Mr. Old Man Tries Taco: Is TACO Better Than Bánh Mì or Bánh Xèo?

Yesterday, in a post about Ottawa City Council moving forward with the process of renaming Trump Avenue to Taco Avenue, Mr. Old Man mentioned the famous Mexican taco.

Then a very practical question came to mind:

If I’ve never eaten a taco, how can I talk about tacos?

So today, Mr. Old Man ordered a 45,000-VND serving of tacos to try.

The first thing that surprised him was the appearance.

The taco arrived wrapped tightly in aluminum foil and packed in a paper bag. When opened, it looked more like a rolled-up Vietnamese rice paper wrap, with meat, vegetables and sauce inside.

It didn’t look much like the tacos Mr. Old Man had seen in pictures: a tortilla folded in half, open at the top, with the filling inside.

But never mind the appearance.

The important thing is how it tastes.

And luckily, Mr. Old Man’s first experience with tacos did not disappoint.

Easy to eat, familiar to the Vietnamese palate, and actually quite tasty.

As for whether taco is better than Vietnamese bánh mì or bánh xèo… well, that’s a difficult question.

Because some places make great bánh mì, while others don’t.

The same goes for bánh xèo.

And tacos are probably no different.

You can’t eat one taco and declare:

Taco first, bánh mì second, bánh xèo third.

Yesterday, Mr. Old Man even asked Chat to rank the three.

Chat came up with:

Bánh mì
Bánh xèo
Taco

Sounds reasonable.

But Mr. Old Man suspects Chat may be… a little biased toward Vietnam!

If a Mexican person asked Chat the same question, I wonder whether the ranking would be reversed.

Maybe:

Taco
Bánh mì
Bánh xèo

Then someone in Vietnam would probably ask:

“Hey, has Chat ever eaten bánh xèo?”

Anyway, perhaps we shouldn’t make three dishes from three different cultures compete against one another.

Taco is good in its own way.
Bánh mì is good in its own way.
Bánh xèo is good in its own way.

As long as it tastes good, that’s what matters.

And for Mr. Old Man, 45,000 VND for a first taco experiment was a pretty successful one.

But the experience also reminded him of yesterday’s story.

In Ottawa, the city council is moving forward with the process of renaming Trump Avenue. One of the proposed names is Taco Avenue.

Yesterday, that sounded funny.

After actually eating a taco today, it sounds even more… delicious.

If one day a TACO AVENUE sign really appears in Ottawa, Mr. Old Man can at least say:

“Oh, I’ve had those. Not bad at all!”

__ Mr. Old Man