What is a Burrito?
A: A burrito is a dish in Mexican cuisine.
What does it consist of?
A: A flour tortilla wrapped into a sealed cylindrical shape around various
ingredients.
The tortilla is sometimes lightly grilled or steamed to
what?
A: To soften it, make it more pliable, and allow it to adhere to itself.
Burritos are often eaten by hand, as their tight
wrapping does what?
A: It keeps the ingredients together.
Burritos can also be served "wet", i.e., covered in
what?
A: A savory and spicy sauce, when they would be eaten with a fork and knife.
Burritos are filled with savory ingredients, most often
what?
A: A meat such as beef, chicken, or pork, and often include other
ingredients, such as rice, cooked beans,
vegetables, such as
lettuce and
tomatoes, cheese, and condiments.
Burritos are often contrasted with similar dishes, such
as what?
A: Tacos, in which a small hand-sized tortilla is folded in half around the
ingredients.
The word burrito means "what" in Spanish?
A: Little donkey.
The name burrito, as applied to the dish, possibly
derives from what?
A: The tendency for burritos to contain a lot of different things similar to
how a donkey would be able to carry a large burden.
Before the development of the modern burrito, the Maya
civilization of Mexico used corn tortillas as early as 1500 B.C. to do what?
A: Wrap foods, with fillings of chili peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, squash,
and avocados
Historically, the Pueblo peoples of the Southwestern US
also made what?
A: Tortillas filled with beans and meat sauce and prepared much like the
modern burrito.
But these preparations could also be said to be the
origin of what?
A: The simpler taco, rather than the modern burrito.
In 1923, Alejandro Borquez opened the Sonora Cafe in
Los Angeles that later changed its name to what?
A: El Cholo Spanish Cafe.
When did burritos first appear on American restaurant
menus at the El Cholo Spanish Cafe in Los Angeles?
A: During the 1930s.
Burritos were mentioned in the U.S. media for the first
time in 1934, appearing in what?
A: The Mexican Cookbook, a collection of regional recipes from
New Mexico
that was written by historian Erna Fergusson.
In 1956, what was developed in Southern
California?
A: A frozen burrito
Authentic Mexican burritos are usually what?
A: Small and thin, with flour tortillas containing only one or two of
several ingredients.
The ingredients are usually some forms of what?
A: Meat or fish, potato, rice, beans, asadero cheese, chile rajas, or chile
relleno.
Although burritos are one of the most popular examples
of Mexican cuisine outside of Mexico, they are only popular in what part of
Mexico?
A: The northern part.
The origins of the Mission burrito or Mission-style
burrito can be traced back to where?
A: San Francisco, in the Mission District taquerías of the 1960s and 1970s.
This type of burrito is produced on a steam table
assembly line and is characterized by what?
A: A large stuffed flour tortilla wrapped in aluminum foil, and may include
fillings such as carne asada, Mexican-style rice, whole beans, sour cream
and onion.
Febronio Ontiveros claims to have offered the first
retail burrito in San Francisco in 1961 at what?
A: El Faro ("The
Lighthouse"), a corner grocery store on Folsom Street.
Ontiveros claims credit for inventing what?
A: The "super burrito", a style which may have led to the early development
of the "San Francisco style".
This innovative style involves the addition of what to
the standard burrito of meat, beans, and cheese?
A: Rice, sour cream and guacamole.
The Mission burrito emerged as a regional culinary
movement during what period?
A: The 1970s and 1980s.
