MAiiZ Nixtamal Eatery & Tortilleria has the most unique taco in Victoria
Located in the heart of Victoria’s Chinatown, MAiiZ Nixtamal Eatery & Tortilleria brings a vibrant splash of Mexican street food to the area. This beautiful, brightly coloured restaurant stands out amidst the predominantly Chinese-influenced surroundings.
MAiiZ is renowned for its organic corn tortillas, which are made using the traditional Nixtamal process with volcanic stone-ground BC corn. These tortillas are the star of their menu, featuring tacos filled with chicken tinga, beef barbacoa, or the intriguingly unique chapulines (grasshoppers).
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The chapulines taco is its most interesting dish (to Canadians, surely), and the taco offers an earthy, protein-rich experience. It comes with all the classic taco accompaniments: pickled onions, avocado, cabbage slaw, radishes, Mexican oregano dressing, and cilantro. However, it’s the grasshoppers that truly grab attention.
Typically, in Mexico, they are boiled, then toasted or fried and sold by street vendors as a snack.
MAiiZ cooks its grasshoppers in lime juice and salt, which contain an extract of agave worms, which gives them a sour, spicy, salty taste.
When cooked, grasshoppers sizzle, turning from green to yellow as they release their fat, which apparentlyĀ eliminates the need for cooking oil and exudes a beefy aroma.
While this may seem unusual this far north, chapulines are quite a common and popular snack in Mexico and Central America. According to MAiiZ, grasshoppers have been eaten for a long time, with a historical record going back to the mid-1500s and the Spanish Conquest.
Some even suggest grasshoppers could replace beefĀ and be the future of protein.
Since farming animals can be time-consuming and difficult, and mass farming practices have made it so harmful to the environment, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that grasshoppers could be a more common treat here.
Grasshoppers are a protein-rich and sustainable snack, and according to this study, they play an important role in improving nutrition, food security and employment in East Africa.
So, would you try a grasshopper taco?
MAiiZ Nixtamal Eatery & Tortilleria
Where:Ā 540 Fisgard Street, Victoria