Churros: The Sweet Treat With a Complicated History
Imagine yourself standing in the summer sun, listening to cheers and laughter all around you, when suddenly, you smell something sweet. The theme park you are at is serving freshly made churros nearby, and their fragrant cinnamon scent is wafting towards you in a delicious breeze.
During the summers of my high school years, this experience was very familiar for me. I worked as a ride operator at my local theme park, tantalizingly near to one of our delectable churro carts. Legoland, like most other amusement parks, fairs, and carnivals serves freshly made churros from carts conveniently located almost anywhere you look. The carts would always have long lines of customers impatient waiting for their sweet treat. The reason? They are a scrumptious piece of heaven.
Despite their evident popularity, many fail to recognize the churro as anything more than an amusement park snack. In actuality, the churro has quite a worldly history that has brought about its adoration today. Its origins are still under debate, with some claiming it is a descendent of the Chinese pastry youtiao brought back to Europe by Portuguese explorers and others claiming it was created by Spanish shepherds. Although its original creators are unknown, a closer look at the history of the churro from both potential sources reveals a commonality that may be the root of its popularity.
Both initial versions of the churro were made with relatively few ingredients, making them an easy bread substitute to implement into one’s diet. The churro gained popularity as a cheap snack to make or a quick profit due to the few required ingredients, until it was eventually accepted as a staple breakfast food. This change occurred thanks to the discovery of chocolate by Spanish explorers which quickly became a dipping sauce for the otherwise neutral flavored churro.
With few ingredients and a whole host of possible flavor combinations, it is no surprise that the humble churro has made such a reputation for itself in modern day America.
