The burrito is not a delivery system — it is the dish

There is a way of thinking about burritos where the filling is everything and the tortilla, beans, and rice are just packaging. I want to argue against that directly. The tortilla is a flavor element. A fresh flour tortilla made with lard has a distinct flavor that changes the character of everything inside it. A good tortilla makes a mediocre filling better. A bad tortilla makes a good filling worse. The same goes for the beans. A properly cooked black bean with its broth is not neutral filler — it is carrying half the seasoning in the dish. The rice is the same: toasted, cooked in stock, finished with lime zest, it is a contributor, not a carrier. Treat every component as a dish element and the result is different from treating some of them as delivery mechanisms.