In order to celebrate National Taco Day, Gabriella Rosiak vowed to dress up like a taco and wore costumes to school to spread the taco spirit. Gabriella, also known as Gabby has had a fascination with tacos for a long time. She loves tacos for their savory unique taste as well as for their ability to be manipulated with other ingredients that create new flavors. She admits that tacos are her comfort food since they make her happy on the inside when she consumes them. She continuously has contests with herself to see how many tacos she can digest in one sitting. Her first record was 12 tacos, then 24 and now her current record is 30. Inspired by National Taco Day, she has decided to conduct another self-inflicted contest in order to achieve a new record of 36 tacos in one sitting. 

The creation of tacos occurred before the arrival of the first Europeans in Mexico. Through Anthropological evidence, researchers discovered that native people from the lake region of the Valley of Mexico usually ate tacos filled with small fish. There is no clear reasoning for the name of this particular traditional Spanish meal. Some people believe “the origin is the word ataco, meaning stuff or to stuff” (National Day). 

In 1964, Roberto L. Gomez established The National Taco Council who sent a 55-pound taco to President Johnson in 1967.

Gabriella uses this quote to motivate her during her difficult obstacles like her taco contests, “to me, the impossible seems possible and the unknown will become known.”

Last year, for National taco Day she wore a pair of grey knee-high socks that had tacos designs sprinkled on the fabric. This year, she wanted to take larger step to express National Taco Day and all of its glory by wearing a taco costume to school, spreading happiness on the special Friday. Out of curiosity, Gabriella was asked what made her decide to wear a costume, why she had taken a large leap from taco socks to a taco costume in a year since most students wouldn’t perform this action. She replied with “ my love for tacos has grown over the past year, I have been continuously eating them through the course of the year to prepare myself for my next personal record.”

Most people enter an eating contest to consume large amounts of food as they can in a particular time period which is not what our taco-loving Gabriella does. She says she focuses on quantity more than time because she is able to enjoy the meal while she is completing her goal. She doesn’t dwell on the timing since the only competition is herself. She paces herself through the competition with the help of water breaks in between tacos. 

Her last contest had tacos made out of hard corn tortilla shells with 2 pounds of ground beef. As for toppings, she used a whole jar of mild salsa as well as lettuce for more taste and texture. She is unable to use flour tortillas due to the fact that she is allergic to gluten, requiring her to use non-gluten based products. The abundant amount of food sparked confusion in many people:how was she able to devour all of that food in one sitting? Next, Gabriella was questioned on the level of difficulty and the emotions that were produced by her self-driven challenge. She said “it was definitely difficult because I can eat a lot, but it’s a lot of food for one individual in such a small time frame. It felt like I was going to die, honestly. But I was happy with myself when I completed my obstacle, this was an important part of my journey.” She continues to say that “I’m weird, but I embrace it the way other people should embrace themselves.”

Overall, her passion for tacos has brought her pleasure as well as inspired  others. Gabriella wore an unusual yet amazing taco costume that caused difficulty with seating during class. Despite having a few doubts, she built up the courage to wear her costume with pride. Teenagers in modern society are often frowned upon for wearing unique clothing or for presenting controversial fashion styles, everyone has the right to express themselves. Everyone in the world has the right to express their passion and emotions through fashion, no matter the style, size or color. As for Gabby, she wanted to express her love for tacos and her unbreakable courage by being the best taco West Morris Central has ever seen. 

Source:

https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-taco-day-october-4/