I love it when food movements cross over and enter the realm of pop culture. Take bacon: Today, it's almost universally recognized that bacon is something to be horded and consumed like a crack addict, cholesterol be damned. But behind that popcult push was genuine foodie enthusiasm. Would bacon be so viral if it weren't for sites like Bacon Today? Would our love for the fatty foodstuff be so unabashedly brazen without the Bacon Explosion? I think not.
How about tacos? Everyone's favorite Mexican snack has had its cache upped lately thanks to the huge craze of fusion taco trucks sweeping the streets of big cities across the States. And thanks to sites like this one: Album Tacos. The goofy website is one part This is Why You're Fat, two parts Greatest Hits collection. It takes famous rock 'n' roll album covers and subtly Photoshops the portable edibles -- delivered crunchy or soft -- into the picture.
I like a bunch of these Album Tacos for lots of different reasons. Some are artsy and thinky, others just make me crave a double Gordita crunch with fire sauce. I've boiled the ones I really like down to a few favorites:
This retake on Harry Nilsson's Nilsson Schmilsson is great because the taco seems perfectly in place, as if Harry had gotten up for a midnight snack or maybe decided to eat one cold from the fridge for breakfast. Move over pizza: Tacos are our new favorite hangover snack.
This take on Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet confronts the issue of racism via a black corn taco. What do you think? Does the image frighten you? I, for one, think it's proof that racism persists even today, as black tacos are being used in Hollywood and in the sports word solely as tools for our entertainment. But both institutions are afraid to show black tacos for what they really are: Delicious.
This Ween album cover unfortunately missed a big opportunity as far as tacos are concerned. But it's kinda funny how poor of an effort the artist made to make them fit in. It's as if he wanted to draw attention to something...
Kudos to the folks working on Album Tacos. You're fighting the good fight for all of us.
