Do You Remember What Dining At Taco Bell Was Like In The '70s? Here's A Refresh

It's difficult to imagine a world without Taco Bell. Logically, we know the first Taco Bell opened 64 years ago, which means we did without it for the majority of human history, but it's still hard to wrap your head around it. What would past generations of college students eat late at night to satisfy their munchies? Hard tack? It boggles the mind. Even after Taco Bell became a national chain, it was still seen as pretty exotic at first. As hard as it is to imagine now in our "lemony garlicky miso gochujang brown butter" modern world, some people had to be introduced to the concept of Mexican food in the 1970s. Suffice it to say, dining at Taco Bell in the '70s was a lot different from what you're used to.

If you look at one of the early Taco Bell menus from 1972, you'll notice something curious. Next to each menu item there's a small parenthetical telling customers how to pronounce it. Apparently people were so unfamiliar with tacos (tah-cos) and burritos (buh-ree-tohs) that they needed to have it sounded out for them. Some testimonials from people who were around at the time suggest there's some truth to it: "In the 70s my Midwestern cousin came to visit us in California and asked what was a Tay-co," said one Redditor. We hate to imagine what they'd make of a Crispalupa, which is more fun to say than it is to eat.

Clearly, introducing tacos to the American public in the 1970s had to be a gradual process. They may have weathered the political tumult and the cultural revolutions of the 1960s, but they needed a little help to wrap their heads around tostadas. The first Taco Bell commercials seem almost comically lame to modern eyes, with a jingle that sounds like the theme song for a sitcom that ran for a single season in 1973.

The interior design of the restaurants were also pretty '70s-tastic at first, as you can see in the picture above. (Try not to despair too much at how low the prices were back then.) The decor would be updated in the 1980s with a neon teal-pink-and-purple color scheme that brings to mind "Miami Vice." It's a fun reminder, really, that a lot of what people remember about previous decades were remnants from the decades before it, because every child of the '90s has fond memories of that color scheme. Today, Taco Bell looks as drab as every other fast food restaurant racing to turn itself into an Amazon warehouse — but hey, at least you can order the Incredible Hulk Burrito from the secret menu.