Before we get started, I just have to note that I love that we live in a world where this story is possible. In 2022, Indiana shopping center developer Martin Quintana wanted to let Famous Taco restaurant open on a property that had particular-yet-ambiguous rules pertaining to food. The zoning policy forbade fast food establishments, but allowed exceptions for “Subway-style, made-to-order” businesses. (Make that make sense.) Residents nearby raised objections, an amendment was discussed and later rejected, and Quintana appealed to a Superior Court to weigh in. Now, finally, judgment has been rendered. Judge Craig J. Bobay affirmed this week that Famous Taco can open, no amendment necessary, because — wait for it — tacos, and burritos for that matter, are sandwiches too. I’m assuming Judge Bobay consulted the landmark Supreme Court case BLT vs Carnitas in order to reach his decision.
It’s a question that has stood the test of time — and one that fed a years-long legal battle in an Indiana city.
Are tacos considered sandwiches?
According to one judge in Fort Wayne, Ind., the answer is yes. And he says burritos are sandwiches, too.
Allen County Superior Court Judge Craig J. Bobay wrote in a ruling Monday that tacos and burritos are “Mexican-style sandwiches.” Bobay made the decision in a case reviewing whether a restaurant, “Famous Taco,” could open a new location at a Fort Wayne shopping center.
The zoning policy for the property prohibits fast food, but allows exceptions for restaurants whose primary business is to sell “made-to-order” or Subway-style sandwiches. A city commission denied the request.
But Famous Taco, Bobay ruled, is allowed at the shopping center because it would serve “Mexican-style sandwiches,” and the zoning policy “does not restrict potential restaurants to only American cuisine-style sandwiches.” Hypothetically, other restaurants that serve made-to-order items, including “Greek gyros, Indian naan wraps or Vietnamese banh mi,” would also be allowed, Bobay wrote in his decision.
Attorneys for the Fort Wayne Plan Commission and the resident trying to open the Famous Taco restaurant in the shopping center did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the Allen County Superior Court said Bobay does not comment on cases on his docket. But his ruling brought “the most food-related feedback” to the court, spokesperson John McGauley said. It also probably marked, McGauley added, the first time a ruling from the court had “shown up on Barstool Sports.”
In 2005, the Department of Agriculture published its own view on the sandwich debate with its Food Standards and Labeling Policy Book. The book stipulates that a burrito is a “Mexican style sandwich-like product.”
Another theory that led to much online debate is the Cube Rule, which categorizes food based on the location of the starch. Using the Cube Rule, a burrito is a calzone, or a dish fully enclosed in a starch, and a taco is just that — a taco, or a product with starch on the bottom and two opposing sides.
A hot dog is also considered a taco under the Cube Rule.
Wait, hold the mayo, stop the clock, WHAT is this Cube Rule?!?! Are we teaching our children that burritos are calzones and hot dogs are tacos?? Why don’t we say the sky is pink and frogs have wings while we’re at it?! For mustard’s sake, we haven’t even settled the debate on whether hot dogs are sandwiches! No wonder our country is so divided… As for the judge’s ruling, my big beef with it is that it centers the sandwich as the marker by which all other cuisines are compared. In the culinary melting pot that is America, can’t we let historically marginalized flavors set the standards now? Instead of categorizing a taco as a “Mexican-style sandwich,” let’s start calling chicken salad sandwiches “enormously disappointing tacos,” is all I’m saying. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m about to dig into a delectable grilled ham & cheese taco for lunch.
Photos credit: Nishant Aneja and Augustinus Martinus Noppé on Pexels, Chad Montano and Spencer Davis on Unsplash
I would be fine with a legal definition that a sandwich is a filling enclosed by a bread for the purposes of eating with your hands. In common use, clearly burritos, tacos, and hot dogs and other sausages in buns ARE NOT SANDWICHES.
It’s like whether tomatoes and avocados are fruits or vegetables. There’s a botany-based definition and then how the rest of the world categorizes them.
how is a burrito not “enclosed by bread for the purpose of eating with your hands” tho? that is exactly what it is!
@CatMum,
exactly, and I mean… the filling in a sandwiched is not exactly ENCLOSED by a bread either, the bread is only on 2 sides, when they really heap on the filling (large amounts of meat, a slice or two of tomato, etc.), they very much show through AND fall out almost as much as a taco. By Pinkosaurus’ definition, burrito is far more of a “sandwich” than the actual sandwich. And I’d say that a taco is about as “enclosed” as a sandwich and it is very much for eating with your hands.
I think @Pinkosaurus is distinguishing between a legal definition and an everyday definition. Obviously, a taco is not the same as burrito which is not the same as a BLT which is not the same as a hot dog. But if you have to have a legal definition, calling all of them a sandwich is fine.
Nah, if you call tomatoes a fruit, then there’s no such thing as vegetables. Instead you have roots, seeds, other vehicles for spreading genetic information, whatever (I barely passed botany at uni). Vegetables vs fruits is a label based on flavour.
But yeah, I don’t mind the legal definition but in everyday life a sub is a sandwich, but tacos and burritos are their own thing.
lol this is not how vegetables and fruits are distinguished!! hahaha
(I am farmer)
this is an interesting take on the perennial “what is a sandwich” debate! that rule is stupid in the first place. ffs let us have our tacos and burritos. the judge is correct that if sandwiches are ok then they should not have to necessarily be american style sandwiches. jeez.
excellent photo selection!
If we are going to call anything made to order a sandwich then we might as well call pupusas sandwiches too. Pupusas are tasty round tortillas made of corneal with stringy cheese and ground pork rinds inside panfried and served with pickled cabbage on top. They are delicious. Pupusas were created in El Salvador. They are pronounced poo poo sas.
I think this was an excellent way to get around a very weird zoning rule (did Subway pay someone on the zoning board?). And not to worry about the word “sandwich” – no one is ever going to call a taco or a burrito a sandwich.
We’ll sort of. The Subway business model has a lot do with the type of zoning it is able to get around. Normal restaurants require a giant industrial hood over the ovens and cooktops. Cold sandwich shops and coffee shops can get away with special ovens that don’t require hoods allowing them to open in locations that are not permitted for restaurants. In short, it’s a lot cheaper and easier to franchise with this business model. Fast food is zoned as a restaurant Subway is zoned as a cold sandwich shop the same as a cafe. If the food isn’t cooked on a cook top that creates smoke or water vapor it can get around restaurant zoning and permits .
But Taco meats are cooked.
All those haters are going to be lining up for the tacos and burritos. Guaranteed.
Judged are fallible. 💁🏾♀️
Edit: just jokes about sandwiches
But, but, but,…what are WRAPS???
That is the first that I thought of too. What about wraps?
There is a Mexican sandwich – it’s called a torta and they are delicious.
The only sandwiches I eat are wraps.. taco or burrito style. Keto wraps are the best.
Sounds like the judge made this decision right before lunch and said, “hmm, a burrito or some tacos would be good right now. Too bad there’s not a place close by. “
HAHAHAHAHA I lived in southern Indiana for almost 50 years and have now lived in Mexico for 11 years, so I find this hilarious from allllll angles. Trust me when I say Hoosiers (people from Indiana) will try to make anything and everything fit in a white bread definition 🤣
A taco is FLAT, people. FLAT. A flat tortilla with a protein, topped with diced onions and cilantro and generally also a salsa. But you do you Indiana lol
First, Hot Dogs are sandwiches, now Tacos are. The God Damn world has gone insane!