美国国家公共电台 NPR The Choco Taco: Investigating The Mystery Behind A Classic American Treat

The Choco Taco: Investigating The Mystery Behind A Classic American Treat 

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0003:09repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: 

Behold² the Choco Taco. It is an ice cream dessert, the kind you might get from an ice cream truck, only I'm lucky enough to have one here with me. And, yeah, it is the shape of an actual taco, only instead of warm goodness, you've got this highly engineered sweet treat. And you have to wonder - where did this thing come from? Chocolate on top, vanilla³ ice cream, all in a waffle cone⁴ that, yeah, looks like a taco.

Well, here to tell us more is Jason Cohen. He's actually done a deep dive into the history of the Choco Taco. Welcome to the program.

JASON COHEN: Thank you.

CORNISH: So I guess you stumbled on the story during a visit to Philadelphia.

COHEN: Yeah. I was waiting in line for pizza at Pizzeria Beddia, which is this place where they only make 40 pizzas a day, so people line up and pre-order. And the guy in front of me was, you know - we were just chatting 'cause that's what you do when you're waiting in line for food. And he's telling me secrets of, you know, how to get this pizza.

CORNISH: (Laughter).

COHEN: And then he kind of turns to me and says, I'm famous, you know. And I was like, oh, really? You know, for what? And he tells me, I invented the Choco Taco.

CORNISH: (Laughter) And did you shake his hand and call him a national hero? Or is this when you started your reporting?

COHEN: Well, I mean, I almost immediately got his email and said, I need to talk to you some more.

CORNISH: So this guy's name was Alan Drazen. And what did he say was his origin story?

COHEN: Well, you know, the reality is he works for an ice cream company called Jack⁵ and Jill. And he was just trying to come up with a product for the company. And Mexican food was the hot food category at the time, and somehow this magic moment struck. But he knows that people don't want to hear that. What - you know, what they want to hear is that, you know, he grew up loving ice cream and loving tacos and always dreamed of mixing it. Or he tells people that he was on a trip to Mexico, and he got stranded⁶ in the desert somewhere and saw it in a mirage⁷.

CORNISH: (Laughter) So he has his origin story, but how did the Choco Taco grow, right? Basically, how did it go mainstream⁸?

COHEN: I think in the minds of a lot of people, it's when Taco Bell started carrying it. You know, and that gave it a more widespread distribution. But beyond that, it was just sort of the business that changes. The company that originally made it got bought by a bigger company. It's now owned by Unilever, and I think they just busted⁹ it out in every freezer in the country.

CORNISH: You know, if I - I'm going to take a bite because...

CORNISH: It doesn't...

COHEN: Nicely done.

CORNISH: It doesn't make me think of Mexican food, so how does this play into, like, that particular trend from that particular time?

COHEN: Well, just a gimmick¹⁰, obviously. I mean - I mean, but I guess at the time it was just before, you know, salsa was becoming the hotter condiment¹¹ and ketchup¹² an oft-cited statistic¹³. And the fast casual, you know, Mexican-style food was starting to spread around the country, and so he just knew it would be a good hook. And, of course, it is a good hook 'cause everything's better as a taco.

CORNISH: (Laughter) Jason Cohen, thanks so much.

COHEN: Thanks for having me on.

CORNISH: Jason Cohen is the author of the article "The Legend Of The Choco Taco," which you can read at eater.com. We spoke¹⁴ to him via Skype.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHEWING)

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。

3 vanilla   

n.香子兰，香草

参考例句：

• He used to love milk flavoured with vanilla.他过去常爱喝带香草味的牛奶。
• I added a dollop of vanilla ice-cream to the pie.我在馅饼里加了一块香草冰激凌。

4 cone   

n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果

参考例句：

• Saw-dust piled up in a great cone.锯屑堆积如山。
• The police have sectioned off part of the road with traffic cone.警察用锥形路标把部分路面分隔开来。

5 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

6 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

7 mirage   

n.海市蜃楼，幻景

参考例句：

• Perhaps we are all just chasing a mirage.也许我们都只是在追逐一个幻想。
• Western liberalism was always a mirage.西方自由主义永远是一座海市蜃楼。

8 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

9 busted   

adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You are so busted! 你被当场逮住了！
• It was money troubles that busted up their marriage. 是金钱纠纷使他们的婚姻破裂了。

10 gimmick   

n.(为引人注意而搞的)小革新，小发明

参考例句：

• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。
• It is just a public relations gimmick.这只不过是一种公关伎俩。

11 condiment   

n.调味品

参考例句：

• It has long been a precious condiment.它一直都是一种珍贵的调味料。
• Fish sauce is a traditional fermented condiment in coastal areas.鱼露是沿海地区的传统发酵调味品。

12 ketchup   

n.蕃茄酱，蕃茄沙司

参考例句：

• There's a spot of ketchup on the tablecloth.桌布上有一点番茄酱的渍斑。
• Could I have some ketchup and napkins,please?请给我一些番茄酱和纸手巾？

13 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

14 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。