food was named by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of mankind, and Forbes named Mexico City one of the top ten cities for street food in the world. Street and market food has had a significant impact on haute cuisine in Mexico, with upscale restaurants serving many of the same foods as in the streets, sometimes modified and sometimes not. It has also had influence abroad, especially in the United States, where Houston chef Hugo Ortega and Chicago chef Rick Bayless both published books dedicated to Mexico's street food. Chefs come to Mexico to investigate the local cuisines as Mexican food in general becomes more appreciated. This includes street foods. In the United States, Mexican-style street food can be found in small counter-service restaurants and the variety being demanded goes beyond Tex-Mex into the regional foods of Mexico. With over 100 years of Mexican-style street food history, Los Angeles is known for its street food lunch trucks, serving tacos, tortas, quesadillas and more. Tacos are to Los Angeles as sausage is to Chicago and cheesesteaks are to Philadelphia. These tacos can follow the traditional recipes of Mexico or be very creative. It is home to a series of trucks called Kogi, which became famous for its unusual blending of Korean and Mexican food. The University of California, Los Angeles held a conference on Mexican street food, where it was distinguished from typical fast food by cultural considerations. History Types Tacos The taco is the best known and the most popular of Mexican street foods, and the first to be embraced north of the border into the United States. A taco simply is a folded tortilla with some kind of filling. Mexican street taco fillings vary from one region to another. Most tacos are made with corn tortillas, except in the very north of the country where wheat flour tortillas dominate. The tortillas used in Mexican tacos are soft, although the entire taco can be fried, which is called "dorado" (lit. golden). The taco has its origins in the pre-Hispanic period, when other foods were eaten with tortillas, and used as a scoop. The modern taco developed in Mexico's rural areas when wives would bring their husbands' meals to the fields wrapped in tortillas. Tacos arrived in the city when stands began to sell foods known to the many rural people who migrated to them in the 20th century. This