The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
My mother first came to the United States from Mexico at the age of seventeen. She'd never had—or even heard of—a burrito in her life. I've been to her hometown of Miguel Auza in the Mexican state of Zacatecas twice. I can verify that there are no burritos there. My abuelita thinks they're absurdly named, and has taken to calling them burrototas. But everyone in my family eats them. They're one of our favorite foods.
And so it was with great pleasure that I savored Gustavo Arellano's thesis in his article in the June edition of Reason, "Taco USA: How Mexican food became more American than apple pie."
Arellano, a Southern Californian, found himself in South Dakota visiting a university there. Longing for a taste of home, he stopped into Taco John's and walked away with something called a Potato Olé burrito.
There is nothing remotely Mexican about Potato Olés—not even the quasi-Spanish name, which has a distinctly Castilian accent. The burrito was more insulting to me and my heritage than casting Charlton Heston as the swarthy Mexican hero in Touch of Evil. But it was intriguing enough to take back to my hotel room for a taste. There, as I experienced all of the concoction’s gooey, filling glory while chilly rain fell outside, it struck me: Mexican food has become a better culinary metaphor for America than the melting pot.
Back home, my friends did not believe that a tater tot burrito could exist. When I showed them proof online, out came jeremiads about inauthenticity, about how I was a traitor for patronizing a Mexican chain that got its start in Wyoming, about how the avaricious gabachos had once again usurped our holy cuisine and corrupted it to fit their crude palates.
In defending that tortilla-swaddled abomination, I unknowingly joined a long, proud lineage of food heretics and lawbreakers who have been developing, adapting, and popularizing Mexican food in El Norte since before the Civil War. Tortillas and tamales have long left behind the moorings of immigrant culture and fully infiltrated every level of the American food pyramid, from state dinners at the White House to your local 7-Eleven. Decades’ worth of attempted restrictions by governments, academics, and other self-appointed custodians of purity have only made the strain stronger and more resilient. The result is a market-driven mongrel cuisine every bit as delicious and all-American as the German classics we appropriated from Frankfurt and Hamburg.
It's a fun read. And that picture? Member Humza Ahmad, the biggest burrito aficionado I've ever known, snapped that at a mini-meetup in San Francisco last year.
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Comments:
Oct '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
Oddly enough, have spoken to a number of locals here that had spent a few years in the States, Wanna know what they miss ? Taco Bell !
Ghastly stuff. To be blunt, the contents of that burrito look like the inside of a garbage can. Likely better than Menudo though.
Sep '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
I gave a Latino friend a good laugh a few years ago when I told him about how my family used to eat canned tamales. He had never seen such a thing.
Dec '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
Where's the Tex-Mex love?
Aug '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
I saw the article at the Best site to start the day with : aldaily.comBut I had to comment at the lack of assimilation for menudo.'¡ Que lastima !
Aug '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
I dunno, after spending a week in Mexico once, I had eaten so many tortillas that I wondered why they had never figured out yeast. Tortillas may be practical as a way of holding together a burrito, but they don't hold a candle to a good bread.
And I never really got refried beans, either. Here in L.A., I eat breakfast burritos three times a week, but they make them with black beans, which I'm told are also completely alien to Mexico.
The best thing about Mexican food, however, is one thing: cilantro. Plant some on my grave, and I'll be happy evermore.
Oct '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
In the States, Tacos might be some mainstay, here it seems to be Pastes.
Introduced by Cornish miners back in the day, a baked foldover pastry that holds about anything. Very simple fare and durable.
Oct '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
Mestiza?
Feb '11
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
wilber forge:
Ghastly stuff. To be blunt, the contents of that burrito look like the inside of a garbage can. Likely better than Menudo though. · 1 hour ago
Menudo is awesome. I know no one ever wants to think about where the "meat" comes from but when its well made its heavenly, particularly to those nursing a hangover. Add some fresh squeezed lemon or lime and enjoy with some hot corn tortillas, yum.
Aug '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
Yellow cheese in Mexican food is a crime against nature. However I have had a burrito in Mexico. (It was 1997 at a small roadside place in Durango and the filling was chile colorado). There's a lot of regional variation in Mexican food including that flour tortillas (and by extension, burritos) are more popular in the North so it makes sense that folks from further South wouldn't recognize it.
Oct '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
sorry, but the photo looks like Shawarma!
Oct '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
Rosie
wilber forge:
Ghastly stuff. To be blunt, the contents of that burrito look like the inside of a garbage can. Likely better than Menudo though. · 1 hour ago
Menudo is awesome. I know no one ever wants to think about where the "meat" comes from but when its well made its heavenly, particularly to those nursing a hangover. Add some fresh squeezed lemon or lime and enjoy with some hot corn tortillas, yum. · 19 minutes ago
By some quirk of Nature one has not been subject to hangovers. Strange but true, regardless of consumption. Still consider Menudo to be a Witches brew, eye of Newt and all that. Respectfully.
May '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
Why should Mexican food have been treated any better than Italian. Order a pizza in much of Italy and it won't bear much resemblance to Round Table or Dominoes.
May '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
On one occasion when I was feeling adventuresome we went into a hole-in-the-wall little Mexican restaurant about lunch time on Sunday. I ordered Menudo (which I had never had) but, despite my assurances, the waitress refused to sell a Gringo Menudo.
Dec '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
Years ago, when I lived in Houston, there was a Mexican restaurant not far from my place that had a sign: We will give you sour cream if you ask, but the chef will cry.
Aug '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
I love this topic.
It totally makes me think about how shawarma and poutine have become staples of anglo-Canadian fast food.
Imagine, white bread WASPs digging in to a Levantine Arab garlic chicken sandwich with Quebecois fries, cheese, and gravy on the side.
Authentic? Heck no.
Delicious? Hells yes!
Aug '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
There are chinese restaurants near my apartment where (or so I've been told) the english menus and the chinese menus are completely different.
Jul '10
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
For the record, that burrito was from El Castillo near Civic Center. The order was chicken, cheese, black beans, rice, onions, and guacamole. I generously added hot sauce myself, as you can see. However, the best burrito I've ever had in my life was at Papalote in Mission. Fair warning: my two friends both got sick after eating it. Price of perfection, I suppose.
Interesting Humza's-burrito-obsession factoid: Before my November 2011 trip to SF, the best burrito I had ever tasted was in Seoul at Taco Chili Chili. Many disagree, but really, it was heavenly. Also, the best burrito in Tokyo can be had at Frijoles. Though Frijoles burritos resemble what you'd find at Chipotle in the US, they are the best dry burritos in T-town. As for wet burritos and chimichangas (if you MUST use a fork and knife) in Tokyo, check out JunkAdelic.
Edited on May 17, 2012 at 4:03pmApr '11
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
Burritos are the best food on earth and when they are deep fried they become, like all food, even better. In fact one of the reasons I could never really live outside the US is the fact that I could not get Burritos. Have you tried finding a Mexican restaurant in Europe? I spent 4 months looking for one in Newcastle.... I eventually gave up and decided I would make my own Mexican food. It took me 4 hours to find refired beans, and I could not find jalapenos.
Viva Buritos!
Jan '11
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
In San Diego try the carne asada burritos from any vendor who's store's name ends in ...burtos is fabulous. Albertos, Filburtos, etc. You cannot get that taste in carne asada anywhere else. Not in LA, or El Centro even.
Feb '11
Re: The Burrito: Quintessential American Food
I've always thought of burritos as variations on empanadas. You throw the kitchen sink into empanadas as well. And invention of ethnic food is hardly restricted to Mexican food. Examples I can think of off the top of my head are egg fu yung, egg rolls, and pizza.