A wrap is a food dish made with a soft flatbread rolled around a filling. The usual flatbreads are wheat tortillas,

lavash Lavash ( hy, լավաշ) is a thin flatbread usually leavened, traditionally baked in a tandoor (''tonir'') or on a ''sajj'', and common to the cuisines of South Caucasus, Western Asia, and the areas surrounding the Caspian Sea. Lavash is on ...

, or pita; the filling may include cold sliced meat, poultry, or fish, shredded

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...

, diced tomato or

pico de gallo ''Pico de gallo'' (, ), also called ''salsa fresca'' ('fresh sauce'), ''salsa bandera'' ('flag sauce'), and ''salsa cruda'' ('raw sauce'), is a type of salsa commonly used in Mexican cuisine. It is traditionally made from chopped tomato, onio ...

guacamole Guacamole (; (informally shortened to ''guac'' in the United States since the 1980s) is an avocado-based dip, spread, or salad first developed in Mexico. In addition to its use in modern Mexican cuisine, it has become part of international cuisi ...

, sauteed

mushrooms A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

, bacon, grilled

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...

s, cheese, and a

sauce In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French wor ...

, such as

ranch A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most ofte ...

or honey mustard.

History

20111012-FNCS-LSC-0210 - Flickr - USDAgov

People in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

, and

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

have been eating wraps since around the 1900s. Mexicans refer to them as

burrito A burrito (, ) is a dish in Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine that took form in Ciudad Juárez, consisting of a flour tortilla wrapped into a sealed cylindrical shape around various ingredients. The tortilla is sometimes lightly grilled or stea ...

s, and they come in different varieties, primarily wheat flour or corn, typically filled with meat, beans, rice, cheese, and other ingredients. The wrap in its

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

form probably comes from California, as a generalization of the Mexican and

Tex-Mex Tex-Mex cuisine (from the words ''Texan'' and ''Mexican'') is an American cuisine that derives from the culinary creations of the ''Tejano'' people of Texas. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern United ...

, and became popular in the 1990s. It may have been invented and named at a southern California chain called "I Love Juicy" in the early 1980s. Shortly after the Box Lunch restaurant opened in 1977 in Wellfleet Massachusetts, the "Rollwich" became their signature menu item. The OVO Bistro in NYC introduced its wrap sandwich in 1990 under the name "The King Edward," The

Bobby Valentine Robert John Valentine (born May 13, 1950), nicknamed "Bobby V", is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He also served as the athletic director at Sacred Heart University. Valentine played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1 ...

Sports Gallery Cafe in Stamford, Connecticut, is sometimes claimed to have invented the wrap at about the same time, but Valentine is diffident about it: "Well, that's legend and folklore, but until somebody disputes me or comes up with a better story, I'll say I invented the wrap." Beth Dolan of Stamford, Connecticut, is the waitress credited for serving the first wrap after the restaurant had run out of bread. Moreover, Valentine's own story dates his use of the ''name'' 'wrap' to the mid-1990s, after it is documented in California. San Francisco-based chain World Wrapps, which opened its first location in February 1995, is credited with popularizing the wrap nationwide. In 1988, Jeff Fairhall of Seattle created the Essential Sandwich – a rice and veggie wrap – which he distributed to local health food stores. Within four years, he was making 10,000 wraps a week sold at 220 locations in Seattle.

Wraps in public eating places

In the 1900s, kati rolls became a popular street food in

Kolkata, India Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commerci ...

, with kebab wrapped in

paratha Paratha () is a flatbread native to South Asia, prevalent throughout the modern-day nations of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad a ...

bread; although over the years many variants have evolved, all of which now go under the generic name of kati roll. Restaurants such as Camille's Sidewalk Cafe, Sonic Drive-In, Jason's Deli,

Buffalo Wild Wings Buffalo Wild Wings (originally Buffalo Wild Wings & Weck, hence the nickname BDubs, or BW3) is an American casual dining restaurant and sports bar franchise in the United States, Canada, India, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, a ...

, Subway, Chick-fil-A,

Roly Poly Roly Poly is an American chain of sandwich stores. They first opened their doors in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996. History The first Roly Poly Sandwich Shop opened in 1997 in the Buckhead section of Atlanta, Georgia. Company founders Linda Wolf a ...

and McAlister's Deli , Le Wrap Factorie serve wraps. KFC now serves its chicken in a wrap as menu choice, with lettuce, mayonnaise and salsa.

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

had a snack wrap, with a fried or grilled chicken strip, lettuce, cheddar, and ranch dressing. It was discontinued and there are no plans to bring them back to US menus. Smokey Bones Barbeque and Grill has recently introduced a Portobello Chicken Wrap to broaden their selection of grilled menu items.

Notes

{{Reflist, 30em Fast food Flatbread dishes Tortilla-based dishes American cuisine Stuffed dishes

History

Wraps in public eating places

See also

Notes