Burritos are a popular Tex-Mex food in the United States, with practically any combination of breakfast and dinner options available. Burritos can be ordered with a variety of meats, cheeses, veggies, and other fillings, as well as sauces or salsas. But have you ever wondered how this delicious food came to be? Who came up with the idea of a rolled tortilla packed with nutrients that you can eat by hand - and even as a quick supper on the go? It turns out that the burrito has an interesting backstory. Continue reading to learn about the burrito's origins, who (or what) inspired its name, and how it evolved into the modern-day delicacy that is so famous throughout the world.
The History
The burrito has been around for a very long time. Using corn tortillas to wrap foods was a prevalent technique among Mesoamerican cultures living in what is now known as Mexico as early as 10,000 B.C. Historians say that this was the forerunner of modern tortilla-based foods such as tacos and burritos.
The burrito first appears in the book "Diccionario de Mejicanismos" (Diccionario on Mexican Spanish) by Cuban writer Félix Ramos y Duarte in 1895. He said it was a rolled tortilla filled with meat or other ingredients. It's not clear, though, whether he meant a taco or a burrito. The burrito may not have been invented until the early twentieth century.
Origin Of The Name “Burrito”
But when we try to figure out where the burrito came from, things get a little confusing. A popular myth holds that the burrito was invented by a man named Juan Méndez, who sold tacos in Ciudad Juárez during the Mexican Revolution, between 1910 and 1920. Méndez, according to legend, rode around on a donkey and wrapped the food in enormous flour tortillas to keep it warm. The "donkey snack" became extremely popular, earning the inventive innovation of the moniker "burrito" ("small donkey" in Spanish).
Another popular version claims that the burrito was invented in the 1940s by an unknown street vendor in Ciudad Juárez to sell to disadvantaged youngsters at a local school. His children's endearing nickname was "burritos," slang for "slow" or "dimwitted," and this is how the cuisine received its moniker.
Another legend holds that the burrito originated in Sonora (a region in northwest Mexico) as a dish that was convenient to transport when travelling. Because donkeys were extensively used for transportation, the burrito was called after the trip companion. The most credible theory, according to Gustavo Arellano, author of "Taco: USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America," is that Sonora is the region of Mexico known for cultivating wheat, which is the key ingredient in flour tortillas.
The Evolving Nature Of The Burrito
The original Mexican burritos (which are still eaten in Mexico today) are small and thin. They are filled with fundamental items such as meat, seafood, cheese, beans, rice, and hot peppers - but never all at once, only one or two of these ingredients in a single burrito. Between the 1940s and 1960s, migrant workers from Mexico may have brought burritos to the United States. Americans rapidly fell in love with the flavourful food, and taquerias (restaurants) serving burritos began to crop up in Southern California in the following decades.
The advent of the burrito in the United States aided in its evolution into the large, juicy super-burrito we know today. The Mission-style burrito, often called the San Francisco burrito, was first offered in 1961 by El Faro, a grocery store in San Francisco's Mission District. Febronio Ontiveros, the owner of El Faro, claims to have invented the extra-large burrito, which included rice, guacamole, and sour cream in addition to the normal contents of meat, beans, and cheese. Naturally, the story of the burrito does not end there. Sixty years later, a dizzying array of burritos are available in restaurants and grocery shops all across the world. Amazing for a dish that began as a functional supper for travellers.
