I’m in Mexico City and spoilt for choice as to where to go for a lunchtime taco. Taquerias are everywhere, each entrance best described as a hole in the wall: you step in from the street into a dark, cavernous stone vault and go past the bar, stocked with dozens of bottles of spirits and a fridge full of beer.

I honestly feel like I’ve never had Mexican food before, except once in San Francisco. On that occasion, I went to a canteen close to the border with a friend, where we were the only two non-Mexican people eating. The salsas were bright as traffic lights and there was charred corn doused with chilli and lime salt, fresh white cheese and lime butter.

The tortillas were the soft corn ones, unlike any I’ve seen in UK outlets, with hard, U-shaped shells made of wheat. The sauces were all freshly made, unlike the bottled variety sold in British supermarkets.

Why can’t we do Mexican food at home? Is it not possible to get the correct corn chips for salsa, rather than cardboard Doritos? What would be so hard about serving the food with a quartered lime and putting out a range of spicy and hot sauces to suit every palate? And........

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