Back in 2005 we told you about how our beloved taco trucks were getting smacked down by health officials in a few cities, among them Nashville, for being dirty. A taco truck? Dirty? Ha! And what difference does it make, when everybody knows a little chile can kill anything! Now it seems that taco trucks are yet again the victims of haters, but this time in on its real home turf: the Los Angeles area. Wha? Maegan first reported on this last year and The LA Times reports today:

Last summer, the City Council took action.

No longer could loncheras set up for hours at parks or construction sites. Instead, they could stop only at sites where a bathroom was available to patrons, and stay just half an hour, barely enough time to set up and prepare a meal or two before having to break down and drive away again. In addition, all employees had to get background checks.

Palos Verdes Estates is hardly the only community to crack down on the trucks in recent years. Los Angeles County supervisors last year passed an ordinance making it a misdemeanor for taco trucks to park in unincorporated spots for more than an hour after restaurateurs complained they were siphoning off customers. A Superior Court judge later ruled the law unconstitutional.

Similar restrictions have been imposed nationwide in cities large and small, rural and metropolitan, from Hughson, Calif., to Houston, and in seemingly unlikely spots, including Des Moines; Charlotte, N.C.; and Hillsboro, Ore.

Some of the reasons remain the same, among them fears about food sanitation, but truck supporters are citing racism as a cause in some cities, with one Houston official justifying their demise by saying “I don’t want us to become, you know, a Third World area.” Well listen, Mr. Whomeveryouare, from one Houstonian to another, we are pretty much already there and it’s not because of taco trucks but because of people shooting each other for fun or stress relief.

What’s to become of taco truck culture in Southern California with these crackdowns? Probably the loss of a lot of great food. But I’m going to guess that this trendy new “taco truck” — all the rage on Twitter — isn’t going to get the same treatment. Nothing against Kogi (on the contrary, I love what they are doing, genuinely) but they appear to be thriving and there’s something unfair about one taco truck being somehow more acceptable when the patrons are more “high-end” and its owners are, well, less Mexican.

Via / LA Times

Image via el en houston on Flickr