Saturday, July 12, 2025

Geographer creates map of Mexico’s 1.6 million taco shops

The taco is central to Mexican cuisine and a taco stand, or taquería, is never far from a hungry taco lover. Just how ubiquitous the taco restaurants are has been shown by a geographer from the National Autonomous University (UNAM).

Baruch Sanginés mapped all of the taquerías in the country with data from the national statistics agency INEGI via geolocation. His Taco Universe revealed 1.6 million sites and showed the correlation between population density and taco availability, presenting a high concentration of taco shops around urban centers.

“Here in Mexico City I could almost tell you that 95% of people have a taco stand 400 meters from their home. No matter where you live, almost 400 meters away you have a stall nearby. That speaks to the popularity of the taco,” he said.

However, Sanginés added that there was a dearth of sites in Lomas de Chapultepec, an exclusive and hilly neighborhood in the northwestern borough of Miguel Hidalgo.

Two other large cities were found to be taco-rich. In Monterrey, Nuevo León, 75% of residents are a short walk from a source of tacos, while in Guadalajara, Jalisco, 66% of residents can find them within easy reach. 

The UNAM researcher's Taco Universe.
The UNAM researcher’s Taco Universe.

Sanginés said he appreciated the dish for its wide and convenient availability. “They get you out of trouble sometimes. Because of the rhythms of work in the city, we often leave the house very quickly and don’t have time to prepare ourselves something to eat, so we go to a place and eat a taco,” he said. 

The humble but beloved treat is central to Mexican cuisine. It is generally a corn tortilla — sometimes wheat — filled with meat, raw onion and cilantro, accompanied by a spicy chile sauce. 

The dish predates the Spanish conquistadors’ arrival in Mexico. One suggested etymology for the word “taco” is tlahco, the Náhuatl word meaning “half” or “in the middle,” referring to where the filling would be placed in the tortilla.

With reports from Infobae and Milenio 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Ovidio Guzmán

Sinaloa Cartel leader Ovidio Guzmán pleads guilty to drug trafficking and organized crime charges in the US

1
Guzmán also admitted to overseeing the production and smuggling of fentanyl and other drugs as part of his plea deal.
Salinas, California, USA - June 19, 2015: Immigrant (migrant) seasonal farm (field) workers pick and package strawberries directly into boxes in the Salinas Valley of central California

Sheinbaum promises more resources for consulates after ‘unjust’ ICE raids in California

8
The military-style immigration raids on two California farms on Thursday drew sharp criticism and a pledge to action from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
A small plane flies over the ocean

How the Mexican security minister’s slip of the tongue rankled Salvadoran President Bukele

3
President Bukele took exception after García Harfuch's identified a drug-smuggling plane as coming from El Salvador.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity