But wherever you order tacos al pastor, there are four main preparations: proto al-pastor taco (an Arab-style taco, with corn tortillas), purist taco (barely marinated with adobo sauce), the red trompo (more adobo, served with pineapple), and finally, an al pastor meat dish of sorts. Loyalty to a certain taqueria has something to do with the bonds of trust, Vilà says. On Lorenzo Boturini Street, you’ll find several legendary taco spots, including Gabacho Taqueria, El Pastorcito, and Los Güeros, each with their own fiercely dedicated fan base at El Visito, Reyes says the experience is something you can only find in Mexico City. Then, Lebanese immigrants came to Mexico, settled in Puebla, and started making “Middle Eastern tacos,” he says, swapping in pork for lamb and mutton and serving it on a flour tortillas with chipotle salsa. Its roots can be traced all the way back to ancient Asia Minor in a region known as Anatolia, in what food writer Pedro Reyes refers to as Ottoman Empire cuisine-Greece’s gyros, Turkey’s doner kebabs, and Lebanon’s shawarma. Although there are many, many variations of the taco al pastor, as we find out when we visit different taqueros and peek into their kitchens, the basic formula includes pork marinated in adobo sauce, onions, cilantros, and salsa, with pineapple too. The narrator sets the scene by saying the tacos are the perfect balance of sweet and savory-all while a glistening trompo (essentially, a tower of meat) loaded with pork turns tantalizingly on a vertical spit. In addition to Mexico City, the "Pastor" episode also makes a pitstop in Monterrey to talk about the iconic pork tacos. The goal of the docuseries isn’t to highlight the best taco, but rather, to show the passion and incredibly hard work that goes into them-Cabral also says he wants people to respect tacos and take them seriously. The final episode wraps things up by visiting cooks in Mexico and Los Angeles to check out guisados tacos (aka stew tacos). (One resident says that if Mexico City had a flag, an al pastor taco would be its emblem.) Episode two is all-things carnitas in the state of Michoacán, while the third episode puts a spotlight on canasta tacos, which you can find on the back of a bicycle “when you need it the most.” Then, it’s on to carne asada, before arriving at episode five, which explores the traditions behind barbacoa. Episode one focuses on tacos al pastor, an iconic street food staple in Mexico City. The end result? Six half-hour episodes, each dedicated to a specific taco and the region in which it’s popular.
Directed by Carlos Pérez Osorio, the series does a deep dive into the origins of six iconic tacos- Javier Cabral, an associate producer on the project and an F&W Cook, told me he traveled to 15 states all over Mexico to scout locations, sometimes eating at 16 different taquerias in a 24-hour timeframe.