New Orleans Bans Portable Latino Taco Trucks [View All]

[matcom]

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NEW ORLEANS -- In the parking lot of a drive-up daiquiri bar that sells frozen White Russians to go in plastic cups, Fidel Sanchez is running an illegal enterprise that is too unwholesome to be tolerated, according to politicians in suburban Jefferson Parish.

Sanchez is selling tacos out of a truck -- and judging from the lunch-hour line outside Taqueria Sanchez el Sabrosito, many Louisianans have become fast fans of his flavorful carne al pastor and spicy pork chicharrones.

But not everyone is enamored of the latest fad in cheap eats. Jefferson Parish politicians, who have long turned a blind eye to whites and blacks peddling shrimp out of pickup trucks and snow cones on the street, recently outlawed the rolling Mexican kitchens, calling them an unwelcome reminder of what Hurricane Katrina brought.

Soon, Sanchez will be run out of business. "What they're doing is just mean," the Texas native, 49, said in Spanish, noting that he had secured permits before officials changed the rules last month. "I do think they want the Mexicans out. I don't see any other explanation."

Nearly two years after Katrina brought thousands of Hispanic immigrants to New Orleans in search of reconstruction work, the new arrivals are having a cultural influence that reaches beyond repairing homes and businesses -- and that is making some people uncomfortable.

Authentic Mexican food is now widely available at taco trucks and storefront taquerias, adding a contemporary Latin component to a famously mixed-up culinary scene that has always managed to preserve its unique Cajun and Creole flavor, even as much of America has become homogenized.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/07/16/taco_trucks_in_new_orleans_hit_by_legislative_crunch?mode=PF