ill affect.

We picked up a cousin from Paris at GDL last night and the airport $45 Peso Cheese Whopper was delicious along with those fabulous French candies filled with various types of liquors she brought from France. The French may be snotty but they sho can cook.

alex .

Jan 20, 2006, 6:52 AM

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Re: [Bubba] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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Then theres the "tacos del gato" supposedly available in D.F. Hey, can't just insult dog lovers here, we are equal opportunity contributors.

Bubba

Jan 20, 2006, 7:19 AM

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Re: [alex .] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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Well, now Alex, speaking of the French, it is my understanding that cats virtually disppeared from Paris in the early 1940s for some reason and if your want to become an old possum in South Alabama you had best be fast of foot.

There is a section of desert highway in San Luis Potosi state between the Nuevo Leon state line and the city of San Luis Potosi which is a beautiful but desolate area where one can pass stand after stand with campesinos selling endangered species illegal to kill and they do it just to stay alive. And here you were worried about getting from the killing fields of Nuevo Laredo to Entronque de Matehuala before dark

(This post was edited by Bubba on Jan 21, 2006, 7:51 AM)

esperanza

Jan 20, 2006, 8:56 AM

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Re: [alex .] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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And we can't leave out the infamous tamales from Morelia, Michoacán--made from the flesh of ser humano. The true incident was in the papers a couple of years ago. JR and others posted about it right here on MexConnect.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

Bubba

Jan 20, 2006, 9:22 AM

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Re: [esperanza] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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Well, I remember the reporting of those very special tamales. If I remember correctly, they were prized locally. Reminds me two of my favorite movies, Motel Hell and Fried Green Tomatoes. Rory Calhoun starred in the former flick and it was his best performance ever. As for the latter flick, it purportedly took place in Southeast Alabama and featured a cafe that served up dead sheriff BBQ with lots of sauce. Nobody ever got sick.

Concerning those two street taco stands in El Salto that made so many people sick, I am reminded of what I call the Ken Ley or Jack Abramof fundamental law of human behavior. Safeway gets away with mixing green meat with fresh meat in its hamburger for years and then along comes some fartblossum who gets greedy and mixes in green meat even my disgusting Bordeaux Dog wouldn't eat and the next thing you know the health department is investigating every restaurant in town (except, of course, for Cousin Juan Bob's place) and shutting everybody down thereby spoliing what had been a really nice racket for everybody including the customers who really loved those tacos al pastor.

We lived in San Francisco for years and just about everybody in the city health department was of Chinese heritage so Chinatown restaurants got away with murder. Hell, if you were a Chinese restaurateur you could display a cadaver in your window as a daily special and stay in business. If, on the other hand,you were Lebanese, you had better have washed your hands every time you sneezed.

That's what I like about humans. Selective abhorrence.

(This post was edited by Bubba on Jan 20, 2006, 9:25 AM)

CCarol

Jan 20, 2006, 10:40 AM

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Re: [Bubba] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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Dog-gone-it (thought that was appropriate) Bubba. You have a very eloquent way of ridding one of the appitite. However, I would guess if I were there, I'd get over it and be having a Taco Al Pastor around 2 p.m.

As it is...guess I'll have to settle for broccoli/bacon quiche. Such is life!
Carol

"Be kind, for everyone you know is facing a great battle." (Philo of Alexandria)

Gayla

Jan 20, 2006, 1:13 PM

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Re: [Bubba] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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Ummmm, not exactly on the SF health department piece. I, too, lived and worked forquite a number of years in Bagdahd by the Bay...I also had the good fortune, or perhaps misfortune is the operative word, of counting several members of the SF Department of Environmental Health among my circle of acquaintances. Including one whose beat was Chinatown. He closed far more places than not. I can safely say, however, that once I started seeing some of the "evidence" photos he had taken I never, ever ate in Chinatown again. Gross, disgusting and appalling are to mild to fully describe the kitchen horrors in his photos. The sad fact is that many operators in Chinatown ignored the reports (provided in their own language, remember is is the ever politically correct City of SF) from their inspectors and ended up in court on failure to comply charges before either closing or being closed.

Bubba

Jan 20, 2006, 5:25 PM

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Re: [Gayla] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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Gayla:

I'm beginning to like you.

The rats in San Francisco's Chinatown had their own tooothpicks. When I walked to work down Grant Street from my home in North Beach to my bank at Montgomery and Stockton, they used to lie there on their backs picking their teeth and burping loudly after having fed upon the left over fried rice.

Rat turds are a delicacy in San Francisco. The waiters in those big, overblown Chinese restaurants catering to Billy Bob and Maudy from Duluth tell the customers that they are Szechwan Peppercorns.

(This post was edited by Bubba on Jan 21, 2006, 10:42 AM)

Gayla

Jan 20, 2006, 10:14 PM

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Re: [Bubba] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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So, were those rats with 4 legs or 2? You do know, of course, that merry band of pranksters more commonly known as the San Francisco City Council, while under the tuteledge of (Emperor) Willie Brown, actually passed a law outlawing the use of toxic chemicals for pest control??? Kid you not. Pest control was to be done by "humane" non-toxic methods.

Ron Pickering W3FJW

Jan 20, 2006, 11:10 PM

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Re: [Gayla] Bubba's Favorite Mexican Myths

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That's because Willie wanted to go down painlessly when they figured out where he was comin' from.
Getting older and still not down here.