Integration of ethnic food into Swedish food rituals. The cultural fitness of tacos

This paper explores the meaning of the Mexican dish tacos for Swedish consumers. As such, this study examines the relationship between ethnic food and food culture in light of contemporary changing food rituals. The results reveal that the Swedish food ritual of Friday dinner can be enacted through eating tacos. Friday dinner is a point in time and space at which family members gather, after a busy week following divergent schedules that keep them from eating together, and to which children’s food preferences are central. Tacos fulfil all the requirements for a quick-to-cook yet social dish that enables hardworking but time-constrained families to eat together. The much-debated informal and fragmented character of food consumption in contemporary society is accommodated in the taco meal.

► Ethnic food that adapts diners to an individualized consumer society is easily accepted.
► The concept of cultural fitness suggests that certain ethnic food is more easily integrated in specific food cultures.
► The informalization and fragmentization of food consumption is accommodated within the taco meal.