Burrito: Is it a Wrap?

from the podcast The Sporkful

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.