SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Few things are more comforting in South Texas than a warm and fresh flour tortilla. It\u2019s a staple on dinner tables, at taquerias and in lunchboxes. <\/p>\n
Beyond its delicious simplicity lies a rich history that stretches back hundreds of years.<\/p>\n
Dr. Ellen Riojas-Clark, professor emerita of bicultural-bilingual studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said the flour tortilla\u2019s origins can be traced to the blending of cultures that began when the Spanish arrived in the Americas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the Spaniards came into the Americas, they brought wheat,\u201d Riojas-Clark said. \u201cSome people say there\u2019s Jewish and Moorish influence because Jewish people couldn\u2019t eat corn. With the arrival of many different cultural groups into the Americas \u2014 ta-da \u2014 the flour tortilla was born.\u201d<\/p>\n
The flour tortilla has since become a culinary mainstay across the United States. Today, tortillas generate more than $6.5 billion in annual revenue nationwide \u2014 surpassing bagels, English muffins and pita bread in popularity.<\/p>\n
For Riojas-Clark, making tortillas is more than a cooking technique. It\u2019s an act of love.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat other food in the United States is made with such caring, such heart?\u201d Riojas-Clark said. \u201cAs I make them, I think of all the grandmothers who made tortillas de harina to feed their families.\u201d<\/p>\n
She believes passing down that tradition is key to preserving cultural identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t take much, just like making Christmas cookies,\u201d Riojas-Clark said. \u201cTake your kids and teach them what a tortilla is. It represents us; our contributions to the culinary arts.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Riojas-Clark and others, the humble tortilla is more than just food. It\u2019s a piece of history, culture and home.<\/p>\n
For a closer look at Dr. Riojas-Clark\u2019s story and her homemade tortilla recipe, watch the video below:<\/p>\n
More local education coverage on KSAT: <\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Few things are more comforting in South Texas than a warm and fresh flour tortilla.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[163,4946,49,4945,82,84,83,3438],"class_list":["post-4606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-education","tag-flour-tortillas","tag-food","tag-hispanic-heritage","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-ut-san-antonio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}