Torta
Torta is a Spanish, Italian and Portuguese word with a wide array of culinary meanings. It originated in different regional variants of flatbread, of which the
torta de gazpacho and
torta cenceña are still surviving in certain areas of central Spain. Tortas are also mentioned in Leviticus 24:5-9, in the Spanish translation of the Bible. Presently, however, the word
torta is also applied to different kinds of bread and pastry products according to the region. Historically the difference between
torta and bread was its round and flat shape, as well as the absence of yeast in its preparation. The well-known word
tortilla, used mainly in Mexico, means a "small torta", while
tortada means "big torta". In most regions a
torta was traditionally considered an inferior form of bread, as the well known Spanish aphorism expresses:
A falta de pan buenas son tortas. Where there is no bread
tortas are all right In turn, in Mexico a variation says:
A falta de pan, tortillas In various countries of Latin America the word
torta means different things.