Monday, November 13, 2006

When is a Burrito Not a Burrito?


When reading the news headlines, you will occasionally come across a headline that seems so ridiculous that you read the article again just to make sure it's real. I ran across such a headline this morning and felt that I had to share it with you. As if we don't have more important things to debate in the world, we are not apparently occupying court time by debating the definition of what is a sandwich and what is a burrito. In the Superior Court in Worcester, Massachusetts, this very topic was being debated and argued.

According to the Panera Bread company, the agreement they had when renting the location they occupy in the White City Shopping Center, was that the landlord would not rent space to any other business that made sandwiches. Enter the Qdoba chain of Mexican restaurants. They were seeking to open an outlet in the same shopping center when Panera Bread jumped in and protested. According to Panera Bread, Qdoba violated the agreement that the landlord had with Panera Bread. How so? Well, according to Panera Bread, Qdoba's chief product is the burrito and this is a sandwich. Now I am sure I'm not alone out there in scratching my head at this arguement.

Though I am not a culinary master nor am I an expert in Mexican cuisine, I do know that a burrito is not, and never has been considered a sandwich. The judge presiding over the case seemed to feel the same thing and ruled against Panera Bread and allowed the landlord of the White City Shopping Center to rent to Qdoba. According to the papers released by the judge, a sandwich has been typically described as being a food made of stuffing held between two pieces of bread. A burrito, taco or quesadilla is made up of a single tortilla which does not meet the definition of a sandwich and therefore does not fall in the same category.

Panera Bread was not ready to take this lying down and countered by saying that a flour tortilla is a type of bread and is stuffed, similar to a sandwich so although the judge provided a very broad definition of a sandwich, the burrito still falls within the definition of a sandwich. I don't know, but it seems that ever since former President Bill Clinton requested the word 'is' to be defined during his Monica Lewinsky testimony, people all over the United States have been emboldened to question everything. It's almost like "The X-Files" have taken on a new meaning and that the truth that is supposed to be out there is more about maintaining monopolies more than anything else. I don't consider, nor will I ever consider a burrito to be a sandwich but who knows, perhaps next week they'll make moves against Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs on the same grounds.

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