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"  Nothing brings a state&amp;#039;s inhabitants together like declaring an official state food. Well, that was Arizona&amp;#039;s thinking at least. A petition to lobby the Legislature to officially deem the chimichanga as Arizona&amp;#039;s state food inspired contention among restaurants over the origins of the fried, forearm-sized burrito. More from Delish: Tempting Tex-Mex for Company In celebration of Arizona&amp;#039;s centennial next year, Macayo&amp;#039;s Mexican Kitchen, a Phoenix chain, thought it would be nice to finally assign the state an official state food, which just happens to be the restaurant&amp;#039;s signature dish: the chimichanga. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s just like Arizona itself, a mixture of cultures, all wrapped up,&amp;quot; Shariss Johnson, president and chief executive of Macayo&amp;#039;s told the New York Times. Johnson asserts that her father created the chimichanga in 1946. More from Delish: Food Gifts from the 50 States Carlotta Flores of Tucson&amp;#039;s El Charro Caf\u00E9 has another chimichanga origin story. She says her great-aunt knocked an extra-large burrito into a fryer by accident in the early 1950s. Still other restaurants claim they first deep-fried the meaty, tortilla-wrapped concoction. Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer, said she is not committed to signing chimichangas into immortality \u2014 though she does enjoy one every now and then. More from Delish: Weird State Fair Foods Arizona is not the first state to fight for (or over) its food. Earlier this year, Maine named whoopie pies as the state&amp;#039;s official treat after a confrontation with Pennsylvania residents who claimed the pies were their state&amp;#039;s invention. According to Bangor Daily News, Lancaster county residents were certain that the pies were conceived in Amish kitchens. But Maine, which has an annual Whoopie Pie Festival, eventually won the right to the snack cake. Do you know what your state food is? Do you have any nominations? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/food/news/a38763/chimichanga-nominated-as-arizona-state-food/>