ROGUE WANDERER: The mystery of the Taco Bell food wrapper

Published 7:15 am Thursday, July 24, 2025

I gave in last Sunday. I can only rein in the wandering for so long. After four days of banging away on two new chapters in my cave — not on the walls — I caught myself spying on the neighbors. 

The sound of a bee hitting the window got and held my attention. I considered having the turkeys to tea and corn dodgers. At that realization, I found it best to emerge from summer hibernation and trade smiles and curiosity among fellow homo sapiens. 

Taco Bell figures in at some point.

Lane and I enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Bella Union restaurant in Jacksonville, a favorite. We were fooled by the forecast into thinking the day would be cooler. Walking in the sun felt like someone followed behind with a heat lamp. Nevertheless, we’d ventured that far so we putted Giovanni the Honda over to Dos Mariposas Vineyard and Lavender Farm to listen to the J Brothers Quartet, another fave. 

Our visit happened to coincide with the annual Rogue Valley Farm Tour, a special self-guided opportunity to explore an array of local farms and gain a further appreciation for the bounty in our own backyard. The variety of locally produced products here is diverse. From wild honey to alpaca wool to lavender products and Bluefaced Leicester sheep. The tour lists representatives from all regions of the Rogue Valley with farms in Medford, Central Point, Applegate Valley, Sams Valley, Grants Pass, Rogue River, Phoenix, Eagle Point and Ashland. 

There were 30 farms and ranches on the map this year. I’m sorry I didn’t explore this event ahead of time, but I’m marking the calendar for next year. Locally grown and made products are near and dear. We are blessed to have people who care enough to provide so much fresh, natural abundance in this valley. 

OK, so I missed it, except Dos Mariposas is on the tour with their lavender products. I imbibed a cold glass of lavender lemonade while swinging my leg but not dancing to the Brothers and company. When it’s too hot to dance, it’s too hot. That should be on a bumper sticker. However, the heat did not prevent everyone from exhibiting their blithe spirit. There are always the freeform steppers who don’t hold back, and it does my heart good to see it and maybe glean some pointers. 

We left after the first set so I could go stick my head into a bucket of ice. I exaggerate. But we did leg it home to a waiting cool house with cool cats. 

But what I planned to talk about and am finally getting around to is the mysterious wrapping papers employed by Taco Bell. Have you been there lately? I’m not a fast-food frequenter but admit to a weakness for their crunchy tacos with two hot sauce packets each and a burrito supreme on the side. 

We rolled through the drive-through to satiate our whimsy. Lane ordered a burrito supreme and a five-layer bean-beef?-bologna?-burrito. I don’t know what the difference is there. I ordered crunchy tacos (the number is unimportant) and a burrito supreme. I ate it the following day, OK?

Anyway, we got the individually wrapped items home and removed them from the bag. Now, the tacos were easy; they’re shaped like tacos. But next came the burrito supremes and one multi-layer, beefy, beany burrito. The loaf shapes were identical so we looked at the wrappers. Lane said, “This one says 5-layer.” Then we noticed they all did, even the tacos. In fact, each wrapper had the names of at least five different menu items printed on them. I think the idea from corporate is for the person making and wrapping the food to indicate on the paper what specimen it is. 

As everything cooled to room temperature, we tried unrolling the tortillas in order to count the layers inside, thereby ferreting out the lone 5-layer bean blast. This did not work. It’s happened before, this mystery-wrap TB grab bag. We usually just eat what we open. If we get home with our combined order, no matter who eats what, we count it a victory. I have come away with a McFish sandwich.

The moral of the story is, don’t judge a bean by its cover, human or otherwise. 

Peggy Dover is a freelance writer with unspecified wrapping. Reach her at peggydover@gmail.com.