I went with a group of friends and crossed the border to Tijuana, Mexico. Our friend had said to us "Not to eat any tacos from the street vendors because its not beef you maybe eating!" He goes on talking about how others have been sick and what type of meat is in the tacos. I didn't want to believe him but I thought why chance it and get sick.

Whether this is a urban legend or not, its not the first time I heard about this.

I thought it was going to be about smuggling tacos.

I thought it was really a virtual taco run! I was going to place my order for two hard tacos and chimichanga!

Gross. I'm sticking to American Tacos.

I hope you get better soon.

Edit: I don't know if this is true or not.

I don't know... but I can tell you this...

I've lived and traveled all over the world and there are certain (and surprising) places I'd eat street vendor food. For example, I'd definitely eat street vendor food in Thailand, it's generally delicious and quite safe. Culturally the Thai are very proud of their cooking abilities and even street vendors take huge pride in their products and would be personally devistated if someone fell ill. So street food in Thailand is very safe. I've probably eaten more street food in Thailand than I have in decent restaurants and I've never been disappointed or sick.

Street food in some areas of China is also very safe for similar reasons.

However, I don't think I'd eat vendor food in Mexico. In Tijuana they really aren't bound culturally to serve a high quality product and I'd be suspicious that it wasn't what the vendor says it is even if I asked them point blank. I'd imagine that dog is quite common in Tijuana and possibly horse and cat too. It's cheap and easy for vendors to aquire. That being said... I'm fairly certain that I was served dog once at a restaurant in a small and little known inland Hawaiian town.

I say, make your street vendor and restaurant selections carefully... find out what the cultural attitudes are about food, food prep, and food service. That will give you an idea about what's safe and what isn't.

Well i,m sad to say i,ve never travelled very far from home,but on the bright side i,m usually sure about what exactly i,m eating! Although these days even those foods have their draw backs! Trans fats,colesterol, and chemicals i can,t pronounce! It,s like if you don,t eat your own cooking with food you,ve grown and raised yourself,Your playing russian roulette!

Haha, Tacos would be filled of what?


If you're not around this area but happen to stop by, Try the Carna Asada Burrito and the famous Fish Tacos!


Oh no! I didn't have any of the vendors, but I did have one in a restaurant in T.J.(Tijuana) P.S. don't drink the water!?


Ooooh! Yummy, what kinds of thai food(vendors) did you try or should I say was your favorite dish?

I have been to Juarez a couple of times, and I was told the same thing. So Imma gonna guess it's true. Dogs, cats, and rats are what I was told I might be eating, If I was to buy from the street vendors.

I also travel around the world as a kid. And i live'd in egypt for 7 year's hears some advice

If you wanna live... Dont eat anything.. Of street's of egypt

I know, it can be scary at times, but I don't make good meals. It taste better when someone else make it, Isn't that how it is at times.


Thats what I hear up and down the coast of Baja California.
If you happen to stop at Rosarita, Lobsters are the main dish there. Yum! Then again anything south of that is lobsters and whatever they pull out of the ocean.

Thanks for the heads up! What would you recommend there?

So many thing's mate

They have a thing called KoshAre [ Dont Know Right Spelling ] Anyway's its like Noodles and all this stuff mix'd togther..

Also Bean sandwitch the have small circle bread and they put all these thing's in it

I even got sick from chilli's

WATER!!!

My brother drank Tap Water from Sink and he though he was going to die

Like a noodle goulash kind of dish?

Oh like a pita type bread and add what you want inside of it.?


EEEEWW! I hope he is ok
So do you boil the water there!?

When i go back i buy bottle water

my brother didnt have any so he took a chance i drank some and spit it out.

Taste like hell

I'd say the general rule is that if the water is unsafe, only eat vendor or even restaurant foods which you know have been properly handled. Don't order a taco which has lettuce that's been washed in water! It seems simple, but most people don't think of it.

I avoid all dairy products in Mexico and lots of other places too... why? It's not pasturized. Hello Ecoli. Find out if dairy products have been pasturized--in mexico, they most likely have not been, unless you purchase milk etc... from a store with a sealed top and it says pasturized on the carton/bottle. That's a pretty safe bet. Consequently, dont' eat guaquamole in Mexico from street vendors either. The sour cream used to make it is dangerous to us delicate tummied westerners.

Here's another tip. When dining in a country or area where the water is suspect, NEVER accept bottled water that is uncapped when it's brought to your table, or if the seal is broken. It's likely just a bottle filled with tap water. If you're REALLY concerned, only drink "gassy" or carbonated water.

In Thailand, I tend not to drink anything except bottle water, but I never worry about the food. Typically street foods are thoroughly cooked, including veggies, and if they use water that hasn't been boiled, it's safe bottled water.

One of my favorite foods from Thai vendors in Bangkok is a chicken kabob type of thing that's served over noodles with an incredible Thai red curry that's hot enough to blow steam out your ears. It's not painful per se, but it definitely puts a spring in your step.

r.o.t.(rule of thumb) bottle or boil and to be extra safe a drop of chlorine to every gallon of water.

There was a time when I thought that I had an 'Iron-gut', until I felt the sure signs of dying and the acid ate away my throat, my esophagus, and my stomach lining. I vow to never dare try that molten fire again but I'll try that Thai red curry w/ noodles and chicken Kabob. Thanks, theres a Thai Restaurant nearby, I'll see if they have it.

I've actually never seen anything in Thai restaurants in the US or Canada that had anything like the vendor red curry noodles. I do love Thai food though, pretty much all of it and luckily, folks up here in the PNW LOVE it too and we have a Thai restaurant on every corner it seems like.

WWEee i'm mexican, and sadly people there serve you anything just to get a few "pesos" (Money currency in mexico) and yes, some will serve you dogs, cats, any other animal, and rarely humans (They always get caught though)

Thankfully, i don't live in mexico (went there for 1 year)

Hmm, someone hasn't really visited Mexico in a LONG time, grow up kid, fantasy world is just gone around the corner(or until your 15).

ha ha very funny,Just because someone said dont eat the tacos doesnt mean ,Wait wheres my pet chico,darn another dog napping,Ha ha ,But to be real for a moment,I had a Friend "HAD" being the key word here,That said that one time he went to Tijuna,Mexico and I wont tell yall the Exact place because of the problem it may or may not cause but anyway he had an uncle that hated American Whites and he just so happened to be a Taco vendor and had two kinds of meat,one was beef and the other was "FIDO",He said that sometimes Americans could be really rude to him and would serve them FIDO TACOS to get even with them which is why Even I dont eat tacos from street vendors,Yes its sick and if I can think of all the street tacos I've eating I get sick to my stomach,When going to any part of that country be carefull where you eat or what you drink and be as frendly as possable to the street vendors because they can be darn right evil and make you sick on purpose.

Well, as mostly everybody on this thread posted or responded in saying, yes of course with any street vendor, no matter the nationality, is in plain risk of contaminating and/or tainting their food accidentaly or under any known circumstances. Although everybody has their right to opinion, I, on the contrary, believe all of you are overly jugding Mexican street vendors, in which I for one will stand for them by stating that the majority (or even all) of these vendors don't use these believed duplicate/substitute meats to simply bring in for one's profits. I'm a proud Mexican-American who has lived in the United States for approximatley 10 years now (as I arrived on this country at the age of 14), and I for a fact know and will assure you these street vendors DO NOT USE THESE DISGUSTING MEATS. I'm not trying to either sound overly defensive, or ignorant, but the most advice I can give you(that I learned by my parents whim, to advise me from these unknown 'dangers') on street vendors, is to reassure yourself of any purchase you make, and also be cautious, although these foods taste great, any food that's not properly cooked can fall tainted by Salmonella, and many numerous amounts of bacteria.

.....and for the rest of you, quit discriminating , argue all you want, but what's said is done, now deal with it.......

Your right,I too am Mexican American,I didnt say all street vendors are Evil fido taco servers and yes any meat that is not cooked right can make you sick or even kill you,I'm just saying you have to be carefull what you consume,thats all I'm 40 years old and have lived here in the US all my life,I for a fact do know that most of the food that street venders serve is real beef and chicken,But not all venders are as "nice" to americans is the only thing I was trying to say,Mexican food is great and sometimes very spicey which is the way we like it! But I have noticed that when American mexicans eat down there we are looked upon as traitors to Mexico and the first thing those people do is raise the prices when they find out that were not from Mexico and instead come from America plus they dont always serve us the best,and you cant tell me that some dont serve us what we pay for ,Enough said about that,But yes I also agree with what you said ,Dont blame the entire country for what a few evil people do,Most food in Mexico is safe,just watch your back when chosing where you eat.

Basically, we just risk our health with most anything, if you want to live in a bubble, go ahead, but some people surivive from these foods, and others not in particular, all I can say is us American's are overly paranoid of anything we can contract, develope, etc.

If you don't want to risk it then don't try it at all, and go live in a bubble.

I meant no offense to Mexicans or thier food habits. I only stated a life experience that happened to me. Fact is I LOVE Mexican food!

I believe there are vendors from all over the world that don't see anything wrong with eating a cat or dog, horse or whatever kind of meat. Meat is meat to them. I just want them to state it on thier cart to what type of meat they put in it.

Well, if you're diligent you'll ask wouldn't you?

....and why do you believe meat is meat to us? Please explain.

To your life experience, fact is, you just had bad luck, either that, or you had to have known of the dangers, and you were simply apathetic, go figure....

I made no discriminations...

I don't believe that I've had questionable meat in Mexico, but both my cousins husbands are from Nogales and Merida... one worked for a street vendor when he was 12, and yes, he confirms that meats of questionable origin are easy to get, cheap and do sometimes end up in your meals... I however mostly tend to avoid street vendors in Mexico because of the occasional lack of pasturization of a lot of dairy products, and the fact that the vegetables and fruits are generally washed in regular tap water. It's the veggies, not the meat, that tend to make the American's and Europeans sick. We have no tolerance to the bacterias in the water.

The one place I believe I did eat dog was right here in the good old USA ... in Hawaii.

I think I also ordered a steak in Chile once... I think what I got was veal... but that's not so bad, I like veal. Whatever it was, it was tasty.

Mystery meat doesn't really scare me... bad water and bad dairy does.

Even if I did, I don't think I would've gotton a secure answer anyways. Plus I don't speak Espaniol.

That was a general statement to all around the world who eat everything from monkeys to rats, none should of been taken personally.

Yes I had a lack of interest in vendors because that wasn't our goal of going to T.J. in the first place. It was to spend time with friend and have a beer or two. I did as stated earlier I enjoyed the tacos at a restaurant there.

People who grew up can eat their country's food with out geting sick

On other hand people who didnt grow up their get sick'd weird huh??

Oh not so weird really...

When you're born in a place and you're small, you start receiving small doses of water and dairy and the local foods, you begin to build up anti-bodies and defenses against these microscopic critters... when an outsider comes to visit, and sits down to a meal, they're eating mass quantities of "critters" that they don't have defenses for so they get sick.

consequently, it's not uncommon for people of differing ethnic backgrounds to have intolerances to certain foods. Some native american groups are overly sensitive to bovine dairy products... they lack an enzyme to properly digest it.

when my brother went on a missionary trip to mexico in this town they served ground cow toung and brain tacos, they say that they get it for cheap from the butchers and he sells them under the name "beef tacos" and he isn't really lying, he said only maybe 2 or 3 outta 15 can tell it isn't normal beef

Sounds like an advertising slogan..."Only 3 out of 15 can't tell it isn't normal beef!"

i would take missmelswels advice she is very right ive never left the country but i would believe her

Theres one where the chinese stuff sausges and stuff like that with cats and dogs.

SMUGGLE THE TACOS OVER THE BOARDER NOW GET THEM IN THE TRUNK GO GO GO.

Kosher foods are foods that are prepared according to strict jewish dietary laws and are certified as such by a rabbi. Hebrew National
meat products are an example.If you look at the labels on many products you will see the letter K symbol which tells jewish consumers that the food is kosher and therefore okay to purchase and eat. Kasha Varinski is the dish in which noodles are combined with buckwheat groats,onions and other veggies.

My german grandmother would sometimes make tongue and brains. You used to be able to buy already cooked tongue in the can.That was back in the 1920s and thirties. You have to boil the tongue for several hours.You let it cool,then skin it and remove the root at the back of the tongue.On brains you
have to remove the membrain covering the brain.Grandpa liked to eat them once in awhile. he was an old time german butcher and brought the stuff home for grandma to make.Brains are considered a delicacy in mainly cultures. Hungarians,Germans and others eat them and tongue.
The English have steak and kidney pie.

I recall my dad saying there was a korean restaurant in Salt Lake City that served horse steaks. That was back in the 1940s or 50s.

all you guys are so funny

i live on the Mexican/American border here in Texas and have been to Mexico hundreds of times. They can make some real delicious tacos once you actually taste them. Don't believe all the legends. I guarantee you, if you go to the vendors with people, you got nothing to worry about, . Don't get me wrong, though. Be cautious because just like in every corner of the world there are some bad people out there. Tacos of Bisteak with added lemon n salt...i promise you, if you fine a the right vendor or restaurant you are going to love it.

I've been to Tijuana & IF you do eat one plan for some time off & load your bathroom with your favorite reads!
I will admit this was years ago.......

Oh for crying out loud...I've been to many cities in Mexico many times, I've eaten plenty of tacos there (sometimes from street vendors), and I've never been served dog, cat, rat or other mystery meat. I do agree that you should never drink the water, eat lettuce, or drink milk while there. If anyone gets sick from eating street vendors tacos, it's because of lack of sanitation, not mystery meat. By the way, tongue is delicious. If you see the vendor serving lengua, then that's what you are getting. A basic knowledge of Spanish before visiting would clear up a lot of confusion about what you are being served.

And for the love of the Goddess STAY AWAY from ANYONE who asks you to see a donkey show!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Run & runfast!

TACOS ARE AWESOME!
(two hardshell tacos just meat and cheese only) (sometimes 3 or 4)