Simply Tacos
Written by: Kathy Lu
Tacos, tacos, more tacos: you can never get enough. The first time I had one of these tiny, “fist-size” wraps was back in 2016. My family had planned a trip to Cleveland, Ohio, to visit my brother Kevin, who’s thankfully still in university. He took us to a lovely, wooden restaurant named “Chipotle” for dinner. I had no clue what we were eating, but I could feel the radiating warmth of the stove and smell the spicy meat aroma while waiting in line. When it was our turn to order, Kevin asked what I wanted to eat. I told him I wasn’t sure, and that he should order for me. Now that I think of it, that was probably the only time trusting him was the right choice.
No more than ten minutes later, he placed a bowl of fresh tacos wrapped in tinfoil before me. I unveiled it slowly and took a careful bite out of the first taco. I chewed once, then twice, and by the third bite, I had found the love of my life.
Why had I never eaten anything so delightful in my life before this? I started to question my existence and how I had been living for an entire decade without ever trying this delicious concoction. The spicy steak bites topped with rich guacamole, all sprinkled with chopped tomatoes… ah… that first bite evoked an indescribable feeling. It was as if I was suddenly on a sandy beach with the freshest of crystal waters. It was as if the snow storm and wind chills outside the shop had evaporated into the warmest rays of sun.
Yes, the beautiful food came along, but it came with some other not so beautiful stuff. A big one is the addiction. While some are into sugar or tobacco, I would say that my addiction is tacos. I’m not sure if it’s a bad one or not, but nothing’s gone wrong...yet. Tacos have really changed my life. Just taking one bite out of a taco on a busy or stressful day can dramatically change my mood. Whenever I have tacos, I literally forget about all the bad stuff from school and drama happening around me. It’s really just a moment to cheer me up… and get a lunch, of course. This is also the reason why I love the HC taco Thursdays! I guess my mom was right: it’s the little things that makes your day nicer.
With such an awesome favourite food, I get to share it with others around me. Once I made one of my pickiest friends just give the school tacos a try, and she loved them; she even went back for seconds! Every week we run to to caf and hope to be the first students there, because when you’re first in line you get the freshest tacos. A few days ago, I had a friend over. It turned out that she had been eating soup for almost every single meal, because she was sick of the food she gets. I was like, “That’s it; we’re heading to Chipotle.” Lord, did that girl eat even more than I did. You have no clue how much I made her day a better one! By the end, she told me that she hadn’t eaten that much in a very long time. To that I replied, “Of course you haven’t, you’ve been drinking soup all day!”
At the end of the day, tacos are just good. Share them with the people around you; they don’t need to be your best friends. I still can’t believe all of these events followed a single bite of a taco.
“
I chewed once, then twice, and by the third bite, I had found the love of my life.”
— Kathy Lu’s statement on tacos