How To Read A Taco (Reheat)

February 27, 2026·33 min·2 clips

Steve Alvarez grew up Mexican-American but couldn't speak Spanish — and only discovered his mom swore like a sailor when he finally learned it in college.

Taco Literacy sounds like a joke. Then Professor Steve Alvarez makes it work. His students read taco parts the way another class might read a text, using them to get at Mexican and American history and culture. Dan Pashman meets Alvarez at his apartment, then follows him and the class into Corona, Queens, for an end-of-term taco crawl. This is not just lunch. The students have spent the semester interviewing cooks and owners at local Mexican restaurants and bakeries, reading about Mexican cooking and ingredients, and writing up what they found. Bella Puebla is the first stop. It sits beside the 7 train, with Mexican flag colors, Mexican tapestries, and Spanish-language TV in the corner. Then the food swerves. Alvarez orders tacos arabes and explains how these Arab tacos connect to Middle Eastern migration, especially Lebanese immigrants in Mexico. Suddenly the tortilla is carrying more than lunch. Pashman keeps the mood easy and the questions plain, which helps. The students do not feel like background scenery. Their interviews and research make the crawl feel earned, like the semester arriving at the table. Corona matters too. The neighborhood's Mexican immigrant presence gives the exercise a real place to stand. And the joke still works. A college class about tacos is funny, which is why the point lands without turning into a lecture.

As heard by us

A Queens taco crawl becomes a warm, sharp lesson in migration, food history, and how to read culture on a plate.

How To Read A Taco (Reheat) follows Dan Pashman to Corona, Queens, where Professor Steve Alvarez brings his St. John's University Taco Literacy class out for an end-of-term taco crawl.

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Why you'd press play

A taco has a lot to say -- you just need to know how to read it.

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