Leprechaun’s Delight

While the Irish have lots of spice in their speech, their cuisine runs a rather bland gamut from stews to stout. In a tradition-jarring step, however, Lawry’s Foods of Los Angeles has opened a taco and tostado plant in Dublin.

Lawry’s built the 14-worker, $500,000 factory because the firm could not keep up with the strong demand in Western Europe for taco and tostado shells and seasonings, which it has been shipping from the U.S. to Sweden, Britain, Germany and other European countries for years. According to Lawry’s officials, the Dublin facility is the first Mexican-food factory in Europe. Says Executive Vice President Thomas Fuelling: “We feel that Mexican food is the next step for European tastes. It is fun, it is healthy, it is easy to prepare, it is tasty, and it is cheap … make that inexpensive.”

Lawry’s, best known for its Seasoned Salt, plans to market its Mexican foods to consumers, as cook-at-home products, and possibly also to Mexican fast-food outlets, which are expected to open soon in Europe. As for the Irish, they may soon be persuaded that spicy ground beef and lettuce are a nice change of pace from corned beef and cabbage.