Mexican Pizza is back on the permanent menu at Taco Bell. Here’s its long journey from 1985 to now.
The matter Taco Bell is best known for is … well … it ’s food for thought . Among lover , however , it may be the disappointment felt when it revokes a favorite menu item . It plays with the carte as much as any quick service eating house , regularly crafting new devotee favorites and pitilessly tearing them forth . We are spill aboutNacho Fries , theQuesalupa , orpotatoes in general .
Though it has n’t been yo - yo’d on and off the menu like other particular , thedisappearance of Mexican Pizzain 2020 after 35 years on the carte du jour was get together with anger , disbelief , and petitions . After a short prison term aside , it willreturn to the permanent menuon September 15 . To fete its return , which is already being welcomed with a TikTok musical , we are shlep through the unusual , exasperate , delicious history of the Mexican Pizza – née Pizzazz Pizza – at Taco Bell .
Welcome to Taco Bell Mexican Pizza 101 .
Image courtesy of Taco Bell
1985 — Who say the ' 80s were a bad decade ? There was new wave , Tom Waits come into his own , the haircloth spray industry was booming , and Mexican Pizza was born . Though , like Martin Sheen , the name we know it by is n’t the name it was bear with . Mexican Pizza was dubbed Pizzazz Pizza when it was brought into fast food ’s maternity ward .
Though , some sources say that it was run in test markets under the name Mexican Pizza , but that the party decided it imply a spiciness that was n’t part of the dish . So , Pizzazz Pizza it was , for now .
1988 — " It ’s like pizza , but it ’s dissimilar . " This year was notable not just because of the delightful commercial above , but because this is the yr when the Pizzazz Pizza moniker went the way of the titular case inWeekend at Bernie ’s . It was rechristened Mexican Pizza . ( While not cite as a reason for the change , a Pizzazz Pizza in Ohiodid challengeTaco Bell ’s use of the name . ) The commercial here even shows the menu staple with green onions and fateful olives . Both of those ingedients are no longer part of the formula .
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former ' 90s — A Taco Bell voice tells Thrillist that this is when Taco Bell off the olives from Mexican Pizza . The exact yr was not provide . This was the first of two famous ingredient removed from the original mental synthesis of Mexican Pizza .
2006 - ish — This , according to a congressman , is when green onions were removed from Mexican Pizza . A specific date was n’t provided , but logic say 2006 might be a good guess as to the class . At that metre , it was reportedthat green onions were being remove from all items on the Taco Bell menu in response to an E. coli irruption .
2020 , September — Mexican Pizza bids farewell to the man . The menu was streamlined in September , the chain enjoin , and it streamlined Mexican Pizza out of existence . For the first time since 1985 , Mexican Pizza is n’t part of the carte at Taco Bell .
The chain said in its 2020 announcement , " One flatware lining of say au revoir to the Mexican Pizza that might help you rest soft is that removing it from our menus helps us work towards our commitment to leave a lighter footprint on our planet . presently , Mexican Pizza packaging account for over 7 million hammering of paperboard stuff per year in the US . "
2020 — That cancelation lead toa Change.org petitionbegging for the pizza to make like Kiss and do a rejoinder hitch . The request polish up more than 171,000 promising signature .
The petition was started by Krish Jagirdar . They found many people who wanted the item back , but there was more to the prayer than just loving the particular . " I think that the Mexican Pizza and Taco Bell in special has such a hard bond and linkup with the South Asiatic community . It was really the only accessible fast nutrient that a lot of Indian Americans had access to , " Jagirdar told Thrillist in April 2022 . " Again , it was this awful opportunity for people like us who were vegetarian to really kind of substitute really anything on the menu , and still have this really fun , tasty experience . "
2021 — Doja Cat tweet that she wants her " fucking Mexican Pizza back . " That should n’t be notable , but the world we live in dictates that this come back like a random point in an episode ofCurb Your Enthusiasm .
2022 , May — Mexican Pizza is supposed tofinally return to the menuas a " permanent item " in May 2022 . The annunciation was made with Doja Cat because Taco Bell has never fulfill a little hype it did n’t wish . The troupe also cited Jagirdar ’s prayer .
But … Taco Bell pretty quickly sells out of Mexican Pizza , and it is no longer on the bill of fare , again . The Sir Ernst Boris Chain cited " shortages " as part of the understanding it was pulled from the carte du jour . The return shortly hit carte du jour in the US , Aruba , Costa Rica , and the Dominican Republic .
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2022 , May , but a little later — Controversy ! In the brief sentence Mexican Pizza was on the fare too soon in the yr , fans shout out foul , claiming it did not taste the same as it did back in 2020.Taco Bell maintains that the ingredients are the same . Maybe you ’ve grow a flake since the last time Mexican Pizza was on the fare . Maybe you ’re a dissimilar person now with a different purview of the world . Maybe everything is a cabal designed to ensure you never get that mellifluous , sugared Mexican Pizza taste of your youth back in your ground gripe - greased finger . Maybe the recipeisa little dissimilar .
2022 , September — In September , Mexican Pizza is scheduled to be back as a permanent menu detail . The " Live Más " Sir Ernst Boris Chain welcomes its reaching with a Mexican Pizza musical on TikTok performed by Dolly Parton . That condemnation was n’t written by a random word generator , that ’s a real thing .
Circling back to the intellect it bulge off the menu in 2020 , Thrillist asked about the environmental impact of the paperboard promotion that Taco Bell said was make an immense amount of wastefulness . A company spokesperson tells Thrillist that in 2020 it " made a global commitment to add recycling and compost in restaurants by 2025 . So , we ’re go on to install bins in locations where base permits . "
That comment does n’t voice like much has alter since it called itself out in 2020 . In fact , the reply goes on to put some of the burden on customers . " As always , it is important to critique the material accepted at your local municipality to confirm recyclability . " Mexican Pizza will proceed to be wait on in a posterboard box seat . The statement from Taco Bell contribute more promises about the future but does n’t seem to have change much if the self-aggrandising goals are to introduce recycling to select localisation . " Taco Bell remain to work to achieve sustainability commitments , " it says , " while deliver delicious nutrient innovations .
The brand is also examine new options across their publicity suite and beget demand for otherwise undesirable reprocess materials by incorporating more recycled content into packaging . " Though , to be sightly , flying solid food promotion in general is ahuge source of waste matter .
That ’s it for the first 37 geezerhood of the Taco Bell Mexican Pizza chronicle . Though if it ’s likethe MCU , no matter how " over " it looks , there ’s always more coming .
