Tacos Lyonnaise

Tacos Lyonnaise

On my first day in Lyon, France, I went for a walk on one of several boulevards that connect Le Rhone and La Soane, the boy and girl (le/la) rivers that roll through the city in rough parallel, flanking a portion of the metro area.



Passing many Middle Eastern (usually Lebanese and Turkish) restaurants, I was struck by the number of “tacos” advertised on sidewalk sandwich boards.



Obviously, I had to try one.

So one night, before a planned dinner, I wandered out of my hotel in the old section of town to the nearest “taco joint”: Kebab Osmanli.



When asked to select my preferred taco meat (“viande a choix”), I asked the young man behind the counter what he would recommend.



He suggested the kofte, a patty that seemed to be a lamb/beef blend. He told me his father made these minced meat patties, flecked with mint. Sounded good to me.



Harissa and mayo were applied directly to a warming flour tortilla; on top of that went with what looked like a Kraft single, torn in half, followed by lettuce and tomato halves, then kofte and a fistful of French fries.



Folded into an oblong envelope, this was admittedly more burrito than a taco. The whole shebang was griddled on a Panini press, which the young man reoriented once to give the surface a grid pattern.

Because I was only an hour away from regular dinner, I ate only half the taco, but I had to restrain myself. This was a very good sandwich, moist, with a lot of savory flavors, some heat from the harissa and heft from the fries. Although griddling it didn’t help the lettuce and tomato much, it didn’t hurt the Kraft single at all.

While the young man made my sandwich, I was impressed with the care he applied, gingerly adjusting the heat under the flour tortilla while he simultaneously tended the fries while using the spatula to segment the kofte.



One of the many, many things I admire about the French is their precise approach to cooking and eating. This mealtime meticulousness could be interpreted as fussiness, but I interpret it as a sign of respect for food, its preparation and consumption. Years ago on the Left Bank, we were eating at a raclette restaurant, and as we sloppily smeared cheese on halved spring potatoes and gobbled them down, I was arrested mid-mouthful by the sight of every French person in the place delicately removing the potato skins with fork and knife before gently layering on the cheese, and talking, always talking with friends and family. Eating carefully, slowly and (whenever possible) socially is a French habit I feel it would be well for me to acquire.

Lyon was originally a Celtic settlement, eventually conquered by Rome, an empire that, though sometimes obviously ruthless, usually had the strategic sense let the locals become Roman citizens while maintaining their traditions. Romans many times avoided imposing Latinate cultural norms that were not absolutely necessary to maintaining order, even merging the gods of Rome with the gods of whatever people happened to fall under Roman rule (a clarifying point of contrast here is the Spanish strategy of colonizing the New World, which translated into killing or Christianizing everyone in their path). For all the stereotypes of the French as being chauvinistic, they reflect the Roman tendency to accept and assimilate other cultures. That attitude seemed powerfully apparent in this taco Lyonnais, which merged Middle Eastern, French, American, North African, Mexican and Italian cultural influences into one tasty sandwich.



Kebab Osmanli
14 Rue Saint-Jean 69005 Lyon France

What a fascinating glimpse of another aspect of culinary globalization -- as well as insight into French food culture.

And, as usual when I read your posts, I'm feeling both hunger and wanderlust.

Thanks.

Not to nitpick, but France doesn't necessarily compare favorably to Spain or anyone else when it comes to imperialism. Not merery overbearing and ultimately failed cultural imperialism, so much as still having slavery in West Africa in the 20th Century imperialism. But thats for a different place. The Lebanese joint selling something they call "tacos" certainly is interesting. I wonder if their concept of the term isn't more influenced by the Bell than Mexico.

JeffB wrote:Not to nitpick, but France doesn't necessarily compare favorably to Spain or anyone else when it comes to imperialism. Not merery overbearing and ultimately failed cultural imperialism, so much as still having slavery in West Africa in the 20th Century imperialism. But thats for a different place. The Lebanese joint selling something they call "tacos" certainly is interesting. I wonder if their concept of the term isn't more influenced by the Bell than Mexico.

JeffB, I was comparing Roman and Spanish colonialism, not French and Spanish...but really, I'm not trying to say one form of imperialism is better than another (admittedly, as stated, Rome was ruthless), but that the Italian way of governing captive peoples was traditionally more accepting of native ways than that of other conquering armies. And I'd further not argue that this was due to any humanitarian tenderness; it just was easier and more efficient to let people worship their family's household gods and otherwise be left alone...as long as they paid their taxes like good Romans.

Roman influence can still be strongly felt in Lyon, which was once Lugdunum, the capital of ancient Gaul; check out large Gallo-Roman theater up the hill from the old city; it's still used for summer festivals.



Taco Bell has probably done more to spread the word "taco" on an international basis, but the flour tortilla, griddled, which is the hallmark of the taco Lyonnais really doesn't bear much resemblance to the corn tortilla, shaped and fried, that's served under the sign of the bell. This French version is actually more like a burrito.

The very concept of taco is becoming more generic and divorced from the Mexican culinary tradition. Before going to Lyon, I was at the Brooklyn Flea, where I ate a "taco" that was a "crispy gyoza shell" filled with sashimi tuna and covered in spicy sesame mayo.



"Taco" has become a very flexible term.

David, got it. I don't disagree, though Spain was also formerly Roman and a mish mosh of peoples.

I don't like what the world is doing with our tacos, though. At least that mayo bomb.

More seriously, I wonder if the word "taco," so simple and easy to pronounce, yet somehow not yet a word in many languages (best I can tell as a linguistic simpleton), fills a void to describe a filled flat bread. I mean, lots of cultures have things like paratha filled with stuff, pita filled with stuff, a lettuce leaf filled with stuff, though usually the thing is simply described as the name of the bread (or other wrapper) "plus" the filling. "Taco," like "pizza," puts a handle on something that has long existed many places and makes the basic description understood across languages.

JeffB wrote:David, got it. I don't disagree, though Spain was also formerly Roman and a mish mosh of peoples.

I don't like what the world is doing with our tacos, though. At least that mayo bomb.

More seriously, I wonder if the word "taco," so simple and easy to pronounce, yet somehow not yet a word in many languages (best I can tell as a linguistic simpleton), fills a void to describe a filled flat bread. I mean, lots of cultures have things like paratha filled with stuff, pita filled with stuff, a lettuce leaf filled with stuff, though usually the thing is simply described as the name of the bread (or other wrapper) "plus" the filling. "Taco," like "pizza," puts a handle on something that has long existed many places and makes the basic description understood across languages.

The Spanish colonization I was referring to was post 1492, but I'm letting this go now ( )

You know, that tuna taco from Brooklyn was not bad -- it was filled with good fish though, yeah, there was a lot of mayo on there.

Analogy between pizza and taco is appropriate: both are carb platforms, one flat and the other folded, both capable of infinite variation and appropriation. The ease of pronunciation of "taco," like "pizza" (and perhaps unlike "paratha") could likely, as you suggest, help diffusion of the word and the food itself.

Though Mexican food is somewhat "unknown" in many countries, I have noticed that it's appearing here and there. This vendor at last year's Dragon Festival outside Taipei was offering wraps, which like taco and pizza seem universally understandable as a food (though in the case of "wrap," perhaps harder to pronounce for some non-English speakers):



On a related note, I recently had some nachos in Florence that would compare favorably with those offered at Chi-Chi's (which still has several locations in Northern Europe).

JeffB wrote:I wonder if their concept of the term isn't more influenced by the Bell than Mexico.

Exactly...

Hey Jeff... In my travels in Europe in recent years I believe I've seen clear evidence of two paths for things Mexican to make it there... the direct route, the result of Mexicans moving there and doing their thing... and the indirect route, where the food and, indeed, the whole schtick, is — in effect — a different flavour of gringada...

I believe I have some pictures... for eksempel, på en gade i centret af Roskilde, Danmark, kan men finde dette her:



On the other hand, there's a Mexican place in my former hometown in Belgium (and it's been there a long time), the owner of which is straight from the old country in the new world... as it were...

A

I'd have to be in Firenze for a very, very long time before I'd consider ordering the nachos. Your Oak Park open-mindedness is superhuman.

(Also letting it go, but my comment about Spain (whose north 1/2 was also populated in part by Romanized Celts) was to highlight how different variations of Catholic-focused imperialism emerged from such close cousins in Western Europe.)

Edit: Tony, great picture. Good you were able to enjoy some Mexican food with the local beer. I would guess that getting quality masa is an issue.

JeffB wrote:David, got it. I don't disagree, though Spain was also formerly Roman and a mish mosh of peoples.

I don't like what the world is doing with our tacos, though. At least that mayo bomb.

More seriously, I wonder if the word "taco," so simple and easy to pronounce, yet somehow not yet a word in many languages (best I can tell as a linguistic simpleton), fills a void to describe a filled flat bread. I mean, lots of cultures have things like paratha filled with stuff, pita filled with stuff, a lettuce leaf filled with stuff, though usually the thing is simply described as the name of the bread (or other wrapper) "plus" the filling. "Taco," like "pizza," puts a handle on something that has long existed many places and makes the basic description understood across languages.

One of the more enchanting things we saw in Burgundy was an old Roman horse watering station up in the hills. Our modern roads usually run through valleys for ease of construction, but their roads ran along the hill crests. Costlier to build buy very sensible - much less likely to get bogged down in the mud. This is a still functional water fountain that the Romans built as a horse watering trough, remarkable engineers. The 4 stellae at the top of fountain are Roman household dieties:



Re the French spin on Mexican food: I made the mistake of trying a Mexican restaurant in Paris 10 years ago toward the end of the trip when our palates were getting burned out. They apparently didn't have access to cilantro and substituted parsley in their guac and salsas. Uh, no thanks.

Fast Eddie wrote:Re the French spin on Mexican food: I made the mistake of trying a Mexican restaurant in Paris 10 years ago toward the end of the trip when our palates were getting burned out. They apparently didn't have access to cilantro and substituted parsley in their guac and salsas. Uh, no thanks.

Palates "burned out" -- exactly the point at which I'd try Mexican in Paris, or Florence or Barcelona. After weeks of eating pretty much one type of "ethnic" cuisine, I feel compelled to taste from another flavor family.

In addition, I think the way other cultures interpret Mexican food raises interesting questions about the perception of authenticity -- someday, a kid from Lyon is going to visit Maxwell Street and complain that the tacos there are not authentic because, you know, they don't contain harissa and French fries.

PS. Cool pix. Surprised no one has rushed those stellae indoors. Love those ghostly shapes of old gods.

JeffB wrote:Edit: Tony, great picture. Good you were able to enjoy some Mexican food with the local beer. I would guess that getting quality masa is an issue.

Jeff — Thanks about the picture!... I must say, though, that I did not have the courage (or interest) to sample the cuisine of 'Gringos' in Roskilde or any other Mexican place in Denmark... I did once eat at the upscale-ish Mexican place in Belgium I mentioned above... brought there by a friend... It was interesting, in that it was Mexican op zijn Belgisch/à la Belge, with all the sort of adjustments to Belgian tastes one would expect and those all very much parallel to the sorts of adaptations one finds in Italian restaurants of the same country... If I remember correctly there were at least a couple of things that were more North-of-the-Border than genuinely Mexican but, hey, trendy is trendy and trendy makes money...

(Beer-scene in Denmark is interesting these days but their craft brews are extremely expensive, which is not surprising, given how expensive all other alcoholic beverages are there... heck, everything is expensive there... )

***

With regard to palate-fatigue and in connexion to my post above about Denmark...

The family and I stuck as consistently as we could to eating local and/or traditional sorts of things in Denmark (as we always do when travelling) but about halfway through the trip, my constitution rebelled against all the butter and I had to do something else... I made a point of finding an Italian place run by Italians, went there, and soothed my guts and soul with a nice simple plate of pasta with seafood... I asked for peperoncino (I was also long overdue for a dose of piquancy) and the Danish waitress had no idea what I was talking about but one of the cooks (I can't remember which one but they were all southern Italians: one was a southerner from Milan, one from Sicily, one from Sardinia) gave me some from his stash back in the kitchen... Great meal, with the wonderful seafood of Jutland and the pasta cooked as it should be by Italian hands... and the chance to hang out a little with some fellow italiani emmigrati... lol...

Gli spaghetti allo scoglio di Jutlandia, eccoli!:



A

Tacos and other Mexican fare have been seeping into Europe for a long time. I was living in England in 1972, and there was a great Mexican restaurant in London's Sloane Square. I went to college in Southern California, so I'd gotten accustomed to excellent and easily accessible Mexican food, and after a few months in England, I was very excited at the possibility that I'd found some. Tacos were a little smaller than in SoCal, but were excellent, as were all the other dishes. Restaurant is long gone, but it shows that tacos were in Europe long enough ago that the influence on France today may be from other restaurants in Europe, rather than directly from U.S. -- and, kind of like that old game of telegraph, where you repeat something all the way around a circle, to see how it changes by the time it reaches the end -- the farther they move from the actual original influence, the less like the original they became.

Love the photos of the Roman horse watering station, FastEddie -- definitely enchanting.

And re: your note on Mexican in France 10 years ago. That reflects a phenomenon I've been amused by in a number of places, and not just with Mexican. I stayed for a couple of weeks with a friend in Vienna a few years back, and she wanted to go to a "China restaurant." The words on the menu were vaguely familiar (though spelled to make pronunciation easier for German-speakers), but the food was definitely not what I'd expect either in China or in the U.S. We're fortunate to have a large enough Asian population to either import or produce ourselves a lot of the special ingredients needed, and that's rarely the case elsewhere.

Grace Young's book "Stir Fry to the Skies Edge" is a wonderful exploration of how this sort of thing plays out within the context of the Chinese diaspora -- using rum instead of rice wine in the Caribbean, for example. There are now very distinct sub-genres of Chinese, such as Indian-Chinese, Delta-Chinese, Cuban-Chinese, and so on, because not everyone has the same stuff. It can be a little off-putting, if one expects the familiar, but can be amusing, if one assumes weirdness.

Oh -- and another example -- eating fettuccine Alfredo anywhere in the United States -- and probably anywhere other than Alfredo's. No one gets it right over here.

Antonious - I may have eaten at that very same Italian place - or another just like it

I remember using my meager Italian, but it was better than my Danish (and both the Italians' Danish and English). We had no Italians in our group, so I became the defacto translator. Oh my! Luckily it was recently after a trip to Italy and I remembered many of the food words. We still ate well. Lovely place and people.

leek — The Italian place I mentioned is in Skanderborg in central Jutland... Most of the items they serve are more or less Danified in various ways and so they resemble to a considerable degree Americanised takes on Italian food... hey, they have to serve people what they want... but there were some dishes, such as the one I had, that were very faithful to Italian aesthetics... I believe I also had a very nice mixed salad with tinned (sott'olio) tuna, simply dressed... My Danish is pretty good (especially at that time) and our waitress didn't know a lick of Italian but chatting with the owner/chef and his two cooks was a lot of fun... a little interlude in the middle of an altogether splendid time in Denmark... a wonderfully hospitable and beautiful little country...

A

Antonius wrote:... hey, they have to serve people what they want...

Very interesting presentation at Culinary Historians this last Saturday by food historian and author Terese Allen that actually addressed this topic -- how foods get slightly modified even within first-generation ethnic communities (such as the Hmong in Wisconsin) in order to "connect" with the neighbors. In the case of the Hmong, things that are served to outsiders are not nearly as blisteringly hot as what would be eaten by the Hmong themselves. But even within the ethnic community, except for holidays, food changes -- incorporates items from their adoptive land.

Ah, then the one I went to was not that one. I didn't make it to Jutland (one of our party from Jutland was consistently being made fun of as the country boy who came to the big city). This was in Copenhagen pretty close to the University.

Fast Eddie wrote:

JeffB wrote:David, got it. I don't disagree, though Spain was also formerly Roman and a mish mosh of peoples.

I don't like what the world is doing with our tacos, though. At least that mayo bomb.

More seriously, I wonder if the word "taco," so simple and easy to pronounce, yet somehow not yet a word in many languages (best I can tell as a linguistic simpleton), fills a void to describe a filled flat bread. I mean, lots of cultures have things like paratha filled with stuff, pita filled with stuff, a lettuce leaf filled with stuff, though usually the thing is simply described as the name of the bread (or other wrapper) "plus" the filling. "Taco," like "pizza," puts a handle on something that has long existed many places and makes the basic description understood across languages.

One of the more enchanting things we saw in Burgundy was an old Roman horse watering station up in the hills. Our modern roads usually run through valleys for ease of construction, but their roads ran along the hill crests. Costlier to build buy very sensible - much less likely to get bogged down in the mud. This is a still functional water fountain that the Romans built as a horse watering trough, remarkable engineers. The 4 stellae at the top of fountain are Roman household dieties:

Fast Eddie-where is this horse watering station located? I would love to see it. We're going to Beaune/Dijon, Lyon and Paris in August. Your posts and this thread about Lyon are making me very excited for our trip.

Cynthia wrote:Oh -- and another example -- eating fettuccine Alfredo anywhere in the United States -- and probably anywhere other than Alfredo's. No one gets it right over here.

I've never had more than one bite of fettuccine Alfredo...but I've never had it at Alfredo's, though past experience has been so abysmal, it may be ruined for me.

David Hammond wrote:

Cynthia wrote:Oh -- and another example -- eating fettuccine Alfredo anywhere in the United States -- and probably anywhere other than Alfredo's. No one gets it right over here.

I've never had more than one bite of fettuccine Alfredo...but I've never had it at Alfredo's, though past experience has been so abysmal, it may be ruined for me.

I had fettuccine Alfredo at the supposedly authentic Alfredo's in Epcot. I don't know what I was thinking. It seemed the same (or worse) than anywhere else I've had it. Someday, I hope to try the original, but it's not real high on my list compared to other dining destinations in Italy.

stevez wrote:I had fettuccine Alfredo at the supposedly authentic Alfredo's in Epcot. I don't know what I was thinking. It seemed the same (or worse) than anywhere else I've had it. Someday, I hope to try the original, but it's not real high on my list compared to other dining destinations in Italy.

stevez, I sympathize with you for the storm of abuse that may ensue from this comment.

David Hammond wrote:

stevez wrote:I had fettuccine Alfredo at the supposedly authentic Alfredo's in Epcot. I don't know what I was thinking. It seemed the same (or worse) than anywhere else I've had it. Someday, I hope to try the original, but it's not real high on my list compared to other dining destinations in Italy.

stevez, I sympathize with you for the storm of abuse that may ensue from this comment.

I was young and foolish...what more can I say.

stevez wrote:
I had fettuccine Alfredo at the supposedly authentic Alfredo's in Epcot. I don't know what I was thinking. It seemed the same (or worse) than anywhere else I've had it. Someday, I hope to try the original, but it's not real high on my list compared to other dining destinations in Italy.

Sorry to hear that -- because it had been touted as being authentic. (Haven't been to EPCOT, so haven't had a chance to compare it to the original.)

Agree that Alfredo's would not be the number one dining destination today.

Actually, according to Alfredo, the secret is simplicity. One pound butter and one pound strong, grated cheese. Add a big pile of hot fettuccine and toss. No cream. He told us he created it for his wife when she was pregnant. It was the only thing she could keep down.