National Burrito Day is this week. It’s the first Thursday in April and in 2020 that makes it April 2nd.
It’s appropriate to discuss burritos during the current “safer at home” order since I’d argue the burrito is an almost perfect take out food. You can get it with almost anything in it, especially in California. You can hold it in one hand. If you forgo pouring salsa on before each bite you can eat it as you drive, as long as you are aware of the possibility of the flour tortilla at the bottom bursting and splashing onto your shirt and your seatbelt. That is known between my wife and I as a “burrito failure”, and it’s caused a trip back home before work for me at least once.
If your car is parked while you eat you can always rest the cup of hot salsa on the dashboard between bites. Especially if you drive a Prius. That car is all dashboard. The desk in my office is smaller.
There’s plenty of burrito history on Wikipedia’s burrito page; I won’t summarize it here. What I’d like to note is that my wife and I had burritos at several of the “…to’s” places in San Diego, which were all good, and also Santana, where we became devotees of the “California burrito”. Today this seems to be any burrito with French fries in it.
There is something especially good about a burrito with potatoes in it; I’ve had mashed potatoes on a breakfast burrito and it’s worth getting up for. Come to think of it, potatoes are good with a lot of things. This extends to sandwiches. For decades, Primanti’s in Pittsburgh has put coleslaw and French fries on sandwiches. It’s pretty rare that I get there, but I get sardine sandwiches that way. It’s awesome. I remember reading they did that for the long haul truckers who would buy a sandwich to eat while they drove. They apparently didn’t want to have to juggle fries and slaw. I approve. I think the truck drivers would be okay with burritos.
I’ve had an “Arizona burrito” in Tucson which was indistinguishable from a California burrito except for longitude. I don’t know if this phenomenon has happened elsewhere.
For all three of you who are reading this, try to have a burrito on Thursday while keeping responsibly socially distant.