Nachos Trivia For National Nachos Day

November 6, 2022 at 2:51 pm · Filed under Food Facts - Food History, Food Holidays, International Foods, The Nibble

[1] A classic nachos recipe has (photo © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

[2] Carnitas nachos include shredded pork shoulder (photo © Good Eggs).

Loaded Nachos Recipe
[3] Fully loaded nachos. Here’s the recipe (photo © Matt Robinson | Real Food By Dad).

November 6th is National Nachos Day, and we’ve got some fun nachos trivia for you.

Nachos are an example of necessity being the mother of invention. As the story goes, in 1943 a group of Army wives from Fort Duncan, in Eagle Pass, Texas, had gone over the border to Piedras Negras, Mexico, on a shopping trip.

By the time they arrived at the Victory Club (Club Victoria) restaurant, the kitchen was closed. But the accommodating maître d’hôtel, Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya (Nacho is a nickname for Ignacio), threw together a snack for the ladies from what was available in the kitchen: tortillas and cheese.

He cut the tortillas into triangles, added shredded Cheddar cheese, quickly heated them to melt the cheese, and garnished the dish with sliced jalapeño chiles. When asked what the tasty dish was called, he answered, “Nacho’s especiales,” Nacho’s Special. It was an instant hit.

International Day of the Nacho is held annually on October 21st.

There is also the Nacho Fest, held annually in Piedras Negras. Part of the celebrations features a “biggest nacho in the world,” cited in the Guinness Book of World Records. Click the link for photos.

At their most basic, classic nachos consist of a plate of tortilla chips topped with salsa and shredded Cheddar, Jack, or other semi-hard cheese.

But don’t stop there. Check out this long list of nachos toppings (perfect for a DIY nachos party bar).

MORE NACHOS RECIPES

> Fusion nachos recipes from all over the world.

> Fully loaded nachos.

> Naked Nachos, Skillet Nachos & Dessert Nachos.

NACHOS TRIVIA

The first known mention of the word “nachos” in an English-language publication dates to 1949, from the cookbook A Taste of Texas.

The original recipe is printed in 1954 in the St. Anne’s Cookbook [source].

While Americans consider nachos to be “Tex-Mex,” they were invented in Mexico—albeit right on the other side of the border. Thus, they’re Mexican food! In Mexico, a similar dish is called totopos, which are a baked corn tortilla that originated with the Zapotec peoples of Oaxaca.

Modern tortilla chips are a modern invention, a way to repurpose misshapen tortillas. Here’s the history of tortilla chips.

Salsa, on the other hand, dates back millennia to the people of the Yucatan Peninsula, where it is known as mōlli in the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs. “Salsa is the Spanish word for sauce.

Nachos were already popular snack food in Texas, when in 1976 Frank Liberto, a concessionaire, brought nachos to the concession stands at Texas Arlington Stadium.

Liberto also created the Cheddar-based cheese sauce for the stadium snack. (Today, the easier-to-melt Velveeta is most often used in the U.S.)

But that was only the beginning. Ballpark nachos became widespread in the 1970s when sportscaster Howard Cosell talked about them frequently during his NFL broadcasts.

Thanks to the South Florida Reporter for some of this trivia.