In a world where NFTs break down digital and cultural barriers, nothing is more important than preserving our culture’s identity and making it relevant and accurate.
Enter Tacollection, a community of taco enthusiasts, taqueros, taqueras, taquerias, and foodies with over ten thousand memberships that want to increase taco lovers’ interactions, eliminating location or language barriers but keeping them culturally accurate.
Founded by Diana Abrego Aguilar and her husband, the Tacollection aims to shape the Metaverse for new generations “before somebody else turns taco NFTs into just another ‘Half off margarita and Taco Tuesday’ shill,” the founders explained to BELatina.
“We hope that we can create a community that attracts interest from top taquerias, taqueros, and enthusiasts and brings them closer together in a knowledge forum but also across borders,” they said.
BELatina had the pleasure of speaking with Aguilar about this wonderful project, and this is what he had to say:
Tell us of a moment the Tacollection has already inspired you
The process of designing the different layers of the Tacollection Artwork has helped me to revisit my memories and reminisce of places I’ve been in Mexico and events that have had an emotional impact in my life.
Whether that’s an archeological site (such as the ruins of Chichén Itzá), the trajineras from Xochimilco, or handcrafted alebrijes (Pedro Linares López) or representing elements of Mexico City’s March 8th Women’s March to stand up against femicides, these things are close to my hear. I want them displayed through the artwork for the benefit of all who know them or wish to learn about them but also to teach my daughters about their heritage and the social problems that I hope they never face (but if they do, that they know there are places of strength where they can turn).
It’s Tuesday in Teotihuacán and everybody is racing for Tacos!
The next 20 people to join our Discord and are present for the #AllowList creation will earn a spothttps://t.co/uGrg4PrUlA#TacoTuesday #NFTcommunity #StreetArtNFT @Streetlab_io 946 / 4437 created by @yescka_art pic.twitter.com/P2c9QGzepv
— The Tacollection! | Follow If You Love Tacos! (@TacollectionNFT) June 7, 2022
Do you feel NFT resources are not widely available for the Spanish-speaking community? If so, how may the Tacollection aid in this?
The great thing about web3 is that it doesn’t care what language you speak or your country of origin. Web3 and the crypto/NFT systems and the reality behind them are available worldwide.
There is democratization and decentralization of finance coming that can fundamentally change Latin America, but the current challenge is understanding and adoption that sits ahead of market penetration.
Take a look at Venezuela. One of the team members of the Tacollection, who is Venezuelan, understands the reality of blockchain/web3 lead finance and asked to be paid in crypto, not Bolivars.
Another example is the success of Los Muertos, a Mexican-themed project founded by a non-Mexican national [in a] world [that] craves Spanish-speaking culture. The challenge is still adoption. We hope that the Tacollection [will help] create the interest to drive broader adoption in Spanish-speaking communities.
#Taconversation on #TacoTuesday – What will drive the greatest adoption of #Web3 in Latin America? People seeking access to capital? Companies seeking blockchain tech? Government / currency? We want your thoughts!! #TacollectionNFT #NFTCommunity #NFT #cryptocurrency #blockchain pic.twitter.com/RDEto2KtOf
— The Tacollection! | Follow If You Love Tacos! (@TacollectionNFT) June 14, 2022
The biggest changes and the demand occur when you start to see the presentation, and content layers developed natively in Spanish instead of copied from English and translated to Spanish. The principles exist, but our team wants the Tacollection to drive interest and understanding, given where we are in adoption curves. If we are successful in this, we will be very proud.
As part of our ramp-up, we are setting aside time blocks to help taquerias set up their MetaMask/wallet so they can begin to shift some of their business practices to web3.
In addition, we will also use our Discord channel as a way to create peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing networks to better operate their business. Our team wants to be the web3 resource center for knowledge exchange for taquerias.
Lunch at the Tacollection HQ #Chilorio La Chata ✅ #corntortillas @MissionFoodsUS ✅ #refriedbeans @kgaribaldi ✅ #salsa @herdezbrand ✅ #MondayThoughts #sharetacos #TacollectionNFT #NFTCommunity #NFTs pic.twitter.com/oSuId6tu7O
— The Tacollection! | Follow If You Love Tacos! (@TacollectionNFT) May 23, 2022
What motives you the most about this project?
I’m incredibly interested in the project’s authenticity, from the knowledge exchange in the Discord channel to the portrayal of Mexican culture contained within the token. This is the project of a first-generation Mexican who lives in the US. I want to make sure that these elements are true to their essence, welcome the world into conversations where we can truly demonstrate the richness and diversity of tacos and Mexican culture, creating at the same time a project for my daughters that gives them a place to better understand their roots and identity.
Most importantly, I want my daughters to know that they can monetize their passions, and I want them to live a life in pursuit of things they enjoy. Building a community of passionate taco enthusiasts seems a good way to demonstrate that.
Do you believe Tacollection can be a point to create generational wealth for the Latino community?
Creating generational wealth for the Latino community is a big charter, and it starts with creating a broader understanding of web3, cryptocurrency, and decentralized finance. To do this, you need to captivate people and provide a reason for them to take an interest. We feel this can begin with the taco.
Once you set up a wallet, you begin to listen more to the concepts behind cryptocurrency and decentralized finance. In doing this, you take the first steps to adoption. If there are enough people that create their first wallet in Latin America because they want to join our community, I will feel some level of satisfaction for having done our part to contribute to financial change across the Latino community.
At a micro level, we want to create opportunities for every member, taqueria or taquero, that joins our community. The ability to create a larger following and even monetize your knowledge inside the community can significantly elevate the standard of living of a Mexican taqueria owner or taquero.
We want to know these stories, and we want to share them, but most importantly, we want to foster them. We want to ensure that there is a generational wealth opportunity available to our token holders.
So authentic and popular that they need a steel door to control the crowds. Authentic Frenchican Tacos. 🇲🇽🇫🇷#sharetacos #TacollectionNFT #NFT #NFTCommunity https://t.co/DIvYPczOs4
— The Tacollection! | Follow If You Love Tacos! (@TacollectionNFT) May 9, 2022
What is something you hope everyone understands about the Tacollection?
This is not an NFT Project; it is a tokenized community. The artwork is fun, but it is only a small piece of the community’s value. It is an artistic token that reflects the Mexican culture. It is a token that gives you access to a curated community of people who truly love tacos and wish to share knowledge of the art of making tacos and share best practices around operating taquerias. This can take many forms — recipes and pictures, online classes that can be translated, taco tours in Mexico, successful taquería exchange forums, and ownership of the token for merchandising purposes.
Your experience starts when you acquire the token since it opens the door to “members only” channels in our Discord server, where significantly more value is exchanged.
Anything else you’d like to share with the BELatina News audience?
The web3 space is currently dominated by the Asia-Pacific Region and the U.S. and is taking hold in other regions. As with any other technology and financial trend, being the first doesn’t always mean the best. Like in traditional markets, creating a successful project depends on offering a value proposition that no one else has before. We have the opportunity to create an authentic Mexican/Latino project that contributes to Latin America truly embracing all that web3 and decentralization offer.
In addition to generating interest in the long-term benefits of decentralization, I value culture. I want this project to depict actual tacos and Latino realities and release it before another taco project takes hold with an appropriated version of the taco wrapped around Margaritas and Sour Cream.
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