Sandwich Monday: The Baco

For years, Bac-Os have been the cool friend salad gets to hang out with, so naturally, it's a beloved name in food. This week we try a different sort of Bacos — that's what Chicago's Saucy Porka restaurant calls its bao-taco hybrids.

Ian: This does pretty well even in the most competitive food category: things that start with b-a-c-o-.

Peter: This is much more convenient than what I used to do, which was trying to breed takeout from Wao Bao and Taco Bell.

One of Peter's eyebrows enjoys the taco side while the other enjoys the bao side.

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Miles: This is my favorite Mexican/Asian hybrid since the Oscar-winning film Y Tu Godzilla Tambien.

Ann: This is my favorite Latin/Asian hybrid since Alberto Fujimori. Just kidding. He was a mean dictator.

Peter: These are good, but I'm concerned about the trend of combining national cuisines. If this continues, every restaurant will be serving the same food: an enormous bucket of everything.

Here's what happened: I was trying to take a photo of the Bacos, and God himself reached down from the heavens and stole one.

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Miles: It's traditional to pick up Bacos with one hand and one chopstick.

Peter: The bao bun is like a soft, comfy pillow. It's as if they wanted the fillings to have a nice nap.

Eva: A bun filled with pork carnitas is a beautiful analogy for each of us after lunch.

Peter: I'm glad we have the word "fusion," otherwise we'd be calling these things "conjoined cuisine."

Ann wonders: Why do we always stop at two cuisines with fusion food. What about a gefiltebacoguettezzabangeroutine?

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Ian: I'm all for fusion food, but when will scientists finally achieve fission food?

Peter: Yeah, I hate it when it gets cold and it's cold fusion food.

[The verdict: fantastic. And it's amazing that 2 million years after we first started using tools, we're still using food to pick up other food.]

Sandwich Monday is a satirical feature from the humorists at Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me!