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Young readers will learn more about the origins of their favorite foods in The Traveling Taco!
*The Traveling Taco: The Amazing and Surprising Journey of Many of Your Favorite Foods by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Kimberly Clinthorne-Wong. Red Comet Press, 2025. 36 pages.
- Reading Level: Picture books, ages 4-8
- Recommended For: Ages 0-8
Did you know that al pastor tacos were inspired by Lebanese immigrants in Mexico? Or that the ancient Greeks were eating an early version of cheesecake at the first Olympic games? Young readers will learn all this and much more as they flip through The Traveling Taco’s colorful pages.
FAVORITE FOODS EXPLAINED
A simple rhyme introduces The Traveling Taco:
“Recipes are created to delight and to nourish.
When a recipe travels, new minds help it flourish.
Popular foods can evolve over time.
Cooks add small changes that make them sublime.”
From here, a parent could read the rhyme for each food to a small child. Or, they could dive into each page. Wenjen is consistent. While illustrations abound, each page answers the same questions: What Is It? Where Does It Come From? How Did It Change? Occasionally she adds an interesting “Did You Know?”
Small maps on each page show either the food’s origin or its arrival in a place where it is famous. For curious readers, a final two-page map spread shows the food journeys across an even bigger map while engaging readers with several questions.
Considerations: none
Bottom Line: Delightful and informative, The Traveling Taco takes food lovers of all ages on an engaging tour through the historical development of well-known foods.
*indicates a starred review, the best of the best in its field.
Recommended Reading at Redeemed Reader
- Reviews: More books about food from around the world: Chinese Menu by Grace Lin offers up the folklore behind many popular Chinese restaurant foods. Family Style is a graphic novel memoir centered around meals. And Vamos! Let’s Go Eat! is a fun picture book about a food truck.
- Review: What the World Eats is a fun round-up of books about food around the world.
- Resource: Do you have a young chef at home? Check out our Cookbooks for Kids and Teens list!
We are participants in the Amazon LLC affiliate program; purchases you make through affiliate links like the one below may earn us a commission. Read more here.
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