Burritos burrito bowl often contrasted with other, similar, dishes such as tacos, in which a small hand-sized tortilla is folded in half around the ingredients rather than wrapped and sealed, or with enchiladas, which use corn masa tortillas, and are covered in a savory sauce, to be eaten with a fork and knife. The word burrito means “little donkey” in Spanish, being the diminutive form of burro, or “donkey”. The name burrito, as applied to the dish, possibly derives from the tendency for burritos to contain a lot of different things similar to how a donkey would be able to carry a lot.
Before the development of the modern burrito, the Maya civilization of Mexico used corn tortillas as early as 1500 B. The precise origin of the modern burrito is not known. Another creation story tells of Ciudad Juárez in the 1940s, where a street food vendor created the tortilla-wrapped food to sell to poor children at a state-run middle school. The vendor would call the children his “burritos”, because burro is a colloquial term for a dunce or dullard. Eventually, the somewhat derogatory, but endearing, term for the children was transferred to the food that they ate. In 1923, Alejandro Borquez opened the Sonora Cafe in Los Angeles that later changed its name to El Cholo Spanish Cafe.
Burritos first appeared on American restaurant menus at the El Cholo Spanish Cafe in Los Angeles during the 1930s. Although burritos are one of the most popular examples of Mexican cuisine outside of Mexico, they are only popular in the northern part of Mexico. However, they are beginning to appear in some nontraditional venues in other parts of Mexico. A variation of the burrito found in the Mexican state of Sonora is known as the burro percherón. The origins of the Mission burrito or Mission-style burrito can be traced back to San Francisco, in the Mission District taquerías of the 1960s and 1970s. Ontiveros claims credit for inventing the “super burrito”, a style which may have led to the early development of the “San Francisco style”. San Diego-style burritos include “California burritos” and carne asada burritos.
The style has been described by food writers as an “austere meal of meat, cheese and salsa”, a contrast to the Mission-style burrito, which is typically larger and always contains more ingredients. In the early 1960s, Roberto Robledo opened a tortilleria in San Diego and learned the restaurant business. La Lomita in the late 1960s, and by 1970, he had established the first Roberto’s Taco Shop. The California burrito originated at an unknown -berto’s named restaurant in San Diego in the 1980s. The earliest-known published mention was in a 1995 article in the Albuquerque Tribune. The carne asada burrito is considered one of the regional foods of San Diego.
A photograph of a hand holding a chile relleno burrito wrapped in yellow paper in front of a brown metal picnic table. A photograph of a hand holding a chile relleno burrito wrapped in yellow paper from Al and Bea’s in the Boyle Heights neighborhood in Los Angeles. Los Angeles also has several unique local burrito varieties. In addition to the version described, Los Angeles is also home to three burrito styles that can be said to fall under the category of Mexican fusion cuisine. The existence of such a large truly Mexican community in Los Angeles also makes it possible to find a variety of authentic burrito dishes from different regions of Mexico: from Oaxaca to Hidalgo.
A wet burrito is covered with a red chili sauce similar to a red enchilada sauce, with melted shredded cheese on top. A burrito bowl is not technically a burrito despite its name, as it consists of burrito fillings served without the tortilla. The fillings are placed in a bowl, and a layer of rice is put at the bottom. In 2017, a Meal, Ready-to-Eat version of a burrito bowl was introduced. A breakfast burrito, a take on the American breakfast, is composed of breakfast items, particularly scrambled eggs, wrapped in a flour tortilla. A taco is similar to a burrito, but is served open rather than closed, is generally smaller, and is often made with corn flour rather than wheat.
The taco editor of Texas Monthly argues that burritos are a type of taco. Taco Bell research chef Anne Albertine experimented with grilling burritos to enhance portability. This grilling technique allowed large burritos to remain sealed without spilling their contents. Bean burritos, which are high in protein and low in saturated fat, have been touted for their health benefits. Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico. Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food. Tejano South Texas: A Mexican American Cultural Province.