Jeff Houck

The Tampa Tribune’s food writer since 2005, Jeff Houck covers the way people live through their food. He also hosts the Table Conversations food podcast and believes that everything crunchy is good.

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Tastecasting Comes To The Aid Of Tortillas [Drinking And Eating For La Bonita Ole’]

Posted Jul 23, 2009 by Jeff Houck

Updated Jul 24, 2009 at 07:10 AM

You may recall a while back that I wrote about how “Taco Tammy” Young of La Bonita Ole’ in Tampa was trying to save her tortilla company from creditors through the use of social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

La Bonita Ole’ is in the midst of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

The Save the Tortillas campaign, spearheaded online by Julia Gorzka of BrandTampa.comhas urged supporters to sign a petition, buy the company’s Tam-X-ico’s tortillas and Wrap-itz wraps and e-mail stores asking them to stock the products.

The campaign ran into a snag in late June when Young’s bank, SunTrust, went to court to prevent the social media effort, saying it contained misinformation and violates federal regulations by soliciting creditors before they can learn about SunTrust’s reorganization plan. On July 10, both sides submitted plans to creditors for a vote on which repayment strategy to follow. If creditors choose SunTrust, Young will lose the company and be divested of stock.

Last night a Tampa group from Tastecasting held a get-together at the tortilla factory to lend support, offer tours of the facility and sample food by local chefs using La Bonita Ole’s tortilla products.

Young greeted the group with a hearty “Hootie-Hoo,” before telling them how much their efforts had helped her cause.

Close to 50 people attended the rally, many of whom have supported the cause through tweeting and friending on Facebook.

A livestream of tweets using the #tbtaste and #savethetortilla hashtag was projected on a screen in the conference/dining room.

Among the food made by Twitter fiends @ChefKathy, @Gourmetcook and @MicheleNorthrup:

Mexican Lasagna, made with tortillas instead of pasta noodles

Crawfish Enchiladas

Chicken and Dumplings with tortillas serving as the dumplings.

A batch of Chai Thai Soft Tacos, made with Northrup’s Intensity Academy sauces, also were a hit.

To see more photos from the evening, click here.