Backstreet is a bilingual documentary that explores the modern-day American Dream, and how street food fosters racial tolerance. This English/Spanish story is a deep dive into the birthplace of food trucks – Los Angeles – and juxtaposes the experiences of American entrepreneurs and Mexican immigrants chasing the American Dream. If you need a distraction from constantly searching for programing assignment help, this documentary is exactly what you need right now. Don't forget to explore the best websites for essays, where you can find thought-provoking and well-researched articles that delve into topics related to culture, society, and the human experience, enriching your understanding and broadening your perspective.

Until 2008, taco trucks were synonymous with working-class and most popular in blue-collar neighborhoods around Los Angeles. Historically, traditional Mexican owners/operators of taco trucks/loncheras were constantly harassed by lawmakers, who would attempt to enforce obsolete parking laws. The harassment continued by police, who often enforced regulations that felt more like a moving target for traditional truck operators.

The fight between local lawmakers and traditional truck operators came to a head around the time the Kogi BBQ Taco Truck rolled out in 2008. When Chef Roy Choi started experimenting with tacos and burritos made with Korean seasonings, a college student launched the website, “Save Our Taco Trucks,” to raise awareness about traditional truck operators and their ongoing struggle for social justice.

Our cameras capture the conflict that had gone mostly unnoticed in the mainstream media, and the revolution that was cemented into pop-culture consciousness when Grill ‘Em All won the Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race – Season One.

Backstreet to The American Dream traces street food from Los Angeles back to Ancient Mexico before the Spanish conquest.  We discover that we still refer to several food items as the Aztecs and Mayans did in their Náhuatl language, including guacamole, tortillas, and tamales.

Food is particularly important when you become part of a diaspora, separated from your native culture. “It’s the last vestige of culture that people shed,” says Jennifer Berg, director of graduate food studies at New York University.

Mexican immigrants and their street-food tradition are a fundamental part of the global food-truck goldmine. It’s more timely than ever to explore related cultural, social, and economic themes given today’s reckoning with systemic racism and America’s long history of hostility towards immigrants.

Backstreet to the American Dream is a feature-length bilingual documentary.  The four-minute animated open was a finalist in the Best Animation Short category of Indie Short Fest January 2021. Here’s a sneak peek at

“The revolution may or may not be televised, but it will certainly be filmed, especially when veteran broadcast journalist Patricia Nazario is running the show, and when the revolution in question is the new wave of food trucks.”

“At first glance, Masa Revolution is a bilingual documentary about the evolution of food truck eats: from masa-based tamales and tacos, to gourmet burgers and sushi burritos. But viewers will soon realize that the story is about entrepreneurs chasing The American Dream, changing attitudes around cultural differences and social media’s role in this modern-day revolution.”

“En el transcurso de cumplir el documental, Masa Revolution: The Backstreet to The American Dream, la periodista Patricia Nazario ha contado con varios pasantes de noticias universitarios para grabar, editar, y organizar los archivos de contenido. Acá, compartimos una obra producida por Jorge Neri hecho cuando era alumno del periodismo en la California State University Northridge.”

English translation: “In the process of completing the documentary, Masa Revolution: The Backstreet to The American Dream, journalist Patricia Nazario has counted on various university-level news interns to record, edit and organize media. Here is a piece produced by Jorge Neri when he was a journalism student at California State University Northridge.”

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