University of Miami Law School Institutional Repository University of Miami Inter-American Law Review 10-1-2011 LA's Taco Truck War: How Law Cooks Food Culture Contests Ernesto Hernández-López Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.law.miami.edu/umialr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Ernesto Hernández-López, LA's Taco Truck War: How Law Cooks Food Culture Contests, 43 U. Miami Inter-Am. L. Rev. 233 (2011) Available at: http://repository.law.miami.edu/umialr/vol43/iss1/13 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Miami Inter- American Law Review by an authorized administrator of Institutional Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. 233 LA's Taco Truck War: How Law Cooks Food Culture Contests Ernesto Hernindez-L6pez* In 2008, a Taco Truck War broke out in Los Angeles ("LA"), California between local authorities, food trucks and loyal custom- ers.' National and local media picked at the story after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed new regulations, which promised to severely restrict food trucks, referred to as "loncheros"or "taco trucks," in East Los Angeles.2 The authorities and business interests supporting the restrictions argued that the food trucks were a cumbersome and unsightly form of vending. On the opposite side, loncheros, foodies, and those looking for cheap meals viewed the restrictions as a full-frontal attack on local Los Angeles, the food scene, and Mexican food cultures.' Culinary resistance and enforcement of the new restrictions resulted in taco truck litigation.