Taco Bell Menu From 1972 is Too Funny

Bottom line: The Taco Bell menu from 1972 is too funny. It's hard to imagine a time when we a business (Taco Bell) wasn't sure if people knew how to pronounce the word Taco...but it happened.

In the groovy days of '72, Taco Bell blessed us with a menu so iconic, it could make even the most tongue-tied taco enthusiast a pronunciation pro! Picture this: a linguistic adventure where "taco" became "tah-co" and "burrito" transformed into "buh-ree-toh," all thanks to a phonetic masterpiece.

Taco Bell started out in California back in 1962, and now has over 300 locations in Michigan (5th most in the country). We found this great picture of a Taco Bell in the building on the corner of Michigan & Griswold in Detroit back in 1994

Again, it's hard to imagine a time when people didn't know how to say the word taco (outside of Texas and California). Ryan and I were just talking about it in the office - we still have plenty of great ethnic food here in Detroit where they provide you with a pronunciation guide (and believe me, I love it!).

Here's a cool video talking about the first ever Taco Bell and some of the hurdles they had to overcome:

When I first saw the menu from 1972 I was blown away to see the "bellburger" - which eventually became the "bell beefer" that most of us grew up with. Did anyone actually buy these? I'm not being a taco bell snob...but you go to Taco Bell for Mexican food, right? (although I guess this could be considered an American torta, right?)

Bottom line...the Taco Bell menu from 1972 is too funny - but was totally necessary back then to introduce Mexican fast food to the masses (and they did it well).