Nachos

Nachos have an origin story unusual for how precisely it is dated and how little it is disputed. In 1943, in the border town of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, a group of American visitors from Eagle Pass, Texas arrived at the Victory Club after the kitchen had already closed. The maître d', Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya, put together what he had on hand (fried tortilla pieces topped with melted cheese and sliced pickled jalapeño), and the diners named the dish after him [1].

The name stuck on both sides of the border. Anaya later opened his own restaurant, and the dish spread north into Texas and the rest of the United States through the second half of the twentieth century, gaining new toppings with every kitchen it passed through [2].

What travelled with it was only the basic idea (a fried corn chip, melted cheese, sliced chilli), and almost every American version now built on top of that idea, from stadium concession trays to loaded restaurant platters, is a long way from Anaya's simple plate. This version keeps to that original proportion: chips and cheese in alternating layers rather than one dense mound, so the cheese reaches every chip rather than only the ones on top.