| Introduction: Doug Lorie has done many things in his life. He has been a teacher and a healer and a great artist.
He has traveled the world in search of truth. He has marched against war and he has done more for world peace than
perhaps anybody in the fitness center he works out at. Yet for all his accomplishments Doug will probably go down
in history not as another Gandhi or Gurdjieff. He will probably be known as the inventor of the Green Chili Burrito. We were able to track down Doug through the marvels of modern technology and were granted this rare interview. As you will see Doug has not lost any of the fire or the lust for life that enabled him to create what is most likely Pittsboro's greatest gift to mankind. MB: Doug tell us about your humble beginnings and your schooling. At what age did you know that life had great things in store for you? DL: Greatness is in the eye of the beholder, but my mother gave me a jumpstart in a number of ways. Our house was filled with jazz and blues. On every wall hung original works of art. By the time I was 11 years old Mom had taken me and my brother on a 2 month camping trip around the United States and across Europe for 2 1/2 months. I can remember in fifth grade turning in the longest paper (perhaps not the best) of any of my classmates on my youthful travels. Already I knew this was good material for writing and for life itself. Our trip around Europe was pure sensuality. Mom drove this rented Volkswagen Beetle as my brother and I hammered her with questions about sex. Beautiful women were everywhere. In Florence one evening while my brother and I were waiting outside a travel bureau two teenage girls emerged from an alley and came up to us. They were laughing and talking in machine gun Italian. The eldest put her hand on my head and ran her fingers through my hair. At that time I had near platinum blond hair and I guess she thought I was cute. Whatever the reason I have carried that image with me ever since as one of the most purely erotic experiences of my life. In the public pools of Florence I would swim to the bottom of the pool, hold my breath for as long as I could, and look up at the women swimming across the surface. My mother was "Hollywood" beautiful and men would say things like, "Bellissima Mama" as we walked down the street. There was of course the occasional Italian pinching that the men were so famous for. Rather than seeing this as an intrusion I was flattered that so many people liked my mother. Europe was sex and food and the two have always been connected for me. Every restaurant was a major sensual highpoint. I fell in love with the soups in France and became a life long lover of soups in general. To this day I make a large quantity of soup every week and eat it throughout the week. We collected mussels on the beaches of Il De Re and gave them to our chef at the Pension to cook up for us. My mother let us order our meals in French and I felt the emerging power that comes from conversing in another language. We loved the long, string potatoes that were baked with chicken and drenched with fat. I would not insult the French by calling them "fries". The pastas of Italy, the pastries and the gelato ice cream all became for me something more than just the act of eating. They were experiences. MB: How did you know the time was right for Pittsboro? Did you know the community would be so accepting of a Green Chili Burrito or was it a struggle at first? DL: Interesting that you asked that question. I had lived out in New Mexico for three years and there was this little taco stand that sold award winning tacos along with tamales and a bean burrito loaded with freshly roasted green chilies. There is really nothing like the taste of roasted chilies. I feel in love with this particular burrito and when I had the opportunity to develop the menu for The General Store Cafe I knew that I wanted to have two things on the menu. 1. A Green Chile Burrito and 2.a Middle Eastern Platter. At that time I really had no idea where this all would go. I simply chose the foods that had been a delight for me over the years. I knew that salsa was the most popular condiment in The United States. Intuitively I felt like this could work and empirically I witnessed the sheer success of Mexican food in every cranny of the country. Restaurants are like a theatrical production in a way. You put on this performance and you hope people will show up. There's no guarantee that they will. In my experience at the cafe, people came and that was the greatest reward. Was it a struggle? Doing the type of "made from scratch" cooking that I did at the cafe was always a physical struggle, but people responded almost immediately. It was very gratifying. MB: What makes the Green Chili Burrito so special? Is it a particular ingredient, a number of ingredients or some kind of higher force? DL: Yes, my burritos are channeled directly from God. The vibrational aura is equivalent to that of an enlightened sadhu who has renounced everything material. Eating one of these is like ingesting light itself. I also blend in a slight amount of MDMA....Seriously though I spend a lot of time simmering green chilies with lots of garlic, a ton of onions, rich olive oil and jalapenos for that extra taste bud zap. The burrito itself is quite cheesy and the salsa is home made. It simply is a soft, gooey, spicy, rich comfort food. MB: In the popular mythology of Pittsboro they say you once worked in a Mexican restaurant in Chapel Hill. Did this influence your later work and perhaps the invention of the Green Chili Burrito or is this just a coincidence? DL: I did actually work at one of Chapel Hill's best restaurants, Magdalena's on Franklin Street. Phil, the chef there and the founder of the current Flying Burrito restaurant, made a version of green chili. There are lots of versions of green chili and this particular one was made primarily from Jalapenos, not the roasted, smoked poblanos, ancho or Hatch Valley chilies and other varieties so popular in New Mexico. Up to this point I had never even heard the phrase "Green Chile", so, yes, that experience was the inception and my time in Northern New Mexico was the crystallization. MB: When did you realize that this was not just another burrito but something special? Something bigger than a burrito? Was there a particular moment or was this a gradual understanding? DL: I guess my own desire to have some fun coupled with a tongue-in-cheek showmanship served to elevate my burrito beyond the normal levels of daily sustenance. Soon after I started serving this particular burrito I decided to satirize McDonald's "Over 10 Billion Sold" motif. I began to count every burrito that I made and to acknowledge the winner of every consecutive thousandth by putting their picture up on the wall. Of course this kind of self generated notoriety would not have worked had the burrito itself been lousy. My favorite series of moments came from the buzz surrounding a letter that I had written to NPR. For weeks I had heard this ongoing series of reports from different areas of The States as well as Mexico on "The Search For The Origins Of The Burrito". I decided to write to this particular journalist mentioning that I had been instrumental in bringing green chili burritos to Pittsboro. The letter was read aloud on NPR and the collective responses were amazing. I even had a couple who were driving from Florida to Maine make a special trip to Pittsboro, but unfortunately the cafe was closed when they arrived. They left a note on the door saying they had heard about "The Green Chile Burrito" on NPR. Many people came to the cafe as a result of that NPR spot. It was as much fun as I have ever had. MB: Can you tell us about the most memorable Green Chili Burrito you have served or made? DL: I would have to say that my 17,000th burrito was the most memorable because I knew that I would be moving on to a different job and for me there would not be an 18,000th. MB: Most of the people who ordered record-breaking Green Chili Burritos look very happy. Can you remember any who were not happy to suddenly be thrust into the limelight and how did they react? With fear or violence? DL: Most winners were delighted to be thrust into this dubious limelight, but I do remember one woman who walked in depressed and became further depressed and irritated with the fuss being made over her. Clearly this was a person who was very introverted, did not want to talk with anybody, just wanted to eat a meal in peace and there we were applauding and demanding that she pose for photographs. I felt kind of sorry for her but I was intent upon keeping the count as accurate as possible. It was always fun for me to see who the winner was going to be. My heart was always racing as I moved closer to the winning burrito. MB: This is a personal question and if you would rather not answer it I understand. It is a well known fact that some people don't use the products they sell. For example a drug dealer may not use drugs or a guy who sells Toyota's may drive a Porsche. Did you eat the Green Chili Burritos yourself and if so how many do you estimate you have eaten? And of course the second part of the question is did this number have any effect on the total number of burritos sold or is this a different set of statistics? DL: First, the burritos eaten by the staff were never tallied with the rest. That would be like in-house trading or something corrupt like that. I do eat them. In fact on a recent trip to New Mexico a former teaching colleague of mine gave me four packages of roasted, smoked green chilies to take back with me and last night I made green chili burritos for my family and some visiting friends. Do I eat a lot of them? No. This is rich, restaurant food and my feelings about restaurant food run something like this. For special occasions it's great, but for anyone making a regular diet of high fat, high sodium, rich, high-calorie food, they are asking to be included among the American obese. People who eat primarily in restaurants are not healthy people. I don't wish ill health for anyone, yet we all need our little rewards in life and our favorite comfort foods are among the best rewards we can choose for ourselves....within moderation of course. I was accused on more than one occasion for being responsible for blowing someone's diet. Everyone in the restaurant business knows that people come back because the food is rich, salty and sumptuous. Restaurants are in the business of cultivating addictions. I would be the first one to admit that. MB: They say one of your finest paintings has been buried under layers of paint in the restroom of an Indian Restaurant to preserve for later generations. How did you come upon this revolutionary method of historic preservation and when will society know the time is right to peel back the layers of time to see the message you have left for posterity? DL: Not many people are aware of this fact, but I have done a number of murals and have had four exhibitions of my water based felt pen drawings. Yes, I did do two murals in both the Men's and Women's bathrooms of Magdalena's which were later painted over in subsequent restaurants. I kind of look at those paintings as Buddhist Sand Paintings where after weeks of intense, focused art work, the paintings are ritually destroyed to symbolize the ephemeralness of life. I have to look at it that way or I would be thoroughly depressed. MB: When did you realize you had gone as far as you could with the Green Chili Burrito and it was time to move on to something else? DL: My time at the cafe was a gift from the heavens, still the best job that I have ever had. I was able to be of service to the community, to create a work of art so to speak that resonated through the community, to make something that had never been made before and be applauded for that work. Yet over the years, the physical demands of cooking for the masses never got any easier...The deadlines, the huge, heavy pots of beans , the gargantuan slabs of cheese, standing on cement floors all day were aspects of the job that I needed to change. There is a season as they say and I had a great, long season. MB: Have those who have followed in your footsteps and continue making and selling the Green Chili Burrito taken the road you mapped out for them or like many teachings have they adapted it to changing times and tastes? Is the Green Chili Burrito today the same Green Chili Burrito Doug Lorie was making ten years ago and are you pleased with the path it has taken? DL: I am pleased that my former assistant in the Kitchen Rosalia is carrying on the tradition of The Green Chile Burrito. She may not be making it as cheesy as I made it, then perhaps maybe I overdid it. Still, she does the chili in exactly the way I taught her and over all the food continues well with a good woman watching over the kitchen. Every cook is different and I learned things from Rosalia. I love her tamales! MB: What have you done since you retired from making the Green Chili Burrito? Can we expect anything else that will shake up society, the way the Green Chili Burrito has, from Doug Lorie? DL: I have written intermittently since leaving The General Store cafe and hope to publish a novel before I die. I am also getting back into education, this time with a different slant. I am training to be an ESL [English As A Second Language] teacher in the public schools. This is a natural extension for me being a person who loves language and culture. MB: If you could say anything to all those who admire you and want to follow in your footsteps what would it be? DL: I hope you have at least one experience in your life when your talents and interests coalesce into something that energizes you greatly, that feeds your soul in a huge way and is uniquely yours. There is nothing like it! MB: Thank you Doug. And the world thanks you too. Not just for the Green Chili Burrito but for ....well......for being Doug. Return to Green Chili Burrito Page |