Have you ever heard the podcast The Sporkful with Dan Pashman out of WNYC? He’s a wingnut, always covering the food angle from some wacked out unexpected place. So I was pretty stoked (as in fired up) when he asked if I’d like to have a conversation on one of our favorite SoCal staples, the burrito. Specifically addressing the question, “Is the Burrito a Wrap”?
I couldn’t believe we would even waste time addressing the subject. You know the Michael Pollan definition of food as something your grandmother would recognize? Well the word wrap didn’t exist when I was growing up. If you wanted tuna salad or a ham and cheese it was consumed in the form of a sandwich between two slices of bread where such fillings belong. Although the burrito’s external barrier is a tortilla it is not separated from the condiments inside; the tortilla is intrinsic to the whole. Of course the burrito is not a wrap. But I never imagined that I would end up being such a passionate advocate for that position. Listen to the debate.
When the Corn Maiden Tamales had a stand at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market in the early 90’s they had these wild ingredients (raisins with corn and salsa verde, port wine with pecans, etc) The lines were long. I invited a friend to try one. She adamantly refused saying, “At some point it ceases to be a tamale”
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