Mexican food Taco on a white background

NASELLE, Wash. and ASTORIA— What do tacos have to do with demographic shifts, forgotten history or cultural belonging? Gaelyn and Gustavo Aguilar intend to delve into that complex question with their dynamic project “Who Eats at Taco Bell?”

The couple has been leading presentations during a two-month expedition on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, staring May 14 in Illinois and traveling across 11 states. Seeking to spark reflection and community connection, the Aguilars share tacos and prompt dialogue and engagement around the question: What is it going to take for Americans to truly live interculturally?

The Aguilars will present “Who Eats at Taco Bell?” in the local area this month.

First, they’ll visit the Knappton Cove Heritage Center in Naselle, Washington, from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 9. The presentation is in collaboration with Lt. Jesus Reyna, a registered nurse and Region 10 Minority Health Consultant for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health. Reyna was deployed in 2014 to the U.S.-Mexico border to work with unaccompanied minors.

Then, the Aguilars will visit Astoria. On July 14, the couple will set up their “taco encampment,” featuring taco making and portrait taking, conversation and a multimedia performance. The encampment will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. at the River People Farmers Market, located at 12th and Exchange streets, and continue at 7:30 p.m. across the street at Peace Lutheran Church.

The couple will also give a presentation looking back at their two-month expedition at 6 p.m. July 15 at the Astoria Public Library.

The focus of “Who Eats at Taco Bell?” centers on how immigration, race and colonialism in America’s past continue to influence personal and political notions of movement and identity — and what we can learn from history to improve the future.

The idea for the project was sparked in Gustavo Aguilar’s hometown in Texas: a town of 175,000 with 150 to 200 taquerias. And yet, one Taco Bell continues to thrive. In investigating why, the Aguilars began to understand how the American diet — as much as it has been formed by the intermingling of different cultures — sheds light on the multiple ways that Americans have chosen to define what it means to be an American, as well as the implicit biases that exist in the popular imagination.

The demographic face of the U.S. is changing; according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics constitute 17 percent of the population and are the largest ethnic or racial minority. Such changes can expose underlying fears, leading to tension and conflict, such as recent debates around immigration policy and racial justice.

For the Aguilars’ project, the taco operates as an indicator species: one small part of an ecosystem that can signal the health of a society faced with multiplying diversities. “Who Eats at Taco Bell?” explores the paradox of how someone could harbor a disdain for “foreigners” but also a love of their food. At the same time, setting the project on the Lewis and Clark trail adds another layer to the theme of movement and cultural identity that the project explores; the trail was forged by an expedition that played an important role in European-American territorial, cultural and economic expansion.

By cooking and eating tacos with attendees at their events, the Aguilars invite people from varied backgrounds to transcend differences and come together. “Who Eats at Taco Bell?” is designed to spark ideas and strengthen relationships through engagement with a range of critical themes: socio-economic mobility, cultural belonging, movement and borders, assimilation and appropriation, and new forms of cultural identity.

Gaelyn Aguilar is a cultural anthropologist, and Gustavo Aguilar is a composer and performer with a research interest in critical studies. The two co-facilitate the Tug Collective, a interdisciplinary organization focusing on re/search, contemporary social practice, and participatory, problem-based interventions that tackle the cultural politics of contemporary border regions in North America. To learn more, visit tacotalk.org

The Knappton Cove Heritage Center is located at 521 Washington State Route 401 on the site of the historic U.S. Quarantine Station that was once the “Ellis Island” of the Columbia River. For more information, email thecove@theoregonshore.com or call 503-738-5206.