Tag Archives: #tacocleanse

New Wheatsville South Finally Opens, South Austin can now Secede!

For almost ten years I have lived in South Austin, certain that there is nowhere else I’d rather live in the continental US. We have the friendliest people, the most beautiful greenbelts, the best restaurants, the biggest dog park, so many great taco stands, and the most amazing swimming pool I’ve ever been too, Barton Springs. My friends and I often laugh about how we rarely go north of 12th street but there has always been one holdout in North Austin.

One reason to cross the river.

One place I could never avoid.

One place that has everything from local organic produce to buffalo popcorn tofu pizzas to-go and products like vegan chicharróns and vegan condoms.

Today the magic finally happened and after months of planning Wheatsville South finally opened! The new store is gorgeous! It’s so big and beautiful and shiny and I am just so excited that I won’t have to go to 6 stores anymore to get what I want. The new Wheatsville is right on my path on South Lamar and they open early enough for breakfast tacos and close late enough for to meet my ice cream cravings. I am just freaking stoked.

breakfast tacos

You should have seen me there this morning, beaming at everyone while I picked up my tacos and free coffee.

Meanwhile, Austin’s First Trader Joe’s also opened this morning too and Whole Foods is trying to hang on to customers with a buy one get one free local products sale.

Say what you want about Austin but we are lucky to have some awesome grocery stores. And I am so happy to never have to drive all the way across town just to get an awesome sandwich. Hallelujah.

Taco Cleanse Day 18 - Taco Deli

Taco Deli has gotten so popular over the years that I hardly ever go there any more, it’s too busy! The best thing about the #tacocleanse is that it has gotten me out of my taco comfort zone in an attempt to eat all the tacos.

Today’s tacos were some of the best I’ve had to date, the Freakin’ Vegan on top has just beans, pico de gallo, and avocado and yet it is one of the best tacos in town. Their refired beans are fabulous, smooth and creamy in texture, and their corn tortillas are perfect. I also had the Papadulce described as “Oven roasted sweet potatoes (camote), grilled corn, roasted peppers, caramelized onions, toasted pepitas & a chipotle camote sauce”. It tasted like fall even though the temperature is still getting to a hundred degrees most days. I didn’t know until recently that their awesome Dona salsa is vegan too so make sure to load up when you go.

Taco Cleanse Day 17 - The Pad Thai-co

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Pad Thai is one if my go-to comfort foods and there is a great little place down the corner from me called Tuk Tuk that’s hard to resist. It’s the most untraditional taco I’ve eaten yet and maybe the easiest since I just piled on the takeout noodles, cabbage, and topped with some peanuts like and sriracha into a flour tortilla.

It also made me realize that one typical sized pad thai serving would feed about 6 people in taco form.

Tacos save lives!

The Hows and Whys of the Taco Cleanse

Over the last few days I have been bombarded with questions about the Taco Cleanse. If you haven’t heard, a group of us in Austin have taken on this challenge for the month of September for a variety of reasons. I can’t speak for the whole group but I can tell you my personal journey.

Over the years I have changed my diet more times than I can count. Since childhood, really, I was on a quest to find what worked best for me. Since moving to Austin almost ten years ago I started supplementing my diet with tacos, particularly breakfast tacos; the most important taco of the day. I wasn’t seeing the results I was looking for. Sure, I would eat tacos most days but then sometimes for dinner I would screw up by eating a burger or some soup. I had no self-control and I could hardly look at myself in the mirror any more. It was also during this time I noticed a rash of physical symptoms. Sometimes I would feel really tired, especially in the morning when my alarm went off. Other times, I couldn’t fall asleep at night, I knew this wasn’t right! My body was trying to tell me something. Along with these issues I was filled with occasional bouts of melancholy and depression. I would ask myself, “Where was my life even going?”

Who knows how long I could have gone on this way but lucky for me, and for you, I met up with a team of taco scientists prepared to nurture my fledgling taco habit and also give me the community of support that I needed to follow though on what became to be known as The Taco Cleanse™. Together we forged a new path of wellness and self discovery.

The plan is actually quite simple. All of your meals must contain tacos. A short “mild” cleanse can last for just one day. If you want to go full on FUEGO like my veganmofo team including Molly, Jessica, and Wes it’s all tacos every day for a month. Now, I want to be clear that supplementing is acceptable as long as you are getting all of your tacos in. Margaritas should be added on an as needed basis for the top levels of the cleanse but at FUEGO you should be adding them at least a couple of times a week, working up to every day.

One important aspect of going through a taco cleanse is an element of community to help you along the way. Just last night, for example, I texted Molly asking where to get late night tacos on the north end since I had been stuck in a non-taco friendly bowling alley most of the evening. To enhance this partnership we are going to be planning several events in the Austin area during this month. Vegans Rock Austin in planning an opening ceremony potluck so sign up on their site. Next Tuesday night there will be special “Taco Tuesday” specials at Counter Culture. We are also planning potlucks, meet-ups at Mr. Natural, Vivo, the Vegan Nom, with more to come. During the month of Veganmofo The Taco Liberation Front, The Lonestar Plate, and Rabbit Food will all be blogging with me to share their taco cleanse journeys and hopeful pass along some tips as well.

On October 4th, National Taco Day, we are going to have a celebratory party at the Vegan Nom and we will also be selling our Taco Cleanse™ zine so you too will be able to participate.

I hope you enjoy following us through this campaign. On the blog I plan to chronicle both my personal journey and keep you up to date with all the wonderful tacos of Austin Texas. Also please feel free to follow me on instagram and twitter or just follow the #tacocleanse hashtag on both sites, there are already many people joining us because they are learning what I already know: Tacos Change Lives.