🌯 Burritos: Filled with delicious promise

If you thought you loved burrito life, you’ve got nothing on Christopher Brandt, the new chief marketing officer of Chipotle, who recently [announced a lofty goal]( “Our ultimate marketing mission is to make Chipotle not just a food brand but a purpose-driven lifestyle brand.” Whether it’s birth control or meal-kits, companies are desperate for consumers to attach their identities to the products they buy. For Chipotle, that means almost literally wearing a burrito on your sleeve: “Chipotle will become a brand that people want to know about, want to be a part of and want to wear as a badge,” Brandt explained. Never mind that some of us have been touting our burrito love all along—there’s a lot rolled up in the beloved, unfussy, and truly global commestible. For foodies and brand marketers alike, there has always been more to a burrito than meets the eye. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Brought to you by [Quartz Obsession] Burritos August 15, 2018 That's a wrap --------------------------------------------------------------- If you thought you loved burrito life, you’ve got nothing on Christopher Brandt, the new chief marketing officer of Chipotle, who recently [announced a lofty goal]( “Our ultimate marketing mission is to make Chipotle not just a food brand but a purpose-driven lifestyle brand.” Whether it’s birth control or meal-kits, companies are desperate for consumers to attach their identities to the products they buy. For Chipotle, that means almost literally wearing a burrito on your sleeve: “Chipotle will become a brand that people want to know about, want to be a part of and want to wear as a badge,” Brandt explained. Never mind that some of us have been touting our burrito love all along—there’s a lot rolled up in the beloved, unfussy, and truly global commestible. For foodies and brand marketers alike, there has always been more to a burrito than meets the eye. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( AP Photo/Jae C. Hong By the digits [$9.8 billion:]( Taco Bell sales in 2018 [10%:]( Jump in Chipotle’s stock price when founder Steve Ells was replaced by Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol [2%:]( Increase in Chipotle same-store sales after adding queso to the menu [1,070:]( Calories in an average Chipotle order—more than half of what most adults are supposed to eat in a day, along with a full day’s quota of salt [22:]( Countries with a Taco Bell [3:]( Taco Bell locations in China [0:]( Taco Bell locations in Mexico [71%:]( Increase in Mexican restaurants in the UK, 2014-2015 [10 billion:]( Tortillas produced per year at the Dallas, Texas factory operated by Gruma, the world’s largest manufacturer [1,223%:]( Rise in Gruma’s stock price, 2011-2017 [60/40:]( Ratio of flour tortilla sales to corn tortilla sales in the US in 1993 [50/50:]( Ratio in 2015 Brief history A mystery wrapped in an enigma --------------------------------------------------------------- Like a lot of foodstuffs, the burrito’s origins are murky. But let’s start with its distinguishing feature: the big flour tortilla. Corn tortillas are a much more traditional Mexican ingredient, with origins that can be traced back tens of thousands of years. Wheat-growing in Mexico dates back only to the 1500s and 1600s, after the arrival of Europeans. Northern Mexico, where many European settlers put down roots, is still the only part of the country where the burrito is [a typical everyday food](. Beyond the corn/flour device, there is very little that’s certain about the burrito’s origin. Traditional burritos from Sonora, a likely homeland, are “[maybe 6 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter]( or “slightly larger than a [big spring roll]( [evolutionary step from the taco]( rather than the great leap to the modern forearm-sized creations found in the US. One theory holds that a man named Juan Mendez boosted the dish’s popularity by selling burritos (which literally translate to “little donkeys”) in Juárez, Chihuahua from a [mule-drawn cart during the Mexican revolution](. The first burrito cookbook recipe found by Gustavo Arellano—one of the best-informed writers on the subject—goes back to 1934, and describes [a simple tortilla stuffed with chicharrones]( (fried pork belly, more or less). Some say the name comes from [burritos’ resemblance to a donkey’s ears]( and to the [packs]( the animals carried. That implies burritos were the first food-truck meal, back when mobile eating meant getting your wares from literal horse-powered vehicles. Brought to you by JPMorgan Chase & Co. Want to better support working moms and dads? Learn from these ideas. --------------------------------------------------------------- From “returnships” for employees who’ve spent time away from work, to helping out with kids’ college tuition, today’s most forward-thinking companies are working to ease the challenges of parenthood.[Learn about other innovative ways companies are supporting parents.]( Giphy Quotable “A burrito is a sleeping bag for ground beef.” — [Mitch Hedberg]( Timeline [1895:]( The word “burrito” first appears in a Mexico-specific Spanish dictionary. [1920:]( Chimichangas (basically deep fried burritos) appear in Tucson, Arizona. Their origins are unclear, but one theory pegs the dish to [Sonora, Mexico in the 1900s]( possibly invented by Chinese immigrants in an early attempts at fusion cuisine [1934:]( The word burrito, meaning “little burro,” first appears in an English-language cookbook [1962:]( Taco Bell’s first location opens in Downey, California [1964:]( Mission Inn owner Duane Roberts invents the frozen burrito [1975:]( Santa Fe, New Mexico restaurant Tia Sophia claims to have created the first breakfast burrito [1993:]( Chipotle opens its first location in Denver [1995:]( San Francisco’s World Wrapps makes the jump from the burrito to the now-ubiquitous lunchtime food [2006:]( In a legal battle between Panera and Qdoba, a judge rules that a burrito is not a sandwich [2018:]( Taco Bell overtakes Burger King as the fourth-largest US fast-food chain Giphy Pop Quiz Which ingredient isn’t included in Adventure Time’s everything burrito? Seven almonds A frying panTwo eggsOne sandwich Correct. Barack Obama's favorite snack is not a good burrito ingredient, even for cartoons Incorrect. Nope, it’s in there If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Watch this! Watch astronaut Chris Hadfield make a burrito… in space. No gravity required! Advanced burrito history Fusion food: 🌯+🍟 --------------------------------------------------------------- The burrito is a mutt that has evolved quickly in its short lifespan. The flour tortilla is the result of the introduction of wheat by Europeans, as are many of its fillings, like [cheese, beef, and pork](. The American version emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, and got a boost from the [bracero migrant worker program]( of the 1940s through the 1960s,: It’s a cheap, easy-to-assemble worker’s lunch that travels well. But it wasn’t necessarily a favorite of Mexican immigrants. “Stories of Mexican students from the 1950s and 1960s suffering burrito humiliation fill the annals of Chicano literature,” [writes]( Gustavo Arellano in Taco USA. But Americans loved them, and they continued to evolve. The Mission-style burrito, which made Chipotle one of the biggest restaurants in the world, is named after the Mission district in San Francisco, where it emerged from a grocery store called El Faro in 1961. [As the story goes]( local firemen came in to the new store wanting sandwiches, which the new store didn’t have, but owner Febronio Ontiveros lured them back with super-burritos made from three smaller tortillas. The Golden State also birthed another variation, known simply as the “California” burrito, probably arising in the 1980s from Roberto’s Taco Shop. The California twist is that the starch, instead of rice, is… [french fries](. Yum? Charted[atlas_ByCOFByUm@2x] Reuters/Danny Moloshok Food fight What’s the best burrito in America? --------------------------------------------------------------- Obviously you’re not going to get a unanimous answer, but attempts to find one have generated some good options. 🌯Before he was world-famous, statistical scribe Nate Silver created a [burrito bracket](. After founding FiveThirtyEight, he re-ran the project [nationwide]( using both big data and individual expertise. The winner was [La Taqueria in the Mission district]( which also happened to be the winner predicted by Gustavo Arellano and David Chang. 🌯The Los Angeles Times, the paper of record in the city where burritos first made it big, made a list of the [50 best in the country]( including #15 in Champaign, Illinois. And the winner is… La Taqueria, again. 🌯Who will stand up for LA? Its greatest food writer, the recently departed Jonathan Gold, dismissed “those San Francisco places that wrap vast expanses of dry rice and indifferently grilled chicken into what amount to oversteamed pillowcases.” He picked his [top five]( local destinations for the Los Angeles Times in 2015. 🌯While not his favorite per se, Arellano sticks up for the Del Taco half-pound bean-and-cheese burrito. “Eating this burrito is consuming living, breathing history, because the first burritos to capture the fancy of Southern California (the burrito capital of America) were these,” [he writes](. “Del Taco has not fundamentally changed its recipe in its 50+ years, because why bother with perfection?” Fun fact! In 1999 Dilbert creator Scott Adams launched a vegan microwave burrito called “the Dilberito.” The New York Times [wrote]( that it “could have been designed only by a food technologist or by someone who eats lunch without much thought to taste.” Giphy DIY So you want to make a burrito? --------------------------------------------------------------- Dos Toros founder and co-owner Leo Kremer [breaks down the burrito-building process]( for First We Feast. Bottom line: It’s hard to make a burrito for one, so why not make it a burrito party? This one weird trick! Lifehacker suggests using a [warm, moist tortilla]( to ensure your burrito doesn’t crack under the pressure as you roll it up. AP Photo/Larry Crowe Poll But really, is a burrito a sandwich? [Click here to vote]( Yes!No!Wait, what? 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