November 6 is National Nachos Day, and Javier’s Mexican Grill in Chipley, Florida is celebrating. Check them out at 1414 Main Street, just a mile north of I-10 in the Washington Square, right next door to WestPoint Home and Senor Sushi.
On this day we celebrate everyone’s favorite snack no matter how you make it. Chicken or beef?
Beans or salsa? Cheddar or that yellow stuff they top chips with at football games?
There’s no one specific way to make it as long as it has two main ingredients: Chips and as much cheese as you can pile on!
Any discussion about the history of nachos has to begin in the Mexican border town of Piedras Negras — just west of the Rio Grande — across which sits Eagle Pass, Texas.
One day in 1943 the wives of U.S. soldiers stationed at Ft. Duncan dropped in on a Piedras Negras hotspot called the Victory Club.
Unfortunately the restaurant had closed for the day.
Still, a manager named Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya decided to throw a dish together based on whatever ingredients he still had left.
Among them? Cheese and tortillas. Anaya sliced the fried tortillas into triangles, added some shredded cheddar and jalapeño peppers — and started a new tradition which bears his name to this day. (Thanks Nacho! Where would out Super Bowl parties be without you?)
Speaking of which, an alternative take on nachos — using the now familiar cheese sauce — appeared at a Texas Rangers baseball game at Arlington Stadium in 1976. T
wo years later the iconic ABC sportscaster Howard Cosell mentioned the term “nachos” during a Monday Night Football game — helping to turn this rather simple dish into an American tradition.
Note: Piedras Negras continues to celebrate “The International Nacho Festival” each October — complete with live music, art, cultural activities, and a “giant nacho” contest.
