April 06, 2010

Anonymous asked: where can i get a good burrito?

The easy answer to this would obviously be “California, namely the greater Los Angeles or San Francisco areas.”

However, I would like to take this opportunity to grandstand against regional food bias, which for some reason totally irritates me. It’s probably because I grew up in southern New England and am pretty much a man without a country when it comes to “Having a Specific Really Great Food Where I Grew Up.” (Excluding lobster, which is demonstrably/scientifically better/fresher in New England and doesn’t count.) Stuff is pretty good everywhere (except flyover states), and if a specific food has a higher median quality in a specific place (eg, pizza in New York, burritos in California) I am more inclined to chalk it up to a high rate of competition than to any inherent authenticity issues. Say what you might about the free market, but it can work wonders in eliminating crummy restaurants from our neighborhoods.

SO: There is no such thing as a Platonically “Good” burrito. The hedgemaze of regional bias, counter-regional bias, and whether or not the tortilla should be toasted is too great. We should not abandon the burrito entirely but, as in most things as we get older and older, we should learn to embrace its flaws and learn to go to war with the army we’ve got.

PS: I am a vegetarian and my opinion about burritos and food in general should probably be dismissed out of hand. I apologize if you read this.

 
  1. lemoniceforever posted this