Taco Trucks At Every Mosque (also #TacoTrucksAtEveryMosque) is a community initiative started in Orange County, California that aims to bring together Muslim and Latino communities through sharing food. The events were the idea of Rida Hamida and Ben Vazquez. The first event took place on June 3, 2017 and have taken place throughout California, in Mexico and Milwaukee.
While Latinos currently make up around a third of Orange County's residents and there are 120,000 Muslims, both minority groups do not have much political power. [1] In 2016, both groups of people saw an increase in documented hate crimes against their communities. [1] Also in 2016, Marco Gutierrez of the Latinos for Trump group, said, "You're going to have taco trucks on every corner." [2] When Donald Trump won the presidency, there was an increase in the amount of both anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim feelings in American culture. [2] After Trump won, Rida Hamida, a Muslim from Anaheim, and Benjamin Vazquez, who is a Latino from Santa Ana, met and began a discussion about what Muslims and Latinos could learn from one another. [2] [3] Hamida and Vasquez thought about the taco truck idea and about bringing Muslims to Mexican restaurants. In the end, they decided to bring taco trucks to mosques. [2] Using the taco trucks (or loncheras) was also a way to empower Latinos. [1] Taco Trucks At Every Mosque is also a way for the two minority communities to get to know one another and combat the fear of immigrant communities. [4]
The first event, an iftar, took place on June 3, 2017 at the Islamic Center of Santa Ana and was attended by 600 people. [2] The halal tacos were given free to people attending the iftar. [1] The second event, a few weeks later at the Islamic Society of Orange County, was attended by 1,400 people. [1] [5] The groups raise money to pay for the tacos and in 2017, visited every mosque in Orange County during Ramadan. [6] Because Ramadan is also a time of charity, the taco truck plan was a good fit. [3] Even though the events focus on the Latino and Muslim communities, everyone is welcome. [7] One person attending the second event hoped that Taco Trucks At Every Mosque would inspire more Muslims to come to Latino events. [7] Hamida and Vazquez promoted the events on Twitter with the hashtag, #TacoTrucksAtEveryMosque. [4]
The Taco Trucks At Every Mosque events have taken place in communities from Baja California in Mexico to Sacramento. [1] [8] They have also taken place during Eid al-Adha. [9] The events have inspired a mosque in Milwaukee, the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, to copy the idea. [2] [10] Marco Gutierrez posted a video on his Instagram, saying "I tried to warn you people. #TacoTrucksOnEveryCorning [ sic ] has mutated into #TacoTrucksatEveryMosque!" [1]
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (sawm), prayer (salah), reflection, and community. A commemoration of Muhammad's first revelation, the annual observance of Ramadan is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam and lasts twenty-nine to thirty days, from one sighting of the crescent moon to the next.
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Quds Day, officially known as International Quds Day, is an annual pro-Palestinian event held on the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan to express support for Palestinians and oppose Israel and Zionism. It takes its name from the Arabic name for Jerusalem: al-Quds.
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A taco stand or taquería is a food stall, food cart or restaurant that specializes in tacos and other Mexican dishes. The food is typically prepared quickly and tends to be inexpensive. Many various ingredients may be used, and various taco styles may be served. Taco stands are an integral part of Mexican street food. Tacos became a part of traditional Mexican cuisine in the early 20th century, beginning in Mexico City, as what had been a miner's snack began to be sold on street corners in the city. Shops selling tacos have since proliferated throughout Mexico and other areas with a heavy Mexican culinary and cultural influence, including much of the Western United States and most other larger American cities. More typical taquerías specialize in tacos, as expected, but in some localities it can be used to refer to restaurants specializing in burritos, where tacos themselves are less of a point of emphasis.
The Alliance for Shared Values (AfSV) is a New York-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit umbrella organization and a major part of the Gülen movement, or Hizmet.
The phrase "taco trucks on every corner" was used by American activist Marco Gutierrez, the co-founder of Latinos for Trump, on September 1, 2016 which received widespread attention during that year's presidential election. During an interview with MSNBC, Gutierrez referred to emigration from Mexico, stating that "My culture is a very dominant culture, and it's imposing and it's causing problems. If you don't do something about it, you're going to have taco trucks on every corner."
Marco Gutierrez is a Mexican-born American conservative political activist and co-founder of Latinos for Trump, an online organization dedicated to promoting the candidacy of Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In July 2016, Gutierrez said that this group had 20,000 members. He gained significant media attention in September 2016 when he said on MSNBC that the spread of Latino culture in the United States, if it was not stopped, would lead to "taco trucks on every corner".
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The Midnight Sun Mosque, also known as the Inuvik Mosque or Little Mosque on the Tundra, is a non-denominational Islamic house of worship located in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada. The mosque was built in 2010 for the town's small Muslim community. It is the northernmost mosque in the Western Hemisphere and the only one in North America above the Arctic Circle.
Zakaria Street is a street that joins Rabindra Sarani with Chittaranjan Avenue in Central Kolkata. Nakhoda Mosque is situated in this street. It is the biggest ramadan market in Kolkata. Mohammad Ali Park is located very close to this street. This street is very popular to food bloggers.
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