美国国家公共电台 NPR The Choco Taco: Investigating The Mystery Behind A Classic American Treat

The Choco Taco: Investigating The Mystery Behind A Classic American Treat 

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Behold 2 the Choco Taco. It is an ice cream dessert, the kind you might get from an ice cream truck, only I'm lucky enough to have one here with me. And, yeah, it is the shape of an actual taco, only instead of warm goodness, you've got this highly engineered sweet treat. And you have to wonder - where did this thing come from? Chocolate on top, vanilla 3 ice cream, all in a waffle cone 4 that, yeah, looks like a taco.

Well, here to tell us more is Jason Cohen. He's actually done a deep dive into the history of the Choco Taco. Welcome to the program.

JASON COHEN: Thank you.

CORNISH: So I guess you stumbled on the story during a visit to Philadelphia.

COHEN: Yeah. I was waiting in line for pizza at Pizzeria Beddia, which is this place where they only make 40 pizzas a day, so people line up and pre-order. And the guy in front of me was, you know - we were just chatting 'cause that's what you do when you're waiting in line for food. And he's telling me secrets of, you know, how to get this pizza.

CORNISH: (Laughter).

COHEN: And then he kind of turns to me and says, I'm famous, you know. And I was like, oh, really? You know, for what? And he tells me, I invented the Choco Taco.

CORNISH: (Laughter) And did you shake his hand and call him a national hero? Or is this when you started your reporting?

COHEN: Well, I mean, I almost immediately got his email and said, I need to talk to you some more.

CORNISH: So this guy's name was Alan Drazen. And what did he say was his origin story?

COHEN: Well, you know, the reality is he works for an ice cream company called Jack 5 and Jill. And he was just trying to come up with a product for the company. And Mexican food was the hot food category at the time, and somehow this magic moment struck. But he knows that people don't want to hear that. What - you know, what they want to hear is that, you know, he grew up loving ice cream and loving tacos and always dreamed of mixing it. Or he tells people that he was on a trip to Mexico, and he got stranded 6 in the desert somewhere and saw it in a mirage 7.

CORNISH: (Laughter) So he has his origin story, but how did the Choco Taco grow, right? Basically, how did it go mainstream 8?

COHEN: I think in the minds of a lot of people, it's when Taco Bell started carrying it. You know, and that gave it a more widespread distribution. But beyond that, it was just sort of the business that changes. The company that originally made it got bought by a bigger company. It's now owned by Unilever, and I think they just busted 9 it out in every freezer in the country.

CORNISH: You know, if I - I'm going to take a bite because...

CORNISH: It doesn't...

COHEN: Nicely done.

CORNISH: It doesn't make me think of Mexican food, so how does this play into, like, that particular trend from that particular time?

COHEN: Well, just a gimmick 10, obviously. I mean - I mean, but I guess at the time it was just before, you know, salsa was becoming the hotter condiment 11 and ketchup 12 an oft-cited statistic 13. And the fast casual, you know, Mexican-style food was starting to spread around the country, and so he just knew it would be a good hook. And, of course, it is a good hook 'cause everything's better as a taco.

CORNISH: (Laughter) Jason Cohen, thanks so much.

COHEN: Thanks for having me on.

CORNISH: Jason Cohen is the author of the article "The Legend Of The Choco Taco," which you can read at eater.com. We spoke 14 to him via Skype.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHEWING)