This Food in History #8 Birria Tacos

Jan 18

Jan 18 This Food in History #8 Birria Tacos

Youtube video of this food in history #8 birria tacos

Hello! I’m Soph and welcome to another episode of This Food in History! Today we’ll be talking about a trendy food I finally was able to eat from someone that knew how to cook it, so tried making it myself too. Birria tacos! I just love all the videos and variations I see online everywhere, it has blown up all over the place the last few years. Super popular and messy but fun to eat. I was then curious about where it comes from and if it has a rich history or a short one!

Birria is an authentic Mexican Flavor born out of hunger and need! Birria has a less complex but slightly long history that starts in Mexico in Cocula, Jalisco. This town is southwest of Guadalajara.

In the 16th Century during the Colombian Exchange, a lot of new spices and animals were introduced to Mexico by the Conquistadors from Spain. The way of life for Mexicans was changed by these invaders and in doing so we see the birth of many new flavors and dishes. One of the animals brought over at the time was goats. As adorable as goats are, they are quite the invasive species as they eat and breed a LOT and destroy a lot of crops in the process. Even more so when there are no fences keeping them located away from fields and gardens. This was a bad time for natives who were dying from diseases and subjugation and now their crops were being destroyed as well by these chivos. Pigs became a staple, goats became a problem.

So the locals did the most logical thing. They started eating goats. The meat was gamey and had a strong taste and smell, so herbs and spices that were strong enough to fight it were used to help flavor it and they cooked it in kilns to help soften the meat. And so “birriero” (birria maker) was born.

This type of meat preparation from goat didn’t actually leave the area for many years. History actually next jumps us to the 1950s for the next major update in birria. Don Guadalupe Zárate moved to Tijuana and opened a street stand. He sold birria de chivo, carne asada and abobada (al pastor). He changes out the goat meat for beef and we have a legend that says someone asked him to add more liquid so the meat wouldn’t burn. And that my friends is the creation of the soup style birria de res, Tijuana style that we would recognize today. The meat is cooked slowly for hours in an adobo with herbs, spices and vegetables to make a rich stew.

By 1968, Zárate moves his operation to a late night destination location called Las Ahumaderas where the young folks go after events, parties and dances. Through the 80s, birria de res was growing in popularity but not beating out more traditional flavors like carne asada and al pastor. More places are selling it but it’s still not the new hotness. That said, it is being sold rigidly in the same way by everyone and is known as a breakfast item! “tacos de birria came with chopped white onions and cilantro topped with salsa de chile de árbol, or birria en caldo (soup). And you’d better be done by 1 p.m to make way for la comida (big meal of the day), because birria de res is breakfast in Tijuana. We do get a variation called quesabirrias from Tacos Aaron which has credit for first pairing cheese with the meat.

Next we have to jump to 2013. Ruben Ramierez and his cousin Oscar Gonzalez and brother Omar Gonzalez support open a Mexican stand in Los Angeles California. Ramirez’s uncle has been selling birria for 40 years in Tijuana and they want to capitalize on it in LA. The first stand they setup is in Oscar’s driveway in South Central. They are able to grow this and open Birrieria Gonzalez as a taco truck in 2015.

The brothers had a friend they had met in Mexico, Teddy Vasquez who in 2016 opens Teddy’s Red Tacos by Fall of 2016. A young Mexican, Latino, and Latinx audience then make Birrieria Gonzalez, Teddy’s Red Tacos, and fellow LA birria truck Tacos y Birria La Única Instagram stars. Ivan Gonzalez takes credit for a virtual Instagram post in November 2018 that brought this old style of taco and stew across America and on everyone’s social media. The rest is a fast expansion as shops all across the states start selling their own versions and posting all over socials with it. I’ve seen birria styled ramen, quesadillas, burritos, burgers, and more on my feeds.

That is the simple but long story of Birria tacos and how they came to be the new trendy food of the 2020s. I might still be bad at making them, I cannot get the crispy shell correct, but I still love the simplicity of this stew that bursts with flavor!

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