On the Origin of Burittos

Photo by yummiec00kies via Flickr.

I recently got the opportunity to have dinner at an excellent Indian restaurant, courtesy of a friends parents (who happened to be Indian themselves). At some point during the dinner I asked how so much of Indian cuisine ends up spicy, and was told that it came from peppers. I thought this was interesting, since peppers are New World plants, so they've only been available to Indian cooks for a few hundred years. The same is true for tomatoes in Italy, or potatoes in Ireland. These delightful plants arrived in the various cuisines of Europe, Asia and Africa via the "Columbian Exchange".

But this exchange was a two-way street, with cooks in the Americas receiving a boatload of new animals, fruits and vegetables for their tables. So it got me wondering, how much of my favorite cuisine, MEXICAN, bears the stamp of the "Old World"?

Chipotle is probably my favorite restaurant ever. Nothing can compare to the satisfaction of finishing a perfectly wrapped burrito from this clean, fresh-focused establishment. So I decided to hop on Wikipedia and see how many ingredients from my normal order can trace their origins back to the Americas. Here's the breakdown:

From Wikimedia Commons

Tortilla: NOPE. Made from wheat flour. First known cultivation of wheat can be traced back to Turkey in the 9th millenium BC.

Chicken: NOPE. The chicken was first domesticated in South East Asia over 10,000 years ago. The cow and the pig also have Eurasian origins, so no matter what mean you get at Chipotle, you're eating an Old World animal.

Black beans: YES! Both black and pinto beans are varieties of the "common bean" which has been cultivated in the Americas for 6,000 years. It was one of the "Three Sisters" that made up the bulk of agricultural practices in North America, along with squash and maize.

Cilantro-Lime Rice: NOPE. Rice was first domesticated in the Yangtze River Valley 8-10,000 years ago. Both cilantro and lime are also Old World imports.

Tomatillo-Red Chili Salsa: YES! The tomato family is native to South America and was cultivated in ancient Mesoamerica. And chili peppers have been eaten in the Americas since 7500 BC. There might, however, be a few Eurasian/Afircan spices in there that I don't know about.

Cheese: NOPE. The origin of cheese is a bit of a mystery, but it was certainly of Eurasian invention. This particular cheese, a cheddar, comes from cows, domesticated from the wild Eurasian auroch several times in the past 8-10,000 years. Interestingly, the enzyme they use to turn the milk into cheese (rennet) is listed as vegetable-based.

Guacamole: YES! At least, mostly. The bulk of this green gift from God is made from avacado, a plant originating in Mexico which has been consumed for at least 12,000 years. The other ingredients are mostly Old World: onions, cilantro, citrus juice (probably lime or lemon). But the jalapeno peppers are definitely American.

Romaine lettuce: NOPE. Come on, it's right there in the name. Actually, this plant predates Rome as a member of human cuisine: the first depictions of the plant appear on the walls of Egyptian temples, and recent research suggests a Middle Eastern origin.


So there you have it. Beans, Salsa, and Guacamole could have theoretically been cooked up in Mexico prior to the 16th century, but everything else first reached the America via boat. For me, this makes me feel very lucky. Next time you eat a delicious burrito at your favorite Mexican joint, think about all the thousands of years of domestication, artificial selection, trans-oceanic travel and culinary experimentation that brought together that perfect medley of international ingredients.