Donald Trump has never tasted so good.
He's inspired Mexican piñatas, halloween masks, and even a local video game. And now The Donald has his own taco—and the ingredients are nearly identical to those in his campaign.
“It’s got a lot of tongue and a pinch of brain,” Humberto Erives, the creator of the Trump taco, told me in a phone interview from the northern Mexican town of Ciudad Cuauhtemoc.
“Many politician [inspired] tacos have lots of tongue and little brain,” added Erives, whose menu also features tacos named after several Mexican politicians. “But for the Trump taco, I’m also adding a bit of trompita de marrano” — or pig’s snout.
The Trump taco sells for about $1, and while it may not be the tastiest or healthiest item on the menu, it's one way for Mexicans to bite into their growing frustration with the Republican candidate.
Erives said he came up with the idea when Trump first started making headlines for his comments about Mexico sending rapists and criminals to the U.S. But his Trump taco really became popular last month, after a newspaper from the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez, published a Youtube video of the mustachioed Erives speaking about his culinary creation.
The video got more than 200,000 views from different reposts, prompting several TV stations to visit Erives’ restaurant in the sleepy town of Ciudad Cuauhtemoc.
“I wasn’t’ expecting such a big reaction,” said Erives, who’s been running the Tacos Tio Beto restaurant for almost 30 years. “Last Sunday a group of people from Chihuahua City [65 miles away] came here to see my invention, cause it was in the news and all.”
Erives said that if he ever met Trump he’d tell him that he invents tacos for many politicians, and that ingredients vary “according to how they are doing things.”
For example, he also has a taco named after former Mexican President Vicente Fox, which includes lots of tongue, a little cow brain and some potato. “Here we say that people who lie a lot are paperos,” or potato heads, Erives explained.
The tacomaker said that nothing goes to waste in his restaurant, where meals are cooked in a wood-fire brick oven. At Tio Beto’s even pig’s ears can be used for culinary creations.
“We use those for the Mike Tyson taco,” Erives said.
Manuel Rueda is a correspondent for Fusion, covering Mexico and South America. He travels from donkey festivals, to salsa clubs to steamy places with cartel activity.