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The history of…drumroll please…burritos! Did you know that food historians can’t agree on its exact birthplace? The idea of a burrito is deeply Mexican and based on the traditional taco. Tacos are a longtime staple all over Mexico, and different groups enjoyed them in different ways. The Aztecs, for example, wrapped everything from chile sauce to tomatoes, turkey, eggs, honey, mushrooms, squash and avocados. Their tortillas were made of corn, or of squash and amaranth grain. The one thing that their tortillas were not made of was wheat flour. Wheat isn’t a traditional crop in Mexico. But a burrito isn’t, technically speaking, a burrito without a wheat-flour tortilla (the wheat-flour wrapping is what differentiates a burrito from a taco). So if the wheat tortilla isn’t part of traditional Mexican cuisine, what, then, is the burrito? Photo by Erik Jacobs for The Daily

The history of…drumroll please…burritos! Did you know that food historians can’t agree on its exact birthplace?

The idea of a burrito is deeply Mexican and based on the traditional taco. Tacos are a longtime staple all over Mexico, and different groups enjoyed them in different ways. The Aztecs, for example, wrapped everything from chile sauce to tomatoes, turkey, eggs, honey, mushrooms, squash and avocados. Their tortillas were made of corn, or of squash and amaranth grain.

The one thing that their tortillas were not made of was wheat flour. Wheat isn’t a traditional crop in Mexico. But a burrito isn’t, technically speaking, a burrito without a wheat-flour tortilla (the wheat-flour wrapping is what differentiates a burrito from a taco). So if the wheat tortilla isn’t part of traditional Mexican cuisine, what, then, is the burrito?

Photo by Erik Jacobs for The Daily

50 Notes

  1. bomblookingfood reblogged this from thedailyfeed
  2. cherylynntsushima reblogged this from thedailyfeed and added:
    ALL OF THE BURRITOS. ALL OF THE TIME.
  3. clayman reblogged this from thedailyfeed
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    “Don’t get between a Bay Area native and a Southern Californian when they’re arguing which half of the state produces...
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  11. kuwaitigenius reblogged this from thedailyfeed and added:
    The idea of a burrito is deeply Mexican and based on the traditional taco. Tacos are a longtime staple all over Mexico,...
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  13. msarp reblogged this from thedailyfeed
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  15. rosenhosen reblogged this from thedailyfeed and added:
    Praise Rang, for thou gavest us burrits.
  16. caille reblogged this from thedailyfeed and added:
    I’ve been doing some fun alternative American...writing for the Daily. Please read them!...
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  20. ucsdhealthsciences said: San Diegans will throw down over which taco shop makes the best burrito and I think the California Burrito (a burrito filled with carne asada, guacamole, FRENCH FRIES, and salsa) was born here. Border food for the win!
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