People in Mexico, Mediterranean, and South Asia have been eating wraps since around the 1900s. Mexicans refer to them as burritos, 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 form probably comes from California, as a generalization of the Mexican and Tex-Mexburrito, and became popular in the 1990s.[1] It may have been invented and named at a southern California chain called "I Love Juicy" in the early 1980s.[2][3] Shortly after the Box Lunch restaurant opened in 1977 in Wellfleet Massachusetts, the "Rollwich" became their signature menu item. [4] The OVO Bistro in NYC introduced its wrap sandwich in 1990 under the name "The King Edward," The Bobby Valentine 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.[5] San Francisco-based chain World Wrapps, which opened its first location in February 1995, is credited with popularizing the wrap nationwide.[6] 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.[7]
^The Oxford English Dictionary cites an article in the 12 October 1989 Los Angeles Times mentioning "The Juicy Wrap, a whole-wheat lavash (tortilla-type) sandwich‥is popular at I Love Juicy in West Hollywood."
