By Allison Sadlier // SWNS
New York office - 646-873-7565 / usnews@swns.com
NEWS COPY w/ VIDEO & INFOGRAPHIC
Have you ever had the perfect taco? New research has identified the most popular combination for taco lovers nationwide.
What does the ideal taco look like? It's a surprisingly simple setup of chicken, lettuce, shredded cheese, and tomatoes, wrapped in a soft corn shell.
A survey examining peoples’ taco preferences found that chicken is the number one protein of choice for tacos (26 percent).
In terms of protein preferences on tacos, beef came close behind in second place as the most preferred option (24 percent) followed by fish (17 percent), shrimp (10 percent), and pork (9 percent).
The survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Taco Del Mar also split respondents by their preference for hard or soft shell tacos and results showed how you take your taco may say more about you than you think.
Results found that hard shell lovers also tend to have a hotter side since they were 71 percent more likely to find spice “very appealing” than soft shell fans.
The poll also delved into the personality traits beyond the taco stand. It turns out that hard shell taco eaters prefer dogs, while soft shell fans love a cuddle with a cat.
When it came to heroes with capes, hard shell fans are all about Batman.
Results found soft shell lovers are 40 percent more likely to prefer the Man of Steel, Superman.
Taco shell preference even revealed differences in sleep patterns. Hard shell eaters are 41 percent more likely than soft shell eaters to be early risers.
Hard shell lovers might get up so early since they’re 53 percent more likely to be light sleepers than soft shellers.
“One of the survey’s findings is that all people – no matter their shell preference – delight in eating tacos on the beach, or even while surfing. For us at Taco Del Mar, this comes as no surprise as tacos and beach life go hand in hand – Taco Del Mar has been serving Baja style tacos inspired by the flavors and experiences found at the beach since 1992,” said Sheila Zimmerman, Vice President of Marketing, REGO Restaurant Group.
When it comes to personality traits, hard shellers described themselves as adventurous, curious, happy, hard-working, high-maintenance, and organized. Soft shell eaters said they were calm, clean, creative, friendly, and loyal.
Hard shell fans tend to be more extroverted, while soft shell lovers are more likely to be introverted.
The differences don’t stop there. Hard shell fans are more likely to enjoy reading and audiobooks, while soft shellers prefer to reach for the remote to turn on a TV show or movie.
Something hard shell and soft shell fans both agree on? Margaritas go better with tacos than beer and tacos make a perfect meal for any part of the day.
HARD SHELLS
• Eat 7.3 tacos on average in a month
• More likely to be health conscious eaters
• More likely to find spice “very appealing”
• More likely to prefer dogs to cats
• More likely to prefer Batman
• More likely to be an early riser
• More likely to be an extrovert
• More likely to be adventurous, curious, happy, hard-working, high-maintenance, organized
• More likely to enjoy reading/audiobooks, exercising, walks/hikes, sleep
• More likely to enjoy jazz, punk, country, and classical
• More likely to be single
• More likely to prefer the beach
• More likely to prefer Apple devices
• More likely to prefer Netflix
SOFT SHELLS
• Eat 6.9 tacos on average in a month
• More likely to not like spice
• More likely to prefer cats or like dogs and cats equally
• More likely to prefer Superman
• More likely to be a night owl
• More likely to be an introvert
• More likely to be calm, clean, creative, friendly, loyal
• More likely to enjoy TV shows/movies
• More likely to enjoy blues
• More likely to be in a relationship
• More likely to prefer the mountains
• More likely to prefer Samsung devices
• More likely to prefer Amazon Prime
TOP TACO PROTEINS
1. Chicken
2. Beef
3. Fish
4. Shrimp
5. Pork
6. Plant-based
7. Tofu
