10 days, 10 states: Keeping it weird in Austin, Texas

Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Stories, North America, United States

"We were headed down the road, hit the border, by the morning, to let Texas fill my soul..."
-Pat Green

I will admit that I eat some pretty strange things on occasion, because when you're on the road a lot, that's simply what you do. Snails in France, squid in Singapore, and what might have been cat in Vietnam. Never in my life, however, of all the culinary curiosities that have found their way into my gullet, have I ever harbored the urge to roll out of bed and immediately start eating a taco.

In Austin, however, this is apparently just what you do. You get up. You brush your teeth. And then you go eat some tacos.

Rousted out of bed by my taco-needing, still-intoxicated-from-last-night college roommate who now calls Austin home, morning pleasantries were barely exchanged before making a beeline for a taco stand clear on the other side of town. What initially seemed like unnecessary haste proved to be a keen sense of timing. As it turns out, on any given Saturday morning thousands of young people in Austin, Texas are simultaneously craving tacos. Maybe tens of thousands.

Don't believe me? I wouldn't either. That was until I pulled into Taco Deli at 9:30am only to be thrust into the back of a line at least 65 people deep which wrapped around the side of the building into the hinterlands of South Austin. Already well documented by fellow Gadling blogger Elizabeth Seward as being a city know for its food trucks and DIY food culture, old and young Austinites alike have a serious soft spot for Mexican food in the AM.

And, I found out, so do I.

Morning meat aside, Austin is a city that has been well documented in Gadling lately, and justifiably so. As the "Keep Austin Weird" movement has demonstrated, Austin is one of the funkiest and fascinating cities in all of the 50 states. A bubble of progressive thought in a traditionally conservative state, the movement to keep Austin as a locale which promotes independent businesses and champions large amounts of music, art, and culture has infused the capital city with an energy and an atmosphere that draws people to the city in droves.Continue reading 10 days, 10 states: Keeping it weird in Austin, Texas10 days, 10 states: Keeping it weird in Austin, Texas originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 16 Nov 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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