The creation & celebration of International Nacho Day
Miranda Bradford, Associate Writer
Graphic Designed by: Miranda Bradford
An accident that happened 73 years ago has now reached international level — this accident created what we now know as the nacho.
The nacho was created when a few women were out shopping for the day. However, when they finally stopped for dinner, all the restaurants were closed. Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya was an owner of one particular restaurant named El Moderno.
Rather than sending the women home hungry, he looked for any of his restaurant chefs but they had all gone home. Not being a chef himself, he was not sure what to do, so he went to the kitchen and grabbed what food he could find.
He cut up tortillas, put some cheese on them and threw them in the “Salamander,” a broiling cooker, adding jalapenos on them when they came out and calling the snack “Nacho’s Especiales,” which was later shortened to nachos.
In Piedras Negras, the birthplace of the nacho, there is a festival held in honor of the creation of the nacho filled with live music, art, culture and a contest known as “biggest nacho of the world,” an event so popular that it can now be found in the Guinness Book of World Records.
On October 21 of every year, there is a holiday known as International Nacho Day dedicated to Anaya’s creation of the nacho.
Two local hot-spots in the Greenville, S.C. area to find this popular treat are El Matador Restaurant’s authentic nacho dish or Chicoa Alley famous Mile High Nachos.
