Planet Taco
Book on culinary history
Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food is a non-fiction book by Jeffrey Pilcher, published by the Oxford University Press in 2012. Pilcher discusses the history of Mexican cuisine and Tex Mex cuisine as well as perceptions of the concept of "Mexican food" around the world.
Kristen Gremillion of Ohio State University stated that in covering the perceptions of Mexican food, the book goes beyond being "a straightforward history".
Contents
One chapter discusses the French influence on the food of the Mexican elite and the Pastry War. The work also discusses the 1800s development of Tex Mex cuisine. The work also describes how Mexican-inspired food globalized and how the image of what Mexican food is was shaped by that.
The book describes how the invention of the taco was late in the chronology of Mexican cuisine.
Pilcher argues that the view of Tex Mex cuisine being inauthentic is a misreading of its true origins and is steeped in elitism.
The book has a glossary of vocabulary involved in Mexican cuisine.
Reception
Arnold J. Bauer of University of California, Davis overall praised the book as "originally conceived, broadly researched and engagingly written" and characterized his criticism of some elements as minor.
“Planet Taco” enters the record as book on culinary history. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Planet, Taco and Book can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Planet Taco” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Planet, Taco and Book provides the most credible route into that argument.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q113993462. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2012.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
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- Expand the search: follow Planet Taco primary sources, Planet Taco archive and Planet research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Planet Taco” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.