Introduction: What’s So Cosmic About a Burrito?
1 Sandra Magnus’s Journal, “Food and Cooking in Space.” Online at nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition18/journal_sandra_magnus_6_prt.htm.
Chapter One: You Mean Mexico Gave the World More Than Just Tacos?
1 Bartolomé de las Casas, Historia de las Indias (1561).
2 Bernal Díaz de Castillo, Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España (1575).
3 Manuel Orozco y Berra, Historia Antigua y de la Conquista de Mexico, Cuarta Parte: La Conquista (1880).
4 Castillo, Historia Verdadera.
5 Ibid.
6 Miguel León-Portilla, ed., The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico (1960).
7 As documented in Pilcher, Jeffrey, M., ¡Que vivan los tamales!: Food and the Making of Mexican Identity (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998).
8 About Vanilla (Boston: Joseph Burnett Company, 1900).
9 International Cocoa Organization figures (2011).
Chapter Two: Whatever Happened to the Chili Queens and Tamale Kings?
1 Edward King, “Glimpses of Texas,” Scribner’s Monthly (1874).
2 Stephen Gould, Alamo City Guide (1882).
3 Lee C. Harby, “Texas: Types and Contrasts,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine (June–November 1890).
4 Favorite dishes: A Columbian autograph souvenir cookery book. Over three hundred autograph recipes, and twenty-three portraits, contributed by the Board of lady managers of the World’s Columbian exposition (1893).
5 Frank H. Bushick, “The Chile Queens of San Antonio,” Frontier Times (July 1927).
6 See Washington Post (December 21, 1881).
7 “Detailed List of the Exhibits from the United States,” Universal Exposition Paris, vol. 5 (1889).
8 Mary E. Green, M.D., Food Products of the World (1895).
9 Charles Ramsdell, San Antonio: A Historical and Pictorial Guide (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1959).
10 As quoted in Benjamin Botkin, ed., Sidewalks of America: Folklore, Legends, Sagas, Traditions, Customs, Songs, Stories, and Sayings of City Folk (Indianapolis: Bobs Merrill, 1954).
11 Sigmund Krausz, Street Types of Chicago (1891).
12 Sigmund Krausz, Street Types of Great American Cities (1896).
13 See Sunday World-Herald Omaha (May 12, 1895); Atlantic Monthly (1898).
14 “A Tamale Tragedy,” Boston Journal (May 31, 1895). The story actually deals with someone who ate too many tamales too fast.
15 Epicure (September 1901).
16 Brooklyn Eagle (September 4, 1894).
17 Mary E. Blain, Games for All Occasions (1909).
18 St. Louis Republic (March 9, 1900).
19 Brooklyn Eagle (February 18, 1913).
20 “Wienerwurst Man Has Regular Customers,” Syracuse Journal (October 6, 1904).
21 See “A Contribution Towards a Vocabulary of Spanish and Mexican Words Used in Texas,” Dialect Notes (American Dialect Society, 1896).
22 “The Lakeside City,” San Francisco Chronicle (February 14, 1892).
23 Ibid.
24 “By the Lakeside,” San Francisco Chronicle (April 3, 1892).
25 “By the Lakeside,” San Francisco Chronicle (July 24, 1892).
26 New York Herald (November 5, 1893).
27 As quoted in the Ventura Democrat in the Los Angeles Times (December 14, 1895).
28 “Under the Dome,” San Francisco Chronicle (October 27, 1893).
29 “Swinging into Line,” San Francisco Chronicle (October 27, 1893).
30 Ninetta Eames, “The Wild and Wooly at the Fair,” Overland Monthly (April 1894).
31 “Market Curiosities,” Good Housekeeping (January 1894).
32 “Hot Tamales Return with the Corn,” Chicago Daily Tribune (August 31, 1896).
33 “Report of the Immigration Commission: Immigrants in Industries (in Twenty-five Parts), Part 25: Japanese and Other Immigrant Races in the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain States.” United States Immigration Commission, 1911.
34 “Hot Tamales Street Sale Is Barred by Police,” San Francisco Examiner (July 21, 1917).
35 “Rediscovering San Francisco,” San Francisco Examiner (February 28, 1925).
36 “Evolution of the Chicken Tamale,” San Francisco Examiner (July 14, 1895).
37 E. W. Cahill, “Builders of Business,” Magazine of Business (January 1920).
38 See Honolulu Independent (June 7, 1899).
39 Catalogue of exhibitors in the United States sections of the International Universal Exposition, Paris, 1900.
40 “A California Industry Honored at Paris,” San Francisco Call (September 23, 1900).
41 Canning Age (June 1922).
42 “Label Collecting Work Is Growing,” Daily Call (April 21, 1913).
43 Cahill, “Builders of Business.”
44 Frank Morton Todd, The Story of the Exposition; Being the Official History of the International Celebration Held at San Francisco in 1915 to Commemorate the Discovery of the Pacific Ocean and the Construction of the Panama Canal (1921).
45 “Demonstration of Table Delicacies at Anthony Horderns,” Sydney Morning Herald (April 30, 1918).
46 “What Has Become of the ‘Tamale Man’?” Official Year Book and State Labor Manual of the California State Federation of Labor (1916).
Chapter Three: How Did the Taco Become Popular Before Mexicans Flooded the United States?
1 The earliest recipe for tacos I could find was in Recetas Practicas para la Señora de Casa (Practical Recipes for the Woman of the House), an 1893 collection of recipes drawn from women who were raising funds for a hospital in the city of Guadalajara—but they used the term taquitos to describe how to shape a dessert.
2 Olive Percival, “An Idler’s Note-Book,” Los Angeles Times (1899).
3 Los Angeles Herald (August 28, 1880).
4 “Peripatetic Restaurants,” Los Angeles Times (December 30, 1901).
5 “Hot Tamale Men,” Los Angeles Times (December 20, 1901).
6 “Tamale Politicians to Petition Council,” Los Angeles Times (February 9, 1903).
7 “Lunch Wagons Go,” Los Angeles Times (February 25, 1924).
8 Raul Rodriguez, “Do You Know That…,” Los Angeles Times (May 17, 1931).
9 “News of Food,” New York Times (May 3, 1952).
10 This and all subsequent Bell quotes are taken from Debra Lee Baldwin, Taco Titan: The Glen Bell Story (Sarasota, Fla.: Bookworld Services, 1999).
11 Justin Gooderl Longenecker and Maria Estela Tena Loeza, Small Business Management (2010).
Chapter Four: Who Were the Enchilada Millionaires, and How Did They Change Mexican Food?
1 “Spanish Dinner,” Los Angeles Times (January 27, 1887).
2 “The Social World,” Los Angeles Times (May 12, 1889).
3 “An Appetite for Success: Ramon Gallardo Shows Off His Restaurant Savvy with Ramón’s Jalapeño,” St. Louis Commerce (September 1993).
4 Ibid.
5 John Greenwald, Sheila Gribben, and Janice C. Simpson, “The Enchilada Millionaires,” Time (November 29, 1982).
Chapter Five: How Did Americans Become Experts at Writing Cookbooks on Mexican Food?
1 Jonathan Gold, “What Is a Burrito? A Primer,” LA Weekly (October 22, 2009).
2 “Letter to the Chillicothe Leader, Nov. 25, 1884” (reprinted in Charles Fletcher Lummis, Letters from the Southwest, James W. Byrkit, ed.) (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1989).
3 Ibid.
4 Charles Fletcher Lummis, ed., The Landmarks Club Cook Book (1903).
5 Corinne King, “Spanish Dainties,” Los Angeles Times (1898).
6 “Seventy Recipes for the Spanish Dishes,” Los Angeles Times (May 22, 1902).
7 “Progress at the Times School of Domestic Science,” Los Angeles Times (April 22, 1913).
8 Bertha Haffner-Ginger, California Mexican-Spanish Cook Book (1914).
9 “New Cooking Classes to Open Today,” Los Angeles Times (September 7, 1932).
10 Elena Zelayeta, Elena (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1960).
11 Elena Zelayeta, Elena’s Favorite Foods, California Style (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1967).
12 Norman Vincent Peale, The Amazing Results of Positive Thinking (1959).
13 Craig Claiborne, A Feast Made for Laughter: A Memoir with Recipes (New York: Holt, 1983).
14 Craig Claiborne, “Cooking Classes Should Please Armchair Travelers,” New York Times (September 8, 1970).
15 Diana Kennedy, The Cuisines of Mexico (New York: Harper & Row, 1972).
16 Alison Cook, “La Reina Diana,” Texas Monthly (June 1985).
17 JeanMarie Brownson, “Mexican-Food Enthusiasts Put the Accent on Authenticity,” Chicago Tribune (April 2, 1987).
18 Ruth Reichl, “First Impressions,” Los Angeles Times (April 5, 1985).
Chapter Six: Whatever Happened to Southwestern Cuisine?
1 Marc Simmons, New Mexico: An Interpretive History (Santa Fe: University of New Mexico Press, 1988).
2 George Peter Hammond and Agapito Rey, Narratives of the Coronado Expedition, 1540–1542, vol. 2 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1940).
3 James Harvey Simpson, Journal of a Military Reconnaissance from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the Navajo Country (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, & Company, 1852).
4 Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Land of Poco Tiempo (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1897).
5 Pearl Cherry Miller, Mexican Cookery: A Thesis (Las Cruces: New Mexico State University Press, 1904).
6 Chris Wilson, The Myth of Santa Fe: Creating a Modern Regional Tradition (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1997).
7 Ibid.
8 Antonio Goubaud Carrera, “Food Patterns and Nutrition in Two Spanish-American Communities” (1943).
9 George I. Sanchez, The Forgotten People: A Study of New Mexicans (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996).
10 Cleofas Martinez Jaramillo, Romance of a Little Village Girl (San Antonio, Tex.: Naylor, 1955).
11 Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert, Historic Cookery (Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith, 1997).
12 Ibid.
13 Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert, We Fed Them Cactus (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1954).
14 See Victoria E. Dye, All Aboard for Santa Fe: Railway Promotion of the Southwest, 1890s to 1930s (Santa Fe: University of New Mexico Press, 2005).
15 Barbara Hansen, “Timeless and Trendy,” Los Angeles Times (December 1, 1983).
16 Ibid.
17 Craig Claiborne, “French Style Enlivening Native Foods of Southwest,” New York Times (January 9, 1985).
18 Barbara Hansen, “‘ … But We All Agree It Tastes Good,’” Los Angeles Times (April 18, 1985).
Chapter Seven: Is Tex-Mex Food Doomed?
1 From David J. Weber, ed., Personal Memoirs of John N. Seguín, From the Year 1834 to the Retreat of General Wall from the City of San Antonio, as published in Foreigners in Their Native Land: Historical Roots of the Mexican Americans (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973).
2 Diana Kennedy, The Cuisines of Mexico (New York: Harper & Row, 1972).
3 Patricia Sharpe, “Let’s Have Mex-Tex,” Texas Monthly (December 2010).
4 New York Daily Tribune (December 13, 1886).
5 “At a Mexican Breakfast,” New York Sun (December 19, 1886).
6 Ibid.
7 John G. Bourke, “The Folk-Foods of the Rio Grande Valley and of Northern Mexico,” Journal of American Folklore (July–September 1894).
8 Ibid.
9 Brenham Weekly Banner (November 22, 1878).
10 Shiner Gazette (November 21, 1907).
11 Rotarian (June 1922).
12 “Mexican Fajitas Spicing Up Menus Across the Country,” Nation’s Restaurant News (March 25, 1985).
13 Anne Linsey Greer and Michael Bauer, “With Tex-Mex, Try a Pouilly Fumé,” Philadelphia Inquirer (October 30, 1985).
14 “Roast of the Town,” Texas Monthly (July 1980).
Chapter Eight: What Took the Burrito So Long to Become Popular?
1 I wish that I coined this phrase, but it’s taken from John Rohmer, “Cylindrical God,” SF Weekly (1993).
2 I can’t find the article, but I swear I read it when I spoke at Missouri State in the fall of 2010.
3 Feliz Ramos I. Duarte, Diccionario de Mejicanismos (1895).
4 “An Oral History with Cecil Marks,” OH 1858, Center for Oral and Public History, California State University at Fullerton.
5 Robert S. Saito, My Life in Camps During the Wars (2006).
6 Anais Acosta, “Jesus Silva,” in Bracero History Archive, item 143, braceroarchive.org/items/show/143 (accessed April 25, 2011).
7 Interview with Fernando Rodríguez by Fernanda Carrillo (March 5, 2003), interview 51, Institute of Oral History, University of Texas at El Paso.
8 See Francisco Arturo Rosales, Chicano! The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement.
9 “Burritos Gaining a Foothold in U.S.,” Los Angeles Times (May 7, 1964); “Burritos Anyone Can Make at Home,” ibid. (November 4, 1965).
10 El Bohemio (August 1981).
11 Peter Fox, “Burritos—a Search for Beginnings,” Washington Post (November 4, 1998).
12 John Roehmer, “Cylindrical God.”
13 Marie Bianco, “Burritos. They’re poised to take Manhattan. In pure California style, they arrive wrapped, a foot long,” Newsday (October 18, 1989).
Chapter Nine: When Did Mexicans Start Making Food for Mexicans?
1 New York Sun (June 2, 1905).
2 Francisco J. Santamaria, ed., Diccionario general de americanismos (1959).
3 “Katy Jurado Wants Us to Take Up the Taco,” Chicago Daily Tribune (May 23, 1958).
4 Robb Walsh, as quoted in “Mexico City Tex-Mex,” Houston Press (September 4, 2003).
5 Robb Walsh, The Tex-Mex Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos (New York: Broadway, 2004).
6 See Robb Walsh, The Tex-Mex Grill and Backyard Barbacoa Cookbook (New York: Broadway, 2010), p. 158. The company he mentions is B. Martinez Sons, which we’ll discuss in the next chapter.
7 Luis Felipe Recinos, “Vendimas por la calles,” in the Manuel Gamio Papers, Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley.
8 Craig Claiborne, “From a Taste of Taco, a New Shop,” New York Times (November 21, 1966).
9 Jesus Sanchez, “Taco Trucks Put Aspiring Immigrants on Wheels,” Los Angeles Times (November 16, 1987).
10 Craig Claiborne, “Memorable Dishes from a Master Mexican Chef,” New York Times (July 21, 1982).
11 Craig Claiborne, “All-American Menus for the Economic Summit,” New York Times (May 18, 1983).
12 Nancy Harmon Jenkins, “It’s Called Mexican, but Is It Genuine?,” New York Times (April 23, 1986).
Chapter Ten: How Did Mexican Food Get into Our Supermarkets?
1 “San Antonio Siftings,” Galveston Daily News (May 9, 1879).
2 “Chili-con-Carne,” San Antonio Evening Light (May 27, 1882).
3 San Antonio Daily Express (December 26, 1885).
4 Gebhardt Chili Powder Co., Mexican Cooking (San Antonio, 1911).
5 “Visitors Will Get Mexican Dinner,” Light (August 3, 1924).
6 Rotarian (November 1923).
7 Randall Benham, “A Lot Like It Hot,” Texas Parade (February 1976).
8 “Ventura Brevities,” Los Angeles Times (May 26, 1900).
9 Frank J. Mangan, Bordertown (El Paso: C. Hertzog, 1964).
10 See Patricia Bowman, “History of Ashley’s Incorporated and a Sketch of Its Founder, George N. Ashley, Sr.” (May 1955). Available at the University of Texas, El Paso, special collections.
11 El Paso Herald-Post (April 21, 1934).
12 “Mammoth Café Business Told,” El Paso Herald-Post (October 14, 1936).
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 “E. P. Tortillas, Herald-Post Go to Persian Gulf,” El Paso Herald-Post (October 10, 1938).
16 Susan Guerrero, “The Real Rosarita,” Saveur (February 2008).
17 Dean Smith, La Gloria Escondida: The Guerrero Story (Phoenix: Sims, 1967).
Chapter Eleven: Is the Tortilla God’s Favored Method of Communication?
1 Nicholas C. Chriss, “Thousands View ‘Jesus on a Tortilla,’” Los Angeles Times (July 23, 1978).
2 Ibid.
3 “Annual Survey of Manufactures: General Statistics: Statistics for Industry Groups and Industries: 2009 and 2008,” 2009. NAICS; 2002 NAICS 311830.
4 Francisco Bulmes, El porvenir de las naciones Hispano-Americanas ante las conquistas recientes de Europa y los Estados Unidos (Mexico City: Imprenta de Mariano Nava, 1899).
5 See Jeffrey M. Pilcher, ¡Que Vivan los Tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998).
6 “Seventy Recipes for the Spanish Dishes,” Los Angeles Times (May 22, 1902).
7 Jessup Whitehead, The American Pastry Cook, 7th ed. (Chicago: White-head, 1894).
8 May E. Southworth. One Hundred & One Mexican Dishes (San Francisco: Elder, 1906).
9 “Family Tradition,” http://www.angelfire.com/tx2/martinez/chip.html.
10 Filed July 18, 1932.
11 “Maury Mavericks Round Up S.A. Friends,” San Antonio Light (April 18, 1937).
12 Letter from Roy G. Martinez to Vanessa Fonseca (November 10, 2003).
13 “El Nacimiento de Un Coloso,” http://www.gruma.com/noticias/seccion_3/articulo_47/Pagina_140.asp.
14 San Antonio Express (July 10, 1932).
15 “The Birth of the Frito,” Morning Edition, National Public Radio (October 18, 2007).
16 Life (October 3, 1949).
17 In the Southern California baseball fields of my youth, we knew them as Chili Billies, but they were sold only during Little League season.
18 “Charles E. Doolin, Founded Frito Co.,” New York Times (July 24, 1959).
19 William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World (1717).
20 See Jeffrey Charles, “Searching for Gold in Guacamole: California Growers Market the Avocado, 1910–1994,” in Food Nations: Selling Taste in Consumer Societies (London: Routledge, 2001).
21 Stacy Feducia, “Nacho, Nacho Men: Ballpark Staple Got Start in Arlington,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram (September 20, 1997).
22 Chris Petersen, “The Big Cheese: Ricos Products Created Stadium Nachos and Builds on Their Success,” Food and Drink (March 22, 2011).
Chapter Twelve: How Did Salsa Become America’s Top-Selling Condiment?
1 “Ketchup vs. Salsa: By the Numbers,” Wall Street Journal (September 20, 2007).
2 “Salsa Outsells Ketchup in U.S. Stores,” Weekend Edition, National Public Radio (April 11, 1992).
3 Marian Burros, “Vegetable Power: Doing the Tecate Tone-Up,” Washington Post (June 23, 1977).
4 Molly O’Neill, “New Mainstream: Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Salsa,” Los Angeles Times (March 11, 1992).
5 “Texans Add New Spice to Hot Salsa Market: Lawsuits,” Los Angeles Times (May 23, 1983).
6 See ad in Texas Monthly (October 1985), p. 195.
7 “Family-Held Company Tops Mexican Hot Sauce Market,” San Antonio Executive (August 11, 1986).
8 Florence Fabricant, “Riding Salsa’s Coast-to-Coast Wave of Popularity,” New York Times (June 2, 1993).
9 O’Neill, “New Mainstream.”
10 Ibid.
11 “Pace Mexican Sauces Stampede into … New York City?! ‘Get a Rope!,’” PR Newswire (July 19, 1995).
Chapter Thirteen: Tequila? Tequila!
1 “México tiene liderato en exportación cervecera,” El Economista (July 5, 2011).
2 “U.S. Tequila Market at a Glance,” Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (February 2011); “Tequila Gaining U.S. Favor; Sales Up 6-Fold Since ’70,” New York Times (April 7, 1975).
3 Los Angeles Daily Herald (April 25, 1882).
4 “At a Mexican Breakfast,” New York Sun (December 19, 1886).
5 “Will Build San Rafael Plant to Make Tequila,” San Francisco Chronicle (November 11, 1907).
6 “Drys Raid Tequila Plant,” Los Angeles Times (August 16, 1926).
7 “Tequila Drinking,” Los Angeles Times (June 21, 1924).
8 Joanne Herschfield, “Race and Class in the Classical Cinema,” in Mexico’s Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers, ed. Joanne Herschfield and David R. Maciel (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999).
9 Robert Berrellez, “Mexicans Seeking Prestige for Tequila,” Los Angeles Times (October 11, 1964).
10 Craig Claiborne, “Margarita Is Now Competing with Bloody Mary at Cocktail Hour,” New York Times (February 9, 1966).
11 “National Museum of American History Acquires Frozen Margarita Machine,” National Museum of American History (September 28, 2005).
Chapter Fourteen: What Are the Five Greatest Mexican Meals in the United States?
1 A term created elsewhere but pushed by myself and fellow bloggers at the OC Weekly’s food blog, Stick a Fork in It, as the descriptive noun for a gathering of food trucks. If you can think of a better term, please let me know—but isn’t it perfect?
2 “Fire at Chico’s Tacos Leads to Angry Customers,” El Paso Times (February 16, 2008).
3 Harrison Fletcher, “The Heat Is On: For the Cordova Family, the Forecast Is Always Chile,” Westword (August 3, 2000).
4 Adam Cayton-Holland, “Smothered: The Saga of the Chubby’s Empire,” Westword (November 29, 2007).
Conclusion: What Happens After the Burrito Has Gone Cosmic?
1 Dylan Ho, “Korean-Mexican Fusion: Korean BBQ Kalbi Tacos?” eatdrinknbemerry.blogspot.com (January 29, 2007).
2 E-mail correspondence (October 14, 2008).
3 Zach Behrens, “Eat This: Korean BBQ with the Edge of a Street Taco,” laist.com (December 4, 2008).