From The Food Encyclopedia by Jacques Rolland and Carol Sherman
In Mexico, a thin, round, unleavened bread made from ground maize; in Spain, a thin, flat omelet. In southwestern Spain, a torta is a kind of thin pasta baked in an oven until crisp, then broken into pieces and added to soup. It's not known how many millennia the flatbread has been a staple, but it was certainly well established when the conquistadors arrived, in the late 15th century. The native Nahuatl name for tortillas was tlaxcalli, but the Spanish called them tortillas. Fresh tortillas are eaten as bread, used as a plate and spoon, or filled to make composite dishes, such as quesadillas, tacos and enchiladas.
