Calling it a travesty that Chicago, America’s third-largest city, lags so far in per capita fish taco consumption, Kevin Pang, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, wrote in his September 20, 2007 “Baja-mian rhapsody,” that it’s time to make the Baja California-inspired dish a staple in Chicago.

Although he found fish tacos at about a dozen restaurants in Chicago, under the “fish taco” umbrella, with both fish and taco components present, nothing blew Pang away like the Baja-style ones he enjoyed as a student at the University of Southern California.

“Often the fish comes grilled and topped with foreign accoutrements—mango salsa, citrus slaw, and the like—and that, to me, is a fish taco phony—a lie,” he wrote.

So he asked readers to try a Baja fish taco and to herald their newfound appreciation to their friends. He asked readers demand fish tacos at their favorite restaurant and pleaded with restaurateurs to put the dish on their menus.

“Let’s make it happen, Chicago” Pang writes. “Who’s with me?”

To take the oath and get a silicon Fish Taco bracelet, readers are asked to proclaim the following:

“I, the undersigned, do hereby pledge allegiance to great fish tacos here and everywhere. I pledge to become a goodwill ambassador for fish tacos, spreading the word by telling friends about their wondrous qualities, and by patronizing restaurants that serve fish tacos. I pledge to demand — nicely — that any Mexican restaurant not serving fish tacos, do so. I pledge to visit said restaurant, in the event it adds fish tacos, and to revisit it, if the fish tacos are of above-adequate caliber.”

To keep track of the taco campaign, log on here.