Anyone who goes to a cafeteria on a regular basis or a restraunt with an extensive buffet has probably seen a place set up with the fixin's for Texican food. There are a number of bases to start your creation from- mostly hard tacos, but usually they come along with uncooked tortilla shells that one uses to make soft tacos. There's the meat product that composes the base material of the taco or burrito, the shredded lettuce that goes on top of it, and in another bucket, the shredded cheese bits that get sprinkled on top. And again, usually, they look like a palatable addition to your meal time.

Don't let them fool you.

Having worked at numerous buffet places, I have a good idea of what goes on behind the scenes. The tacos have been sitting on shelves for hours- no matter how supple they may look in the tray, they will invariably achive the consistency of stale bread thirty seconds after you take it out of the tray. The meat may look to be steaming fresh, but that's what the heat lamps are for- that beef-like substance has been swimming in the grease that it was fried in for the past forty-five minutes. The lettuce? Stolen from the salad bar and run through a grinder. The cheese? Don't get me started. And when they have other additions- onions, melted cheese, refried beans- you'd be better off going to the potato bar and hoping that they still have those precious items in stock.

The taco bar looks good on paper, but in reality it is a cesspool of the nastiest stuff management staff can possibly concieve of. Don't let it lure you with the promises of Texican- you're better off going to a restraunt dedicated to the production of the stuff.

Better still, make it yourself and skip the middleman.

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