If you haven’t checked out Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle cooking show, With Love, Meghan, we can vouch for it: This lighthearted series is filled with easy, fun ideas and cooking advice.
We found some tips for preparing tastier breakfasts and took note of the kitchen essentials we want to stock up on for ourselves, like the Le Creuset crockpot that appears in multiple scenes. In episode two, we learned that Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, loves fast food just as much as we do. In addition to mentioning that she loves Taco Bell’s Mexican pizza, Meghan also said she’s been a fan of Jack in the Box since she was a kid “because her mom loved tacos.”
The deep-fried fast food has a cult following in the western and central United States, but even the most devoted fans seem to have a love-hate relationship with it. “They’re both awful and delicious,” one Reddit user wrote.
“They have their own thing,” another Reddit user commented. “I mean, delicious pizza is better than a bagel. But sometimes I want a bagel too.”
So what’s it about Jack in the Box that makes people crave tacos? Maybe it’s their crispy fried tortilla crust and mysterious assorted meat filling. However, some scientists explain that it may also have something to do with how food evokes nostalgia.
What’s in a Jack in the Box taco?
According to the Jack in the Box website, their crispy tacos feature “melted American cheese, shredded lettuce, and their signature taco sauce.” While the description doesn’t mention beef, the tacos contain what one TikToker called a “meat blend.”
According to the detailed ingredient list for this cult burrito, it contains beef, ground chicken, textured vegetable protein (soy flour and caramel color), and defatted soy grits (a type of processed soy). Now it’s easier to understand why people often find these burritos a bit fishy.
So why are these tacos so popular?
Consumers’ love affair with Jack in the Box tacos is long-standing: In 2017, Americans ate 554 million of these crunchy tacos. More than 75 years after its launch in 1954, fans are still raving about Jack in the Box tacos on social media, with a number of popular videos on TikTok showing viewers how to make their own version at home.
Like other fast food diehards, fans of these tacos recognize that these tasty treats—which cost 99 cents for two—are not exactly gourmet.
“Don’t open the taco to see what’s inside,” said one respondent to a social media street corner interview. “But when you eat it, it’s like heaven.” A 2017 post called them “disgusting yet perfect,” which seems to be a common sentiment about the food.
One TikTok user said they felt sorry for those who hadn’t tried Jack in the Box tacos, calling them “one of the worst tacos you’ve ever had in your life.”
Other posts on TikTok and Reddit reveal that many people’s memories of these tacos stem from their youth—just like Meghan Markle’s. “I just want to eat two… Jack in the Box tacos right now,” one content creator wrote tearfully in a skit about growing old. Another Reddit user called them “pure nostalgia.”
How does fast food inspire nostalgia?
Even a well-loved favorite like “comfort food” can develop new trends and periods over time when people are more inclined to seek it out. “Comfort food has made a comeback during the pandemic,” Charles Spencer, PhD, professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford and author of extensive research on the science of food, told Food & Wine. “When the world becomes uncertain, these familiar and nostalgic brands may resurface.”
Not only does research show that food is a trigger for nostalgia, but nostalgic memories triggered by taste and smell can have a more positive emotional impact than those triggered by other triggers.
“There’s no doubt that food is a powerful trigger for emotion, acting like a ‘save’ button for important memories,” Dr. David Clavette, an assistant professor at UCLA who studies memory storage processes, explained to Food & Wine. “Delicious food also activates the brain’s reward system, making moments like biting into a delicious taco even more memorable.”
However, food-related memories involve more than just taste and smell.
“They capture the entire experience: where we were, who we were with, and how we felt in that moment,” Clavette elaborated. “Because of this rich experience, simply tasting or even just imagining a delicious meal can take us back in time and vividly relive some of our most cherished memories.”
California native Clavette says Jack in the Box’s tacos bring back many of these memories. In high school, he and his teammates would go straight to Jack in the Box after Friday night football games, and tacos were their go-to dish.
“We would drive through the drive-thru and then park our cars and hang out in the parking lot, telling jokes, swapping stories, and wondering what was going to happen next,” he recalls. “To this day, eating a Jack in the Box taco reminds me of that parking lot.”
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