GASTRO-NOMICS
How Taco Bell Secretly Built a Huge Vegan Cult Following
In just a few short years, the chain behind the Beefy 5-Layer Burrito has managed to become an obsession of vegans and vegetarians
Earlier this month, like Simba returning from exile, Taco Bell’s potatoes were officially restored to the company’s menu board — Spicy Potato Soft Taco and all. This wasn’t a small-fry development guided by a simple seasonal shift or some limited-time promotion; it was the result of a several-month fusillade by the brand’s starch and vegetarian loyalists, who had been furious at the company for removing potatoes last summer.
Ever since its controversial “menu simplification,” Taco Bell quite literally couldn’t post on social media without encountering some grief about bygone potatoes. (One fairly representative comment on an Instagram post featuring a happy couple reenacting “Lady and the Tramp” with a taco: “Y’all prob took their relationship off the menu too.”)
“I feel like I’ve almost heard from everybody in the country on the potato bites,” Liz Matthews, global chief food innovation officer at Taco Bell, told CNN.
