BURGER OR BURRITO? Which are you? Maybe you didn’t know that all people can be divided along these culinary categories. They can. Grab something to munch on while I explain it all to you.
We’re cooking up a great deal here at TSP, and while some of us are celebrating the ladies auxiliaries, others of us are sisters in the kitchen who slow cook. That is if we’re not too busy showing off our waistlines. And when people reveal themselves to me by their habits (or their bellies), I sort. It’s a coping mechanism, a sort of Roach-sister taxonomy that keeps things straight by dividing them—in this case, people—into categories.
So, which are you? Are you comfortable in a mere bun, letting the sun shine on your sides, your condiments visible to all? If so, you’re a burger. Or do you need your ingredients tightly wrapped? Everybody is one or the other. I’m a burger, my sister being the burrito of the family. I married a burrito and we have a burrito for a child. Only our dog is the other burger in my life, and I’m glad he’s here, surrounded as I am by these mightily-cinched-up humans.
This food metaphor thing isn’t all that out there, at least not if you remember your Mendel, that being Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics, who experimented with 30,000 peas, growing them and cross-pollinating them to explain dominant and recessive qualities in us all. The man knew his peas.
Mendel, a burrito, was interested in our ingredients, giving us the answers to many of the questions Charles Darwin, a burger, posed. See how this works? And it would take a burger like me to transpose the whole thing to asking the question of how we reveal or conceal our make-ups–bun or tortilla? I can see my older sister rolling her eyes, especially when I state flat out that all older sisters are burritos and the next sisters are always burgers. Third sisters, fourth? Let me hear from you.
Like me, do you think of the womb as a great genetic pantry, providing and parsing out to each child a distinct different stew? And if so, does that make the environment in which we are raised nothing less than a great big test kitchen?
I can push this metaphor around my plate all day long, particularly since it occurred to me while I was cooking. Viewed as food for thought, families become a whole lot less dicey and a lot more palatable, if only emotionally. Bun or tortilla? Burger or burrito? After you know which you are, the only other thing to decide is if you want fries.
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Oh, as an older sister, I definitely agree that we are burritos (always a little messier than we let on, though, perhaps).
My personal favorite people-sorting trick came out of a friend finding that the only deodorants he could find to send a friend in Japan (who had requested them) came in lavender and apricot – we decided all people can be categorized as such, and it is completely intuitive, with no discernable system. We found we agreed on which of our friends would be which scent, no argument necessary. (We were both lavenders.)
Hi, Danielle. Welcome. Oh, I’m so glad you agree about the older-sister-burrito thing. I knew I was right.
HA!
I just love the deodorant sorting mechanism.
I wonder who else has methods for dividing and understanding the world? Let us hear from you, sisters.
You may be on to something. I am the oldest sister and I am definitely a burrito. I wouldn’t say my younger sister is a burger, but maybe slightly less tightly wrapped, a messy burrito you could say. My mother is the oldest sister and she is a consummate burrito; her younger sister is a burger for sure.
Hi, Sandy. That I “may be on to something” is high praise indeed from a burrito. Thanks, sister.
I would have to say that I am (the older sister) definitely a burrito and my younger sister is definitely a burger. I do believe the environment is what determines whether the burrito has meat or beans etc.; the burger mayo or mustard.
I also find genetics fascinating.
Hi, Tammy. Love your environment take on the ingredients. I agree, also about genetics? Did you say you love genetics? Me, too. And I write about them here: http://thesisterproject.com/sisterpedia/genetics-101-for-siblings/ So thanks for mentioning it, you burrito-sister, you. Please come back soonest. And bring your sister!
Oh, Marion, I hate to burst your bubble…or drop refried beans on your bun, but I am the third child of 4, and the younger sister. I would say my sister and I are both burritos, but when you unwrap me a/k/a when I let down my defenses and let you see the real me, you find a chili-cheeseburger…letting it all hang out and living life. It’s a coping mechanism…perhaps Margaret is the same? Guarded but once she let’s you in, she’s fiercely loyal and loads of fun? If so, rather than birth order, maybe it’s a Gemini thing..you know we have split personalities! I have a 26-year old son and a 19-year old daughter and I must say they’re both pretty tightly wrapped. Being the only daughter, I suppose my girl really *is* the equivalent of first born “older sister.”
Hi, Lisa. That’s wonderful, and hilarious, and oh how I do not mind you being a chili-cheeseburger. It is a coping mechanism, is it? Well, that’s just too delicious for words. Thanks, and please come back soon for more.