Our Mission
Our goal is to bring creative and inventive tacos to East Anglia by leaning on a trifecta of Mexican tradition, American fusion, and the best of British farming. Taquería La Gringa's team is passionate about creating quality meals with quality ingredients.
And we want to honour our region's agricultural roots. It's a priority for us to support local food producers first when sourcing our ingredients. We also want to ensure we're giving back as members of the East Anglian food economy. Look for ways you can help us support the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution in their mission to support British farmers.
Our Name
The word "gringa" generally refers to a foreign non-Hispanic girl or woman in a Spanish-speaking country. When our chef was immersed in a primarily Mexican community in America, working in traditional Mexican taquerías, her coworkers usually affectionately called her "gringa" or "güera" as she was almost always the only non-Mexican member of the team.
It can be used as an insult, and in the US its offensiveness is hotly debated. La Gringa doesn't find it offensive at all herself though, and wears the word proudly. What was a term of endearment used by her close friends now feels even more fitting as a foreigner in a new land!
Amanda at work in a
taquería in 2005, hanging out
with a few of her favourite
regular customers
With a friend in search of the perfect al pastor taco in León, Guanajuato - 2005
Amanda with some of her free-range laying hens in 2020
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2021, the summer of heirloom tomatoes
Amanda and Ed enjoying life in Suffolk, 2023
Our Story
Amanda Marks, our Chef and General Manager is "La Gringa." She hails from the south-eastern US, where she fell in love with Mexican food at a young age. Her mother even reports that Mexican food was clearly her favourite when she was still in a highchair! Amanda began working in Mexican restaurants as a teen, and as a young adult moved on to managing front of house for taquerias owned and operated by Mexican chefs. During this time, she focused on learning the Spanish language and everything she could about preparing both Tex-Mex and traditional Mexican food.
Amanda travelled to Mexico in 2005, doing a deep dive into Mexican street food and eating her way across the Jaliciense and Guanajuatense countryside. Dining in homes of Mexican friends and acquaintances as well as roadside stands and sitdown restaurants, Amanda sampled sopes, gorditas and tacos along her journey, and even spent a full day learning to make perfect tamales when a friend's mum enlisted her help in putting on the Christmas Eve feast for the colonia.
After becoming a mum herself, though, Amanda set her dream of owning a restaurant aside and moved on to the corporate world to support her family and secure adequate health insurance. Then during covid lockdowns in 2020, she fell in love with slow food. Amanda rekindled her passion for artisanal basics and began focusing on technique as well as producing as much of her own food as possible on her 3 acre homestead. She focused on crafting her own home grown veggies, herbs, eggs, and even chicken into simple, delicious, wholesome meals.
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After 15 years of keeping her dreams on the back burner while pursuing a successful career in marketing, it was time for a change. She sold the homestead in America and moved to England to be with her husband, co-director Ed Marks. Given a totally new chapter and the opportunity to reinvent themselves, it was an easy decision to bring Amanda's passion for wholesome scratch-made Mexican food to a region famed for being the nation's breadbasket. The best ingredients make the best tacos!