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Explore the origins of the cowboy and our favorite breakfast on a tortilla. Guests include Katie Gutierrez, author and writer and Miguel Cobos, co-owner of Vaquero Taquero.
The full transcript of this episode of Tacos of Texas is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Katie Guitierrez Well, I think, many historians would say that the vaquero is the original cowboy of Texas and really the precursor to what we would think of as that Texas cowboy figure. And the history of the arrow is very, very long. And it starts, really, you know, you can tell the story starting from 700 A.D. with the Moors in northern Africa. So that’s kind of how far these roots extend.
Mando Rayo What’s up, Taco World? I’m taco journalist Mando Rayo, and welcome to the Tacos of Texas podcast season cuatro. Produced by Denny Productions in partnership with KUT and KUTX Studios. And we’re back exploring taco culture in Texas through the eyes of the people in the Lone Star State. So grab some barbacoa and maybe a bean and cheese and get ready for some more tasty taco conversations. Sort. In today’s episode, we’re talking about Mercado’s lock horns and breakfast tacos and explore the origins of the cowboy and our favorite breakfast Honor Tortilla. Our guests include Miguel Cobos from Vaquero Taquito, based in Austin, Texas, and Katy Gutierrez, an author and journalist from Laredo, Texas. So move over. Avocado toast. We’re talking about breakfast tacos on today’s episode of Tacos of Texas. Weekend. What do you think of when you think of Texas? You know, big hair don’t care. Tall cowboy hats. The Marlboro man. Like, do people still smoke? They shouldn’t anyway. So the idea of, like, hey, when I think of Texas, I think of kind of this idea of the white cowboy, right. In Texas, but also people from outside of Texas. That’s kind of what they think. You know, when I was traveling, people would ask me, oh, you’re from Texas. Do you ride a horse? I’m like, no, but I can if I wanted to. You know, the idea around what people’s perception of Texas is definitely ingrained in and not only the stories that are being told, but also like in film and cinema and movies. And there’s white savior ism, if you will. And in a sense, that’s kind of why I started talking about and writing about and researching about breakfast tacos, and not only the varietals and longhorn that culture that comes through there. Where does that come from? For me, it’s about digging in and thinking about, well, you know, what is that story that needs to be told? Or maybe it’s under told. And, you know, with our first book, we actually started to do that a lot. And we wrote Austin Breakfast Tacos, the story of the most important taco of the day back in the day. And, exploring those cultures, those stories of people’s lived experiences and how they grew up with tacos. But asking that the journals that people that identify as Mexican here in town and exploring that, and what came out of that is this idea around the vaquero, right. What was Texas? What was this land? It was indigenous land. It was Mexico at one point. Then it became Texas, right? So you kind of have that mix of indigenous Mexican and the Spanish colonizers. And so, you know, the avocado stemming from the ranch hands that help with the steers and the cows. And, you know, this idea around how did the breakfast taco come to be, right? You got the influence of the wheat flour coming in through, I would say, through the missions. You know, when you look at, like, San Antonio and South Texas and, you know, people who are already making tortillas, them. He’s here or Patty Scipio. Well, but now they’re like, oh, well, now we could do it with this other ingredients and wheat flour. Right. So my story, my old story, my old book and, and a couple of iterations is that it was that Guadalupe the ranch hand very helpful, I’m very giving was, you know, cooking over his. He has his little taquito with his tortilla, with beans and eggs and and then Garrett was like, in the chuckwagon, you know, cooking, cooking up biscuits and, biscuits and gravy and eggs. And then he ran out of. He ran out of flour. So what did my Mexican man do? He’s like my amigo. I have a tortilla for you. Let’s let’s break bread or let’s break this tortilla together. And then all of a sudden. The birth of the breakfast taco. Now, I don’t know if it happened that way. I feel like, maybe it did. Maybe it didn’t, but today I. That’s kind of what we want to explore. We want to explore these ideas around what we know about vaquero culture, but as well as about the breakfast taco, right. And being Texas and being rooted here, as Texanos as, Mexicans living here and kind of that plethora, that mix of all the different identities here in Texas. And so for me, it’s important for us to, as we enjoy a good breakfast taco, whether it’s homemade, sitting with you, with your tias and tios in the Valley in San Antonio, or maybe you’re picking up something quick and fast in Austin. Let’s think about as we feed our our soul with this very delicious way to start the day. Let’s think about some of that history. And so what are those stories that people are telling about, you know, the the cowboy, the Texan cowboy, right. But also the cattle and the roots of our foods. So next time, when you’re about to bite into that very delicious breakfast taco, let’s think about where that food and culture comes from. Vamos a sugar town. Come visit. El Paso is the hometown of this taco journalist. Think El Paso is all about breakfast burritos and tacos. Think again. The city knows a thing or two about the cowboy lifestyle and some of the tastiest barbecue in Texas. Discover desert oak barbecue named one of Texas Monthly’s 50 best barbecue joints in 2021. Their smoky, savory flavors are a must try. And don’t miss Cattleman’s Steakhouse at Indian Cliff’s Ranch. Known for big steaks, barbecue and seafood. This cowboy lifestyle chophouse is a local favorite. Come taste the true flavors of El Paso. Visit Desert Oak Barbecue and Cattlemen’s Steakhouse today. Muchas gracias to our friends at El Paso for sponsoring this podcast episode. Follow visit El Paso on Instagram and Facebook at Visit El Paso or on the website at Visit El Paso Punto com. Our first guest is Katie Gutierrez, the author of the national bestselling debut novel More Than You’ll Ever Know. She is a National Magazine Award finalist whose essays and features have appeared in time, Texas Highways, Harper’s Bazaar and more. She has an MFA from Texas State University and has written articles on vaquero culture and her love for tacos. We’re here with Katie Gutierrez, who is an author and journalist, and we’re here in San Antonio to talk about ghetto culture. Katie, welcome to the show.
Katie Guitierrez Thank you so much for having me.
Mando Rayo Yeah. So tell me a little bit about you’re a journalist and you’ve written a book, so tell me a little bit about that.
Katie Guitierrez Yeah. So my debut novel is a national bestseller called More Than You’ll Ever Know. It came out last year. It’s a story that is inspired by Texas and set in Texas. So I’m also a journalist, and I write a lot of feature stories, in particular for Texas Highways magazine. And so for Texas Highways. I wrote a story about Vaqueros that was nominated for a National Magazine Award, and it really opened a door into interest in cattle history and culture. And, I’m excited to be here.
Mando Rayo Yeah. That’s great. You know, I’ve always wondered about that, the intersectionality of of Mexican and Texan and food. You know, so I feel like there’s definitely a lot of history, around that. You know, most people know the, the story of Texas. They think about, you know, what they picture is of what the white cowboy. Right, right. But what it once we dig deep into, into those layers, what story do we need to know about?
Katie Guitierrez Well, I think, many historians would say that the vaquero is the original cowboy of Texas and really the precursor to what we would think of as that Texas cowboy figure. And the history of avocado is very, very long. And it starts. Really, you know, you could tell the story starting from 700 A.D. with the Moors in northern Africa. So that’s kind of how far these roots extend.
Mando Rayo Wow. That’s amazing. And so from your research, how how did we come to know the roots of the vaquero? Obviously, the historical piece, but also into Mexico and Texas before there was borders, right?
Katie Guitierrez Yeah, yeah. So if we if we want to start the story from Mexico, my it started in 1519, which was when Cortez landed on the eastern shores and he came with the 16 horses of the conquest. And those were, I believe, mustangs. And so the Spaniards had learned so much about writing and, about, the importance of horse culture from the Moors, from their 700 year conquering of Spain or ruling of Spain. And they also, you know, when they brought these horses over, they were the first horses in North America. There had not been horses here in 10,000 years, and they’d gone extinct. So that was a massive, physical and psychological advantage over the Native Americans who were in what would become Mexico. And so that is kind of where this story begins, at least on this side of the world with those conquests, after which the the Spaniards forbade Native Americans from riding horses. The consequence or the punishment was death. But after a while, the horses and eventually the cattle that was also brought over, by the Spanish a couple of years later, they were way, you know, they were proliferating. And so they needed people to keep the livestock. So eventually the Spanish taught the Native Americans how to ride horses, but they forbade them from using saddles because the saddles were the mark of caballeros, you know, gentlemen, but kind of unwittingly, they made Native Americans excellent horsemen, you know, learning to ride bareback. So, as the Spanish and the Native Americans, intermarried and the next generations came, these were the first generations of of Mexicans who grew up on cradles, you know, strapped on to their mother’s backs on horseback. And so this was the first generation of true Mexican vaqueros in. Northern Mexico slash what would eventually become Texas.
Mando Rayo Yeah. What is it that makes it, you know, unique to Texas?
Katie Guitierrez Yeah. Great question. So first there’s there’s just the geographical area like this is, as you know, South Texas is a very harsh land. And as we can imagine, you know, hundreds of years ago, even more so. So they had to develop very specific tack and gear and techniques in order to, keep the livestock through this really thick brush. Right. So a few of the things that I encountered in my research that I really liked, or, you know, they were the ones who came up with or who made the leather boots later called chaps.
Mando Rayo Yeah.
Katie Guitierrez Some of the techniques they came up with were, that La Vuelta, which is, they tied the rope around the saddle, but that that la Dolly became anglicized to Dallas. Yeah. La reata, which was like the rope. The lasso became anglicized into lariat. Yeah. So a few of these techniques that they that they developed specifically to deal with the land where they were became absorbed into what would become cowboy culture.
Mando Rayo Interesting. And so in your article, you write around this idea, around the vaquero and how it’s it’s maybe it’s a story that we don’t know, or maybe it’s it’s not honored. Right. And why do you think that is?
Katie Guitierrez In recent years, there been a couple of really great books that have come out that talk a lot about sort of the erasure of Mexican Americans from our own history here in South Texas. And Monica munoz Martinez’s book, The Injustice Never Leaves You. She focuses on the decade, I believe, after the Mexican Revolution in 1910, when the Texas Rangers went from this small, unofficial militia group to becoming a an official government entity and kind of embarking on this state sponsored effort at eradicating ethnic Mexicans, sort of late 1800s, early 1900s. You were having a lot of the Anglo Americans coming into South Texas, buying what used to be previous land grants or taking them by force, from the Mexicans who had lived there before. And then they and then you have these vaqueros who are incredibly skilled horseman. They’re really the only ones in this area who know how to do what they do. But they were erased from this history. So again, after sort of the Mexican Revolution, when you look at how Mexicans were portrayed in pop culture and in the media, you know, they were portrayed a lot as like the Bandidos, right? In the movies. They were always kind of the bad guys that were killed off. They were the gangsters. They were they were sneaky. They were greedy, all of these negative qualities. And so that’s, I think, part of what has been behind some of the reasons, like that’s that’s part of the reason we don’t see the white ghetto as kind of that Texas cowboy symbol. Right? I see the Anglo cowboy as being the hero opposite the vaquero. When if you talk to Anglo ranchers along the border, they will most of the time give 100% of the credit to back at us for, teaching them how to be cowboys during this time.
Mando Rayo Right? Yeah. Well, that’s that’s an interesting concept because it’s like this idea around, the, the the how the vaqueros tie, you know, this those people that came to Texas, right? Yeah. They came detective. Right. They were from here. Right?
Katie Guitierrez Right. Right.
Mando Rayo And so they they took that, and then they, you know, shove them to the side.
Katie Guitierrez Yeah. You know, they needed them. I think in at least for this article that I wrote, many of the much of the research I did and the people I spoke with, there seemed to be a very, like, paternalistic relationship between the white ranchers and the black arrows. And so there was this sense of loyalty that really extended both ways. But, you know, one of the things that I was really surprised by in writing the article was really, you know, it was like they were sort of they were physically valued, they were emotionally valued, but they were not financially valued. You know, these were not men who were making the kind of money that they should have been making for the skills that they had and the skills that they were sharing.
Mando Rayo Right, right.
Katie Guitierrez You know, they were making, I think the one of the workers, who is still living, who I spoke with for the article and he’s probably 91 or 92 now, he said the most he ever made was $1,200 a month. And this was in the 80s. Right. And that was by far the most he’d ever made. Most of the time they were making much, much less. Not much less than that. And then when you talk about the intersection of food, you know, of course, they had their living quarters were on the ranches. Some of their food was provided for, including, what we call fajita. Right. So this was kind of like.
Mando Rayo It was a throwaway meat.
Katie Guitierrez Was a throwaway.
Mando Rayo Meat. The the ranch owners, right? Yeah. They were like, well, this is a tough cut of meat. We’re not going to cook it. And they give it to the like.
Katie Guitierrez They gave it to them back at us. And so they would cook it over the open fire and, you know, cook it very thin and, you know, slice it up and, you know, that was some of the, the food that they would eat when they were either, you know, at headquarters or, on the range. But, you know, when you talk about, like, the fire. Days of that class.
Mando Rayo Yeah. Yeah.
Katie Guitierrez That. Like that. Yeah.
Mando Rayo Totally. Barbacoa as well. Yeah. Right. So like the canister was like. Yeah. Or they’re not going to cook, right. Yeah. But now it’s like it’s everywhere. Yeah.
Katie Guitierrez You know. Yeah. My dad always says, you know, Mexicans like, we don’t waste anything we’re going to like.
Mando Rayo Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it’s, you know, it’s funny because, like, the idea around, you know, even breakfast tacos, right? This idea around. Well, there was tortillas already being made here in this land. And and then with the influx of the, of the wheat flour right into the flour tortilla, and, you know, my, my, elaborate fun story where that out in the, in the chuckwagon. Yeah. They ran out of flour to make biscuits. So they asked for some tortillas from the like, I just I just made that up. Yeah, yeah, but. Yeah, but, I mean, you never know, right?
Katie Guitierrez Right. No. Yeah. Yeah. Because that food that I would hear about most often was like the example, you know, from the chuckwagon, but it’s not it’s not a big stretch to go from A to tortillas. Right.
Mando Rayo Exactly, exactly. So what do you think that I think as a modern day and thinking about the intersectionality of like, say, breakfast tacos and that food into that historical avocado, what do we need to walk away with on that?
Katie Guitierrez I think we need to walk away with the idea that we live in a time that likes to oversimplify. You know, we live in a time that likes to pick a side, stick with the side, dig our heels in and, you know, not really care to look deeper into any origins or history or deeper meaning behind things. And so, you know, I think in thinking about vectors and breakfast tacos, tortillas, I think it’s, you know, just opening up to the histories of, of these areas. Right. And, and the acknowledgment that they start long before any city calls itself the taco capital or, any one of us claims to be an expert, right? In, in any specific one thing, I think that, these histories are extremely long and tangled and and very worth looking into for anyone who’s interested.
Mando Rayo Yeah, yeah. Well, Katie, thank you so much for just enlightening us, you know, around some of the, the the different layers, I would say.
Katie Guitierrez Yeah.
Mando Rayo I appreciate you coming out. Yeah.
Katie Guitierrez Thank you man.
Mando Rayo Our next guest is Miguel Cobos, who founded Vaquero Taquito with his brother from a by letter pushcart to a bustling brick and mortar taqueria in Austin. Miguel and his brothers serve up authentic flavors of the Rio Grande Valley and Monterrey, Mexico, weaving their heritage into every bite. We’ll hear from Miguel and learn what a vaquero means to him through his personal lived experience. So we have in the studio Mr. Miguel Cobos from Vaquero. Taquito. Hailing all the way from.
Miguel Cobos Edinburg, Texas.
Mando Rayo Edinburg, Texas. That’s right. Bienvenidos, brother.
Miguel Cobos What is this?
Mando Rayo I can’t stop. Talk to me, bro.
Miguel Cobos Hahahahahahahaha.
Mando Rayo Este, buenas noches, buenas noche- buenos dias. How do you start your day with a good breakfast taco?
Miguel Cobos You know, I actually wake up at 550 and go make breakfast tacos for coffee shops in town. Nice. And I, my dog comes along and we deliver them orally.
Mando Rayo And, so tell me, you know, tell me a little bit about it. You know, you’re from Edinburg. You’re the, you know, co-owner of Vaquero Taquito with your brother. Tell me a little bit about how you got started.
Miguel Cobos I mean, like most people ten years back in Austin, we just. There’s, like, this one big chain getting very popular, and we just say, why? Like, why don’t you?
Mando Rayo Yeah, yeah.
Miguel Cobos We were like, how is this even possible that this place is growing so much? Now that I’ve been in business a while? I get it, it’s just financing, right? Like, any business can grow with that. And I had just graduated from college and moved to New York. I hated my finance job, and, I quit and I went to trim weed in California. Saved enough money. The plan was to open a food truck, but the farmer that hired me died. So I only came back with, like, five k. 4k. And it only afforded me the permits and a push cart, popsicle, push cart, apple cart. And, we sort of set up over it, and I asked my brother Danny if it was his idea, if I can set up in front of Mexicali. He asked his boss, Silvia and Silvia Orosco, by the way. Yeah, great person for the Mexican-American community here in the arts and culture. She allowed me to set up there and started hand rolling flour tortillas at 4:30 a.m. and then by 7 a.m., start selling them there to all the workers. Year later, while doing backyard taquizas taco parties. Yeah, we saved enough for a food truck. My brother’s birthday. We bought a food truck without any AC, without anything, just a griddle a plancha. And yeah, a whole summer. Like a blaring.
Mando Rayo Heat of the summer here in Austin. Yeah.
Miguel Cobos And we set up a trompo inside. He’s like the flame. It would get to like, 130 degrees, and they would literally only go in there to cook. And whenever there’d be no customers, we’d exit. A few months later we afford it. And AC.
Mando Rayo Yeah, yeah. Nice. And. I’ve known you for a while now, and you really are rooted in that vaquero taquero culture. So what is that? What does that mean for you?
Miguel Cobos You know, great. Growing up in the United States from, semi immigrant family, my grandfather was bracero, gas farm worker, basically, the US during the Second World War went to the north of Mexico looking for men to work in the fields in the US because most of the men were at war. So my grandpa ended up in the US, and that’s how my mom got papers. But I’m the first one that actually was born legally in, in the nation. And, like, I feel like most millennials, like myself, we have always had that, cultural seeds, you know? So, yeah. From the border, you know, like, everyone listens to norteno as they have. No, etc.. Like we all grew up watching Selena pass and the whole town shutting down and crying. Yeah. Even though a lot of us didn’t have that big presence of tradition in the family. So like in parts of the family, we have that, strong tradition of our roots. And, you know, the parts, like some of us grew up skateboarding, like my brother and I, and listening to punk. And right now, Vaquero Taqueria, actually, downtown is a local music scene. Yeah, it’s all like bands, like, all the way from, McCollum High School, I believe, or one high school in town. And it’s like the local scene, and we’re, like, striving to keep it alive while Austin continues to change, continues to get gentrified. Big money continues to come in, but his big hospitality groups and, what Austin was, is kind of dying, right? In an arts and cultural hub, there’s still resistance and Vaquero Taquero to us is that like we do it through tacos, and now we also do it through music because that’s just who we are. And we’re firm believers that if you want to do actual business, you do the things you care about, right? The rest is just greed, right? And to us, we just try to keep it to the root. Yeah. From like, you know, the rock, punk, hardcore, philosophies that we grew up listening to.
Mando Rayo Yeah. Well, you know, I think, speaking of kind of like that whole marketing aspect of it. Definitely. Austin has like that piece around, you know, marketing the tacos, the breakfast tacos. Right. And and for you to start, you know, that’s how you got started with the breakfast taco. Right. And so growing up, what was the significance of that, of, you know, waking up to fresh tortillas or going down, you know, to the neighborhoods about to get a breakfast taco? What is that? Is that an extension of your culture? What does that look like?
Miguel Cobos Yeah. Growing up in the Valley, like in Texas, right by Mexico. I’d walk to school and I was in the orchestra, so walking with my cello, listening to apocalyptic, which is like a trio from Finland that plays heavy metal and is just like, walking through a cornfield in front of the massacre factory, and it smells like freshly baked corn tortillas. So that’s me, 6 a.m. walking to the symphony to go practice listening to heavy metal on the cello and the smell of tortillas. Yeah. So like that. That really is who we are, right? Like Vaquero, taquito is an homage to what comes before us. And Will continues to be us. So, yeah, the border comes along, the tortillas come along. Yeah. And making things by hand comes along.
Mando Rayo That’s right. Tacos mañaneros. Right. What’s your idea of those origins? Like, I have my own, my own story in my head. And. And we’ll be talking to some other folks later around the roots of that. But but for you, what is the meaning of the roots of those tacos?
Miguel Cobos So my family’s origins are from Nuevo Leon, and my parents grew up in Monterrey and in Monterrey tacos mañaneros is al vapor which in Mexico City are de canasta.
Mando Rayo Yeah.
Miguel Cobos But it’s just tiny tacos. In Monterey, they’re steamed, super tiny, maybe like 2 or 3in big, full of cookies on quantity and like a little slab of, beans, a little slab of meat or potatoes. And those are really the tacos mañaneros with a lot of salsa to wake you up, I suppose. But in the valley, somehow the flour tortilla got commercialized enough through. I like to attribute it to the gas station. Stores that will always sell breakfast tacos there because it’s still a driving culture, right? Yeah.
Mando Rayo For sure.
Miguel Cobos So everyone would stop by to get coffee, pump gas and get a breakfast taco. And then at the same time, you’d have marketing like Q 94.5, the radio station would have their own taco. Yeah. So then the Q taco named after them became popular.
Mando Rayo In stripes gas stations.
Miguel Cobos Exactly. And then that already existed, right. That that tradition of the breakfast taco everywhere. But, it became a lot bigger through through them, through the Q two, through marketing aspects. But you already had local, successful taquerias like El Pato. Taco Palenque.
Mando Rayo Right, right. Right, right. And then so you set up shop here and you’re like, okay, well we’re going to start with breakfast tacos.
Miguel Cobos Yeah. Because, you know, because they all sucked everyone was serving. This is like plastic tortilla. Right. And we’re like this is Texas. Why are people making that? There’s a lot of people that know how to make tortillas. Flour tortillas by hand. Why isn’t that happening? And honestly, it’s just because lax lack of access to financing. Right. Like, yeah. Why is it that there’s a lot of white people selling tacos, right? It’s simple. It’s just that Latinos traditionally don’t have access to.
Mando Rayo The capital, the.
Miguel Cobos Capital.
Mando Rayo Resources needed.
Miguel Cobos And look at us like, why am I a decade when you go to Mexico? Taquitos. Usually a 50-60 year old man. And he’s been doing that his whole life, and they’re the most successful ones. But why is it here in Austin that, like, it’s all young people like myself, right? Cuantos tacos? Beto’s. Young. Yeah. Nixta . Yeah. The couple, there’s young La Santa Barbacha, Two Young Sisters, Discada we’re all started, like, in our late 20s or early 30s. And we’re getting some success, but clearly is because we’re like the first generation that has education. Not necessarily education, but just access to business.
Mando Rayo Yeah, right.
Miguel Cobos And traditionally that was just reserved. These are the repercussions of like systemic racism, right? That they’re still perpetuating and they’re those walls are slowly coming down and we’re the first generation to access it. But I’m sure the generations after me, or maybe myself or one of us eventually will be the Torchy’s tacos. And it’ll be like, we’ll have chains maybe if we go that route. Yeah, but probably not, because our culture says more about quality. And when you make things for money, the quality reduces.
Mando Rayo Yeah. Like that of you trying to keep it true to the roots.
Miguel Cobos Yeah.
Mando Rayo You know, the, I guess the authenticity if you want to use a buzzword.
Miguel Cobos You know, I think also our culture’s not greedy. I think in our generation, in our culture, it’s like everything that gets done is through passion, not necessarily through for money or greed.
Mando Rayo Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think part of the culture that is kind of this idea around that you’re doing it for not only for your family, your immediate family, but also for the next generation to come to. So it’s not about, you know, growing fast, but bringing your people with you.
Miguel Cobos Yeah. I mean, I guess that must stem from.
Mando Rayo You went into your business with your brother?
Miguel Cobos Yeah. You know, I talk about a lot about this in therapy, actually. It’s like, how to what point do we start living for ourselves? And I guess it comes from Catholicism or certain cultures where, like, we’re very family oriented, and there’s pros and cons, right? Like, it’s about bringing uplifting others and such, but they always say, like, first uplift yourself. But I look around and like, no one’s actually standing on firm ground themselves. But in our culture, we make sacrifices. Even if we’re not there, we still provide. And who knows if that’s good or not? I do, I do sense that that will continue to change little by little. Because you can’t live for others, but it is really, embedded in our culture.
Mando Rayo Yeah. That’s good. Well, let’s actually pursue, like, this whole idea around, you know, the name of your, don’t look back at, like, you wrote the kettle black.
Miguel Cobos You know, that’s where I was going. Yeah.
Mando Rayo Where? What’s the roots of that? And then how is that tied to history?
Miguel Cobos Yeah. So again, I was mentioning a bunch of friends going into business for the wrong reasons. And I mentioned the other business. I have to point out that what I do is just the things I want to do.
Mando Rayo Yeah.
Miguel Cobos And, like, it’s not that I’m in business because I love business. It’s just because I see that no one is doing it and I want to see that be done. So then I end up doing it. So I’ve always done the things I’ve wanted to do. Like the first time I got a job, I was 12 years old in Edinburg, Texas, and I didn’t have money from for skateboards. I wanted to skateboard, and, my mom worked all night at the hospital, and she. We lived in a trailer home. We didn’t have beds. We sleep on the floor because she had just left my dad in Monterrey. So when my brother Danny and I came over here and back to Texas once again, and I started doing that, and ever since that age, I, I just realized, like, I just want to do the things that I want to do. And somehow I ended up in business. And Vaquero started with the same reasons. Like, I just wanted to do the things that I saw, that I wanted others to do, but no one was doing it. Yeah. So everything I do stems about what I see, a need where I see a need. And Vaquero was me realizing when I came to the first time to Austin that our culture is commercialized, that is being sold by others that have capital means.
Mando Rayo Yeah. When you think about, you know, like maybe somebody that’s in Texas or even like when people think of Texas, they think of that white cowboy.
Miguel Cobos Exactly. And what do you think the cowboy culture came from? That stuff comes from the Iberian Peninsula. Yeah. And we Latinos, Latin Americans also come from the Iberian Peninsula in like in part. Yeah, one, 1 or 2 things I love people to really take from this is you’ve heard this a million times the importance of language and culture. But the way to really understand it is just to look around. And look around to other nations that have this bicultural essence just north of us. Look at Quebec. These people are so proud of the language they protest. They have their own political parties. They have their own like rebellious movements to protect their language and culture. And they’re bilingual. They get education. They get the services. They need the Basque Country as well. And these are also people that they’ve have had attempts to to remove their language in history. The Basque on the French side. Have lost it. Francis successfully removed a lot of their language and culture, but they’re still proud. But on the Spanish side of the Basque Country, these people still speak. Ill scatter. Yeah. They say they’re, like, so proud. You go there and like, you don’t understand shit. It’s so different. To what? Catalan. Castellano. Spanish?
Mando Rayo Sure, sure.
Miguel Cobos Yeah. And I want you all to take that. Yeah. As Mexican-Americans, as Latinos, no matter what heritage you have, Italian, American, etc.. Like. Languages keep dying. This this nation spoke a lot of it. This continent spoke a lot of indigenous languages. Now you there’s only 1 million people. Speak it now what? Why? There was a whole empire. And this is really what makes us human. And as world gets globalized, like, this is what keeps us living a meaningful life. The heritage we carry from us that comes from previous generations. When you eat a breakfast taco that really comes from your parents, your grandparents, their parents, and if you’re not trying to preserve the language, preserve something else, and definitely try to preserve the language, because that’s just step one of communication.
Mando Rayo On that high note we’re going to. Thank you for being on the show.
Miguel Cobos You’re welcome. You’re welcome. I’ll keep going.
Mando Rayo Yeah. Thanks so much, I appreciate you. You’re always a fun conversation. You know, you get, you know, a little bit of tangent, but. But still really, really good stories. I appreciate you.
Miguel Cobos I live in my. I live in my head, guys.
Mando Rayo Thank you. I. The Vaquero, the original Texas cowboy. I love how we were able to peel away the layers around that Vaquero culture, and the roots of the idea around learning where this culture comes from. I know we have this idea around when people think of Texas, they think of that way, cowboy. But before that, let’s honor the roots of that culture through that vaquero and how that intersects with our foods. Whether it’s breakfast tacos or fajitas or barbacoa. And with that, I want to thank our cast for sharing their lived experiences, but also the knowledge and research that goes into learning these stories. Miguel covers and Katie Gutierrez. And of course, shout out to some of our favorite Vaccaro style tacos across the state. Of course, we have Vera’s backyard Barbecue in Brownsville, Texas, Vaqueros Texas barbecuing Grapevine and Moreno Barbecue in South Austin. This has been the Tacos of Texas podcast developed and produced by Identity Productions. If you enjoyed today’s episode and are craving more taco content, go to our website at www.identity.productions or follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube at Identity Productions and United Tacos of America. If you like the podcast, don’t forget to leave a five star review. Every review helps us keep the podcast going. This is your host, Mando el Taco journalist Rayo Vamos a Los Tacos. On the next proximo Tacos of Texas. You had me at queso. Let’s take a melty, gooey trip into what we know as queso chili con queso con caso. Or for you, phonetically able chip eaters. Okay, so.
Speaker 4 The Tacos of Texas podcast is presented by Identity Productions in partnership with KUT & KUTX Studios. Our host and producer is Mando Rayo. Our audio is mixed by Nicholas Worden. Our story producer is me, Luisa Vanessa, and our creative producer is Dennis Burnett. Music was created by Peligrosa in Austin, Texas and King Benny Productions, located in the Quinto barrio of Houston.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
