If you are looking to add more plant based meals into your diet, these Lentil, Roasted Butternut Squash and Black Bean Tacos are the way to go. Just omit the bacon!
Who doesn’t love a good taco. In recent years tacos have become all the rage here in Calgary, maybe even Canada, as taquerias, pop ups and restaurants featuring tacos keep popping up everywhere.
Tacos come in all shapes and sizes to satisfy any appetite. But have you ever wondered where tacos come from? I certainly have and so I decided to find out.
The origin of tacos is more or less unknown and potentially dates back to the 18th century and the silver mines in Mexico. According to , a historian writer at the Smithsonian, in those Mexican sliver mines the word “taco” referred to the little charges they would use to excavate the ore. These were pieces of paper that they would wrap around gunpowder and insert into the holes they carved in the rock face. The first references to the taco in any sort of archive or dictionary didn’t come about until the end of the 19th century. And one of the first types of tacos described is called a miner’s tacos.
Childhood memories of tacos for me involved using an Old El Paso Taco Kit. While these taco kits are still available for those who prefer to keep it simple, more adventurous palates delve into beef tongue, lamb neck and octopus tacos available right here in Calgary.
Having had my fair share of meat tacos, we are changing it up and making an almost vegetarian variation.
PRO TIPS
- Omit the bacon and sour cream crema if you are looking for a vegan variation
- If you use the bacon, cook the beans in the bacon fat for extra flavour
- Canned lentils are a quick and easy alternative to cooking your lentils
