Great Moments of La Tortilla in U.S. History

Marco Bravo

1623- The Spaniards explore what would be the Southwest of the United States and bring tortillas with them on their expeditions. 30 years earlier they quickly conquered and colonized the tortilla from the Aztec and planned to distribute it across the world. Francisco de la Tortilla, was the first know Spaniard in the new world to bring back tortillas to Spain.

1775- Paul Revere feeds his horse bits of tortilla before his famous Midnight Ride. No animals were hurt in the process.

1845- Hector Paredes accidently invents the first Quesadilla in Santa Fe, New Mexico, when he runs out of eggs while making himself a breakfast burrito.

1866- The Ku Klux Klan is founded. Soon after, Panchita’s Tortilla Factory catches fire in Birmingham, Alabama.

1889- Ralf Elliot graduates with a Ph.D. from Yale, with his dissertation title being “Tortilla Dreaming, Cause and Effect in referendum to what causes could effect Cause and Effect ”

1903- The Wright Brothers considered at one point using 15 lbs. of Tortillas to use as dead weight to balance the Wright Flyer. The Tortillas proved too big to fit inside the aircraft.

1912- Arizona becomes an official state of the union and declares La Tortilla its State Flour (not to be confused with the Saguaro Blossom, the State Flower).

1923- Yankee Stadium opens, first 1,000 fans get a dozen Tortillas free.

1938- Life Magazine is first published. The word Tortilla is mentioned 3 times.

1947- Ramona Bañuelos, an employee at McDonalds at the time, accidently discovers how to make the first Tortilla chip when she accidently drops a piece of Tortilla while making French Fries. She later founds La Tapatía, the first brand of Tortillas in the United States.

1958- Prince Roger Nelson, an American musician also known as Prince is born. He is now a huge fan of chips and salsa.

1968- College kids at Columbia University discover the joy of throwing Tortillas at each other. That same year Ultimate Frisbee is invented.

1972- Apollo 17 flies to the moon, its last manned mission. Fragments of Tortilla still wander the universe.

1989- Emily Tanner discovers that peanut butter and jelly taste better on Tortillas.

1994- “The Tortilla Shuffle” becomes the latest song/dance craze in New York City. It wins 2 Grammys and stay on the Billboard 100 for 13 weeks, unfortunately it did not do well in the British market.

2001- The Tortillas is ranked number #32 on President Bush’s list of the “Axis of Evil”

2009- The Obama’s decide to name the First Dog “Bo”. After much debate, they decided that the original name of the dog, “Borrito”, would cause too much political and cultural turmoil.