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Many of us don’t consider what qualifies as a taco beyond the most recent iteration we experienced (and want to experience again). And yet, as chef and cookbook author Danny Mena explains, perhaps everything in Mexican cuisine is, at least in spirit, a taco.
Americans have, over the decades, co-opted the concept of taco. And while we think we have an appreciation for what it is, our understanding of this term may be far more limited or fragmented than the food form or art form, if you will was ever intended. We were elucidated about this when we read Made in Mexico
Group image of 2021 AAPI Drinks Innovators. Composition courtesy of Larry Lee.
The overwhelmingly white image of alcohol culture eclipses the work of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders whose influence rings through all three tiers of the system.
We have our stars: The recently retired Annette Alvarez-Peters, who moved markets from the helm of a $2 billion wine program at Costco; Alpana Singh, the youngest American woman and only South Asian to achieve the rank of Master Sommelier (which she renounced in 2020 in light of sexual harassment allegations in the organization); and Hae Un Lee, who in 1981 opened a small liquor shop in Las Vegas and grew it into the largest alcohol retailer in Nevada Lee’s Discount Liquor.