Why are tacos al pastor made with pork and pineapple?

From shawarma to the trompo

The name means shepherd-style, but the meat is pork. As the taquero in the piece tells it, Lebanese immigrants brought the idea of meat roasted on a vertical spit about a hundred years ago, and made it with lamb. In the capital it was changed: pork marinated with chilli and achiote, and a pineapple on top of the spit.

The vertical roaster is called el trompo, the spinning top, because the meat turns as it cooks.

• "Al pastor" means shepherd-style; the meat is pork, not lamb.
• The dish descends from the lamb spit that Lebanese immigrants brought to Mexico about a hundred years ago; in Mexico City it became pork with chilli and achiote, with pineapple on top.
• The vertical spit is called el trompo, the spinning top.

Lo trajeron los libaneses, hace cien años. Ellos lo hacían con cordero.

The Lebanese brought it, a hundred years ago. They made it with lamb.

En la capital lo cambiaron: cerdo con chile y achiote, y piña arriba.

Here in the capital they changed it: pork with chilli and achiote, and pineapple on top.