A burrito (English: /bəˈriːtoʊ/, Spanish: [buˈrito] ⓘ)[1] or burro[2] in Mexico is, historically, a regional name, among others, for what is known as a taco, a tortilla filled with food, in other parts of the country.

The term burrito was regional, specifically from Guanajuato, Guerrero, Michoacán, San Luis Potosí and Sinaloa, for what is known as a taco in Mexico City and surrounding areas, and codzito in Yucatán and Quintana Roo.

In modern times, it is considered by many as a different dish in Mexican[6] and Tex-Mex cuisine[7] that took form in Ciudad Juárez, consisting of a flour tortilla wrapped into a sealed cylindrical shape around various ingredients.

[10] Historically, the Pueblo peoples of the Southwestern US also made tortillas filled with beans and meat sauce and prepared much like the modern burrito.

Burrito: Rolled-up tortilla, with meat or other things inside, what in Yucatán is called a coçito and in Cuernavaca and Mexico [City] a taco.

Alude el vocablo a la carne de burro que ha sido apetecida por nuestros indígenas.

It is presumed that in places where fried foods were served, a "bait and switch" was done, and alluding to this maliciously, the taco was called donkey (burro).

In her book Life in Mexico (1843) Scottish noblewoman Frances Erskine Inglis writes that she ate burros, tortillas filled, in this case, with cheese, while on the road in Michoacán :[16] ... the gentlemen from Morelia, suffering for their politeness in having escorted us, the two damsels of the bath, naiads of the boiling spring, pitying our hungry condition, came to offer their services; one asked me if I should like "to eat a burro in the mean time"?

A burro being an ass, I was rather startled at the proposition, and assured her that I should infinitely prefer waiting a little longer before resorting to so desperate a measure.

Ana Bégué de Packman, author of the book Early California Hospitality (1938) wrote that corn and flour tortillas could be used interchangeably for making burritos.

An often repeated piece of folk history is the story of a man named Juan Méndez who sold tacos at a street stand in the Bella Vista neighborhood of Ciudad Juárez during the Mexican Revolution period (1910–1921), while using a donkey as a transport for himself and his food.

[20] Burritos were mentioned in the U.S. media for the first time in 1934,[21] appearing in the Mexican Cookbook, a collection of regional recipes from New Mexico that was written by historian Erna Fergusson.

[23][24]: 192 Burritos are a traditional food of Ciudad Juárez, a city bordering El Paso, Texas, in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, where people buy them at restaurants and roadside stands.

The Mexican burrito may be a northern variation of the traditional taco de Canasta, which is eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

This type of burrito is produced on a steam table assembly line, and is characterized by a large stuffed flour tortilla wrapped in aluminum foil, and may include fillings such as carne asada (beef), Mexican-style rice, whole beans (not refritos), sour cream and onion.

Febronio Ontiveros claims to have offered the first retail burrito in San Francisco in 1961 at El Faro ("The Lighthouse"), a corner grocery store on Folsom Street.

This innovative style involves the addition of rice, sour cream and guacamole to the standard burrito of meat, beans, and cheese.

[31] In 1995, World Wrapps opened in San Francisco's Marina District and brought a burrito-inspired wrap style to the restaurant industry.

The style has been described by food writers as an "austere meal of meat, cheese and salsa", a contrast to the Mission-style burrito, which is typically larger and always contains more ingredients.

Robledo began selling small bean burritos (or burrititos) at La Lomita in the late 1960s, and by 1970, he had established the first Roberto's Taco Shop.

Hoping to draw on the prestige of Roberto's, new taco shops in San Diego began using the "-bertos" suffix, with names like Alberto's, Filiberto's, Hilberto's, and others.

[37] The California burrito[38] typically consists of chunks of carne asada meat, French fries, cheese, and either cilantro, pico de gallo, sour cream, onion, or guacamole (or some combination of these five).

[48] Carolynn Carreno has said that to San Diegans, "carne asada burritos are as integral to the experience of the place as a slice of (pizza) pie is to a New Yorker.

[62] The existence of such a large truly Mexican community in Los Angeles also makes it possible to find a variety of authentic burrito dishes from different regions of Mexico: from Oaxaca to Hidalgo.