In A Major Win For Vegetarians, Taco Bell Is Bringing Back Potatoes And Working On A Beyond Meat Taco
"Know that we're working hard to make things right."
Last year, among all of the other terrible things that happened in 2020, Taco Bell decided to drop a whole bunch of vegetarian items from their menu.
Shaking Food GIFs / Via giphy.com
Among the menu items cut in August 2020 were the 7-Layer Burrito, Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes, Spicy Potato Soft Taco, and the beloved Mexican Pizza.
Taco Bell / tacobell.com
People were outraged. There were tweets:
PLEASE RETWEET THIS if you think @tacobell is making A mistake by CANCELING the Mexican pizza!!! With enough RT’s maybe we can stop this!!!
There were petitions. Like this one to "save Taco Bell potatoes" with over 22,000 signatures:
Change.org / Via change.org
And this "Save the Mexican Pizza" petition with a whopping 156,000 signatures and counting:
Change.org / Via change.org
(And, dear reader, if you look through the signatures, you'll notice the author of this post signed both petitions last year.)
There were really well-done think pieces that explored the cultural relevance of Taco Bell's vegetarian offerings and how their decisions to cut certain items ended up alienating a huge number of people:
Grub Street / Via grubstreet.com
And there was even a "protest" that someone drove by and posted on TikTok:
@legendevy / tiktok.com
It was just more bad news in a year filled with bad news.
And then this morning, Taco Bell uploaded this absolute acid trip of a video — in which their CEO is a talking potato — to announce that potatoes would be coming back to Taco Bell:
And now, an announcement from our CEO.
(I mean, really: What in the early-2000s Quiznos commercials is this?)
In it, the CEO/potato explained that the increased demand in their drive-thrus due to COVID-19 required them to simplify their menu, hence cutting the potatoes.
Taco Belll / Via Twitter: @tacobell
And then he/the potato announced that potatoes would return to the menu on March 11, 2021.
Taco Bell / Via Twitter: @tacobell
He continued, "Give us a minute to get them back to most restaurants, but know that we're working hard to make things right."
And then he announced that Taco Bell would be "going Beyond" this year — a nod to their new partnership with Beyond Meat.
View this photo on Instagram
Beyond Meat / Instagram: @beyondmeat
Will we finally get a plant-based ground beef at Taco Bell? I can hardly wait to find out.
Exactly which cut menu items will be returning is still unclear, but it's safe to say they aren't taking requests just yet:
@philliptle Can we just let potatoes have their moment?
Either way, we'll be watching and waiting to hear what's next!
Taco Bell / Via giphy.com