The Burrito and Chimichanga: Cultural Dilution and Transformation of Immigrant Food.
Well, following the subject of immigrant food, let me just state that there is a very strong difference between the food of the immigrant and the food of their native countries.
Depending on the social conditions of the immigrants, then different levels of fidelity in their cuisine will be achieved on their new host country. Issues like availability of ingredients, how united or complete the family unit is and social influences from the host country can affect the quality of the food. In such a way, one must clarify between Italian food and Italian-American food, between Mexican Food and Mexican American food, and so on.
In the case of the United States, several cuisines like Italian and Chinese, became more commonplace at the turn of the 19th. C. and benefited from the presence of more complete family units. If an Italian family for example migrated with the grand mother, the aunt, and the daughters, for example, it was more likely that authentic recipes and cooking techniques were followed. If on the other hand the migrants were male seasonal labourers, like in the case of many Mexican migrants, then without a cohesive family unit, what was imported into the United States was "bachelor food" so to speak, just the most rudimentary form of the cuisine, especially given the case that in Mexican cuisine, women generally were in charge of food preparation.
Such "bachelor food" then was more vulnerable to bastardisation given the list of local ingredients and outward influences. Mexican food did enjoy a good native background from the period when the American Southwest territories were part of Mexico, but the population density was rather low prior to 1840, and when the United States expanded westward, the native Mexican population was displaced ethnically and culturally so even the tenuous Mexican culture present was substituted by that of other migrants from the East coast or European countries, like the German and Czech immigrants in Central Texas. This meant that in the late 19th. C. the Mexican culture weakened in the Southwestern United States, and rebounded slowly throughout the 20th. Century, helped along only by the "Atomic Age" fast food culture of the Post WWII period. This had a great influence on the worldwide concept of Mexican food, because the United States had the money to push fast food on a global scale, and basically exported the stereotypical Mexican cuisine you are likely to find outside of Mexico today.
Often the food will be fundamentally transformed and re-invented in the host country. Such is the case of the
Burrito, and it's Deep-Fried cousin, the
Chimichanga.
The Burrito, legend has it was a larger variation on the Mexican
Taco, basically a larger than normal wheat flour tortilla that was used as a "wrap" to fold in generic ingredients that were not necessarily Mexican.
The idea is attributed to a street vendor from Ciudad Juarez, who would cross the
Rio Grande illegally across the border, quite literally by crossing the river, to the city of El Paso in Texas, sometime in the mid 20th. C. Legend has it that he was selling several generic non-Mexican foods and that he needed a practical way to bundle up individual portions, so he could carry a large tray of food on his head (this is legend folks). The result was the oversize taco that is now known as Burrito.
As time went by, the ingredients became even more non-Mexican, including Asian foods and even chicken strips with Caesar salad toward the end of the 20th. C. Such items are now distinguished in the US by calling them
Wraps.
Now if you take a Burrito or Wrap and fold it so as to close it from all sides, and then deep fry the bundle, that is called a
Chimichanga. Strictly non-Mexican, and while it is hotly debated who invented the concept of the word, all agree that it is 100% American. A good indicator at least that the name is not Mexican, is that it sounds way too close to a Mexican curse word, that should not uttered in polite company. The consensus is that the Chimichanga dates back to the 1950's in the State of Arizona, but others trace it to California.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChimichangaA
Chimichanga with rice.
