Democracy Dies in Darkness

A taco will always be a taco — no matter what we call it

The “is a taco a sandwich?” debate is divorced from the iconic food’s connection to Mexico’s rich and complex cuisine.

Perspective by
Staff writer
May 17, 2024 at 11:34 a.m. EDT
A taco with a small sandwich toothpick that reads: sandwich
(Marissa Vonesh/The Washington Post; iStock)
6 min

For most of my life on this big blue marble, I’ve known tacos as tacos and sandwiches as sandwiches, the distinction between them self-evident.

But in recent years, the courts — and a certain segment of American eaters — have spoken out on a surprisingly divisive question: Is a taco a sandwich?