Why do Indian Americans love Taco Bell so much?
Writer Kahini Calcuttawalla explains the love affair that Indian Americans have with the Mexican-inspired fast food chain
Taco Bell was often a quick, easy, and vegetarian-friendly option for Indian families.
Photo illustration by Ryan Quan
Words by Kahini Calcuttawalla
If you’ve enjoyed a Mexican pizza from Taco Bell in the last couple of years, you have an Indian American to thank. The chain discontinued this famous frankenfood—two fried tortillas stuffed with beef and beans, topped with cheese and tomato sauce—in 2020. In response, New Jersey-based tech entrepreneur Krish Jagirdar started a petition to bring it back, and members of the South Asian community sprang into action circulating it. Eventually, the petition racked up more than 170,000 signatures from all over the country.
As a result of Jagirdar’s petition, Taco Bell brought back the Mexican pizza in 2022, and members of the Indian American diaspora rejoiced. Many Indian immigrant kids grew up with Taco Bell as the fast food restaurant of choice. “A lot of South Asians, especially first-generation South Asians, grew up vegetarian,” Jagirdar tells NBC News. Burgers and fried chicken were off the menu, and pizza wasn’t exciting to the typical Indian palate. Taco Bell offered vegetarian options that the whole family could enjoy.
The relationship between Indian Americans and Mexican food began long before we were living más (not to say Taco Bell is true Mexican food, but an Americanized version of the cuisine). In the late 19th Century, immigrants from rural Punjab flocked to California to take up jobs in the farming and logging sectors. By 1917, anti-miscegenation laws and prohibitions on Asian naturalization meant that these Punjabi men could neither marry white women, nor own property. Instead, they turned to the women of Mexican descent who often worked alongside them on farms. By 1946, California’s Punjabi-Mexican community was about 400 families strong.
These women learned to cook Punjabi dishes, sometimes adding their own twist with local ingredients and Mexican cooking techniques. Like their respective cultures, the two cuisines have a lot in common.
“A lot of Indian food is Mexican,” points out Kurush F. Dalal, an archaeologist and culinary anthropologist. Peppers—including chilies—potatoes, tomatoes, and corn all come from the New World, and have been staples of Indian cuisines for centuries. Tortillas are analogous to rotis, Mexican rice to pulao, queso fresco to paneer, and salsas to chutneys. Both cultures also rely on punchy seasonings, including cumin, cilantro, lime, and garlic.
El Ranchero, a restaurant in Yuba City, California—where the Punjabi-Mexican community had a stronghold—was run by a Punjabi-Mexican family from 1954-93. They introduced a fusion dish that could be seen as a precursor to Taco Bell’s Mexican pizza: A roti quesadilla which was a paratha stuffed with cheese, beef, and onions, and served with a curry sauce. Even though many of the Punjabi migrants were Sikh or Muslim, and the Mexicans remained Catholic for the most part, the dish became known as the “Hindu pizza”—from a time when the word referred to anything Indian.
Taco Bell’s Mexican pizza was introduced in the 1980s, initially called the Pizzazz Pizza. Less than 10 years later, El Ranchero closed its doors for good. By then, the area’s Punjabi-Mexican community was shrinking; the laws and circumstances that had brought the state’s Punjabi men and Mexican women together were no more.
The mid-century wave of immigrants from India arrived with new aspirations. After World War II, U.S. immigration policy shifted, courting students and skilled professionals such as doctors, academics, and engineers. The vast majority of Indians with access to that kind of education and opportunity were from the upper echelons of the country’s deeply entrenched caste system.
Caste dictates that people are born into their occupations, with those at the very top of the pyramid—Brahmins—being privileged to pursue higher education. Upper-caste communities are also much more likely to practice vegetarianism than the general population, a marker of caste purity.
“Most upper-caste men who came in the ‘60s and ‘70s were alone,” Dalal says. “The second revolution was when they were married off to ‘good’ girls from the home country.” To this day, inter-caste marriage is a serious social taboo in India, even though the caste system has been legally abolished. By ensuring their sons had suitable wives, families could see that their caste and class status was preserved.
Women were expected to keep house, take care of the children, and cook—shouldering the weight of raising families abroad and upholding traditional values. They befriended other Indian brides, and in an attempt to form a community in a foreign land, grouped together into vegetarian enclaves. “At home you eat your cultural food, which marks you as an Indian,” Dalal observes. “Outside, along with the langar [communal kitchen] in the gurdwara or a temple meal, Taco Bell was a safe place.”
In the western context, being vegetarian is simply a dietary choice. But for many Indians, it’s a reflection of their physical and spiritual purity.
Within the Indian diaspora, those who originate from upper castes hold a disproportionate amount of power and influence—including over how people view the community at large. Although Indians may be perceived to be largely vegetarians, only 20-30 percent actually identify as such. This dietary distinction is one of the many ways in which caste and religious discrimination continues to be upheld. Under India’s current right-wing government, communal violence against people thought to be eating meat, particularly beef, is a growing concern.
“Only after India’s economic liberalization [in 1991] do we have people from so-called ‘lower’ castes getting access to education that allows them to immigrate to North America,” says Dalal.
Still, as the second-largest immigrant group after Mexicans, the Indian diaspora’s attitudes toward caste are being felt in the United States. California, the state with the most Indian immigrants, saw a lawsuit last year accusing two Cisco supervisors of caste discrimination in the workplace.
Yet for Indian Americans like Jagirdar, growing up vegetarian and going to Taco Bell is a lived experience they share with others in their community. The fast food restaurant was one of the few dining options that catered to their dietary needs and made them feel welcome.
No matter how diasporas try to preserve their old way of life, they end up creating new traditions. “The Punjabi-Mexicans are real Americans,” opines Dalal, referring to the community’s acceptance of different religions and organic blending of cultures. While we can hope that caste discrimination dies in the great American melting pot, Mexican cuisine and Taco Bell will remain integral to the Indian immigrant story.
Published on November 21, 2024
Words by Kahini Calcuttawalla
Kahini Calcuttawalla (she/her) is an Indian-Canadian feature journalist and editor. A culture and lifestyle specialist, she covers all things fashion, beauty, art, travel, and food. Currently, she's based in Mumbai. Find her on Instagram @kahinii.
Art by Ryan Quan
Ryan Quan is the Social Media Editor for JoySauce. This queer, half-Chinese, half-Filipino writer and graphic designer loves everything related to music, creative nonfiction, and art. Based in Brooklyn, he spends most of his time dancing to hyperpop and accidentally falling asleep on the subway. Follow him on Instagram at @ryanquans.