When I talked to Ray Flores from El Charro restaurants a month or so ago I told him of my efforts to get a state food designated for Arizona. He said it was a great idea, and that he’d been kicking around the idea of trying to get the chimichanga named the state food. We talked about it for a bit and he said he was going to ask some of his connections to make it happen.
Well, apparently it has started. I direct you to the Check Yes for Chimi petition, and the corresponding story by AZCentral.com:
Just in time for Arizona’s centennial, two family-run Mexican restaurants have launched a campaign to make the chimichanga the official state food.
Proponents argue it’s a homegrown specialty, wildly popular with diners and thus should be installed in the pantheon of state symbols, along with the official tie (the bola), the official flower (the saguaro blossom) and the official fossil (petrified wood).
To do that, the owners of Macayo’s and El Charro restaurants need the state Legislature.
But judging from lawmakers’ initial reactions, it might be asking them to bite off more than they are willing to chew, so to speak.
This article appears in Oct 13-19, 2011.
This should be slam dunk, er, slam-deep-fry! I can think of no better opportunity for bipartisanship than this.
So is the CHIMICHANGA going to be the state food because of all the mexicans in Arizona or because we are close to the border? Might as well make the “BURRITO” the state food right? Come on now, doesn’t this seem a little like profiling the state. What makes Arizona the CHIMICHANGA state? Only thing I can think of would be the mexicans here or the border. What are your thoughts? I can’t tell you the last time I had a chimichanga, can you remember? Shit, why not make “Steak” the state food. Nothing better than a nice juicy steak straight off the grill. Chimichangas are good, don’t get me wrong, but I just don’t see how that would be the state food.
It should be cantalopes or prickley pear fruit..
tucson resident,
the chimichanga was invented in tucson.