Sunday, December 24, 2006

First Time For Everything

I, much to the horror and disbelief of my friend Ben, have never had Taco Bell. Have I been deprived? No. Uninitiated? Yes. Well, I am innocent no longer. Yesterday, I had Taco Bell for the first time.

After a night of bowling… Aah let me rephrase. After a night of watching my friends bowl while drinking beer in a bowling alley in Virginia (an experience that is difficult to convey without pictures. You just wouldn’t believe me), it was decided that the time had come for me to experience the wonder and potential stomachache that is Taco Bell. And so I did. Pulling up to a Taco Bell drive-through in one of the million strip malls that make up the entirety of Northern Virginia, I let Ben take the reigns and order his favorites. A giant bag of his favorites.

My gastronomic curiosity did not get the best of me – I stayed away from things containing lettuce and/or beef… if beef it be. I stuck to chicken – spicy chicken taco, I think. Or burrito. Don’t remember. I have to say, it wasn’t terrible. It was certainly not as bad as I was expecting, having programmed myself to believe that Taco Bell is the representation of all that is wrong with fast food. It was better drowned in hot sauce, but not awful. The rice was on the crunchy side and the tortilla tasted slightly raw, but the chicken pieces were blessedly small enough that I didn’t have to have an opinion on their quality.

I don’t know if it was the late hour or the bowling alley or the beer that didn’t sit well with me, but I admit that it may have been the Taco Bell. I felt a little wonky for about an hour but was perfectly ok in the morning. No doom or major gastro-intestinal distress to speak of, even though I was told to expect it by people less enthusiastic than Ben to have me try the Bell. I don’t think my body was all that surprised at what it was given, considering my never-ending love of fried pickles. I am not an haute cuisine 24-7 kind of girl. There is too much to eat all around me to confine myself to organics.



8 comments:

Anonymous said...

merry christmas anna! i'm sorry to hear that you actually gave into eating taco hell after so many virginal years. for some reason, to me it seems as horrific as a vegetarian being pressured into eating meat for a bet or something! but being from virginia... and knowing beer and strip malls and scary bowling alleys, i guess it just played into the rest of the night! mmm... fried pickles.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I can't believe you've never rocked the Bell before! I have a love/hate relationship with TB. Unless I'm fairly desperate for sustenance it usually is not a place that sounds appealing to me, but when I do have to get something quick to keep myself from starving it beats the other fast food choices. I pretty much only get the spicy chicken taco and bean burrito sans onions (they are raw). You used to be able to just get a plain chicken taco, which wasn't bad, but they changed that into the spicy chicken taco.

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that TB hot sauce is great for cleaning pennies. Try it sometime!

Anna said...

Amanda - I wasn't entirely bending my principles for the Bell. Yes, it is just barely food but as such, it is my duty to try it. That's how I think about it anyway. Otherwise, I would have to go brush my teeth again.

JC - I bet that hot sauce is a pretty effective paint thinner as well.

Rachael Narins said...

As the only fast food joint between here and Vegas Im willing to stop at, I admit I have had it on occasion. I always find the tortillas taste like chemicals, which freaks me out a bit, but the re-hydrated beans and onions...well, they arent good either for that matter. It is cheap though!

I love that you were willing to try it and then proceeded to try goose. You rock.

Ben Chen said...

Your disparaging comments about Taco Bell make ben sad. Me go in corner and cry now :'(

Anna said...

Rachael - Chemical! That's the word for the tortillas. They were a little on the chemical-ly side. Honestly, I will eat just about anything. Or I make it a point to, really.

Ben! Why disparaging? I didn't think I was being down on the Bell. I tried not to be, in any case. I did not mean to cause any undue stress and emotional turmoil. I do apologize.

Ben Chen said...

haha ok. Next time I see you, you are eating a grilled stuft burrito. ha! So classy!