Mexican Food Chain: Chili's And Taco Bell

The “Mexican” Food Chain Beginnings Big names like Chili’s and Taco Bell are known nationwide and even somewhat worldwide. A family looking for a dinner out might choose Chili’s, a sit down tex mex style cuisine. It’s pleasing to a large population yet has more flare than an Olive Garden. Taco Bell is fast food Mexican that Americans crave as a good dose of junk food. Big chains similar to these have been around since the early 1900’s. They are called Mexican restaurants, or Mexican chains, however they are far from their Mexican roots. Mexicans do not choice to eat Taco Bell because it reminds them of home. If they eat it, it’s for the same reasons any American would; good junk food. Chili’s and Taco Bell are not Mexican food restaurants
yet they are classified as Mexican chains. One of Taco Bell’s commercials is about older people in a nursing home. They sneak out after being tucked into bed and do crazy things a teenager would do at night. They get drunk, they get tattoos, and at the end of their night end up eating at Taco Bell. Thought the whole commercial the song “We Are Young” is played, but sung in Spanish. The target audience is a younger crowd. They are the people actually doing these things and find it funny to watch old people do what is typically their norm. It’s encouraging the younger crowd to come and eat Taco Bell after their great late night adventures when they “Live Más”. A Mexican elder would not find this commercial too funny. They would find it disrespectful to the elderly people. This is meant for an American culture, and the young people of that culture. Taco Bell is not a Mexican restaurant and does not serve real Mexican food but remains under the umbrella of a Mexican chain. Another big well known more recent chain is Chipotle. They put out a commercial more serious than Taco Bell. It was about a scarecrow who worked at a meat factory. He repaired the outside of the factory covering up all the bad that was happening inside. All of the meat was sent out on conveyor belts into the town. There was a belt for a super market, one for restaurant, one for a school lunch. It was sad and gloomy, until he got home and it was bright and full of colorful vegetables. The scarecrow decided to make his own fresh food and sell next to the meat factory. And finally at the end a Chipotle label was shown. This add provoked an emotion from the viewer. It showed we buy meat and don't question how it’s processed and where it came from. It’s challenging the viewer to think better and eat fresher at place like Chipotle. Although Chipotle may be healthier and fresher thanTaco Bell, it is still just the same as its greasy counterpart. It is still a Mexican chain that does not serve authentic Mexican food. Larry Cano was a “pilgrim” of the Mexican chain (Arellano 71).
He established a restaurant called El Torito Grill. It was one of the first sit down Mexican restaurants. Before restaurants like this, Mexican food like, tacos, tamales, and chili con carne were severed from stands. Cano saw an opportunity for something that didn't exist in California yet. He couldn't cook so Cano hired “Mexican-born chefs and ordered them to cook what they, as mexicanos, ate—but with an eye for main stream” (Arellano 78). This is where the step away from Mexican food began. Cano wanted the Mexican flare and the Mexican food Americans enjoy, but he didn't want the traditional Mexican food. He wanted Americanized Mexican food. And this stands true today. If you go to Chili’s, Taco Bell, or Chipotle you will receive Americanized Mexican food. If you go to a local immigrant restaurant, their tacos will not look or taste like the ones sold in the chain restaurants. This is because our “Mexican” chains aren't actually Mexican foods. They are tailored to the American population. Arellano wrote, “you can hide the Mexican, but the Mexican will emerge” (Arellano 74). We can Americanize the Mexican culture all we want, however at the end of the day we still crave the food they have brought
us.