Tacos in a Bag

Western hosted Women's 3A Volleyball provincials this weekend. It was a big deal. There were nine other teams, plus Western's. We had to provide score keepers, linesmen, door people, a canteen etc. for two gyms. I took tickets and helped with the canteen.

Now, I've been involved with schools for over 20 years (most of that time in the NWT) and I have to say that some things are definitely cultural. Apparently "tacos in a bag" are a very common gym food or canteen food down here, but I'd never heard of it. If you're not in the know either - you take an individual bag of taco chips (doritos), open it along the side NOT at the top, add a spoonful of hamburger cooked with taco seasoning, grated cheese, chopped onion (optional), chopped lettuce, salsa and sour cream. Add a fork. Let the customer stir well. It's essentially an individual taco salad. No mess. The only equipment that's needed is a crock pot for the meat. I tried one. It's pretty good too.

However, taco's in a bag are unheard of in the north. I bet they'd be a big seller too. The typical gym food there is chili, sloppy joes or hot dogs. In the far north you might get caribou stew or muktuk (depending on availability). Muktuk is whale blubber. I've never had an opportunity to try it, but I hear it's really chewy and somewhat fishy.

We had lots more than that at the canteen though. You could buy fruit and dip, veggies and dip, fresh fruit, chocolate bars, soup and sandwiches, pop and bottled water, coffee and tea, cookies, rice crispy squares or puffed wheat squares; the list goes on. Hopefully we've made a fair bit of money from the whole thing.