The Humble Burrito

When Americans think about Mexican food, their conception is invariably the ubiquitous burrito that is the staple of a great number of Mexican restaurants. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a burrito is “A Mexican dish consisting of a maize-flour tortilla rolled round a savoury filling (of beef, chicken, refried beans, etc.).” The Americanized version of the burrito usually includes a more substantive filling that can include rice, beans, sour cream, guacamole, cheese, or salsa. The OED lists the first usage of the term “burrito” as coming from Erna Fergusson’s Mexican Cookbook from 1934.

The burrito has a much deeper and richer history than what the OED indicates. One of the most interesting sources of information about the evolution of the burrito is from Peter Fox’s quest to find the origin of the burrito, which he chronicled in a 1998 Washington Post article. Fox summarizes his findings in a telling metaphor: “The burrito’s evolution seemed like a cross-generational version of the children’s game of telephone, in which a message is passed through so many people that the message at the end is completely different from the original.” Fox’s journey started in San Francisco, which is widely considered the “burrito capital of the United States.” He continued to Los Angeles and eventually ended up in Tijuana and then Sonora, Mexico. He claims that burritos originated from simple tortillas filled with thinly-sliced dried beef that provided a portable meal for “those who had to live out in the wilderness for long periods––miners, ranchers, and cowboys.” Most sources agree that burritos started as simple meals or snacks designed for portability and durability.

The origins of the actual word “burrito” are equally fascinating as those of the food. “Burrito” is the Spanish word for a “little donkey.” In his article about burritos, Peter Fox theorizes that “The name ‘burrito’ probably comes from an old Spanish saying, ‘If I had a horse, I would go make my fortune, but I only have a little donkey.’” There are also many other ideas for where the term comes from. One explanation is that the appearance of a rolled-up tortilla somewhat resembles the ear of a donkey. Others think that burritos look like the bedrolls and packs that donkeys carried. Another theory is that burritos were first sold in the street using donkeys as transports. One idea that makes sense given the origins of the food as described above is that migrant workers who did not have time to return home for lunch would use tortillas as a way to carry their rice and beans to the fields with them, so the tortilla became the “little donkey” for their lunch. It seems impossible to ever know which explanation is correct, but the consensus seems to be that the word comes from the food’s resemblance to or substitution for a little donkey.

-By James Gische, Gabriella Termont, and Aurelia Heitz

Food Metaphors

Considering the importance of food to our daily lives, it is unsurprising that it also plays a significant role in they way we speak. There are many examples of food-based metaphors in modern language. For instance, Caitlin Hines discusses the implications of the women as desserts metaphor that forms a good chunk of gender slang. I have come up with a few of my own examples in which food is the source domain of a metaphor.

Food as Activity

Modern language, especially slang, has adopted various cooking methods to describe a range of activities. One of the most common is "fried," referring to an insulting remark or defeat in competition: "He just fried you in Halo!" "Roasted" is used in a similar fashion, meaning a mocking tribute or insult. For instance, Comedy Central, an American cable network, occasionally does a “Roast of” a celebrity or comedian. To take the theme even further, one can be "toasted" or "burned," meaning soundly defeated, as in, "The defense was completely burned on that touchdown." Another good example is "grill," which is used to refer to an intense interrogation: “The lawyer grilled the witness during the cross-examination.” “Cook” itself can be used to describe various activities, such as “cook the books,” “cook someone’s goose,” and “cook something up.”

Food as Shape

Many foods are used in our daily speech because they refer to a specific shape. The most common example is body shapes. A woman’s body can be referred to as a “banana,” “pear,” or “apple” depending on how her weight is distributed. Another common food shape is “pancake,” meaning to flatten or any flat object. For example, a “pancake block” in football is one in which the opponent is knocked to the ground. Caitlin Hines also investigates the use of food to describe shapes in her article about women as desserts when she discusses the use of various foods, such as melons or lemons, to describe breasts.

Food as Cliches and Idioms

Although there is not as much of a common theme in this category as in the last two, food cliches and idioms have become an important part of modern language. A common example from the business is “sell the sizzle, not the steak,” meaning that it can be more important to convince customers of the sensations a product would give them, rather than the actual product. Another oft-used example is “one man’s meat is another man’s poison.” Two very similar instances of food being used in cliches are the expressions “easy as pie” and a “piece of cake.” Another example, which usually causes more irritation than encouragement, is the old saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Another one in the same vein: “out of the frying pan and into the fire,” meaning to go from a bad situation to a worse one. One of my favorite euphemisms is the old saying, “too many cooks spoil the broth.”