French tacos — Rhône-Alpes, France

French tacos is a fast-food dish built from a folded wheat flatbread, despite its name having little to do with the Mexican taco it borrows the word from. It sits between a panini, a wrap, a kebab and a burrito: a flat galette is folded over a filling of meat, fries and a creamy cheese sauce, then pressed and grilled until the outside crisps and the inside melts together. It is reported from the Rhône-Alpes region, where it emerged from fast-food outlets between the 1990s and early 2000s, though which shop or town started it remains disputed among the chains that now claim it. From there it spread through France over the 2010s, becoming closely tied to a generation of young diners, and it later reached fast-food menus in other countries as well. Preparation starts with cooking diced or shredded meat, chicken, beef or a mix, on a griddle, alongside a batch of fries. A cheese sauce is made by melting a mild processed cheese with cream or milk into a thick, pourable sauce, often called simply sauce fromagère. The galette is laid flat, filled with the meat, fries and sauce, folded over into a rectangle, then pressed on a hot plate until the outside is browned and the filling has fused together. Variation between one tacos and the next comes mostly from the meat and the sauce: some shops offer chicken, beef, merguez or a mix, and sauces range from a plain cheese base to versions cut with garlic, barbecue or spiced sauces stacked alongside it. The dish is heavy, rich in fat and salt by design, and consumer groups have flagged it as poor-quality fast food, which has not slowed its spread through chains built specifically around it.