Tortilla chips are a type of food that not many people think much about. If they do think about them, it’s usually only in the context of snack food or as something served before a meal at a Mexican restaurant. And that’s a shame because tortilla chips have a rich and storied history that’s worth discussing.

That’s why we think everyone should take the time on February 24th to celebrate National Tortilla Chip Day. After all, it’s important to restore these chips to their former glory and give them a place at our tables.

The History of Tortilla Chips

Although we tried our best to uncover the history of this holiday, we couldn’t find out who started it or when it was started. That’s why we’ve decided to turn our attention to researching the history of the tortilla chip, and what we’ve discovered is quite interesting.

This chip has been mass-produced in the U.S. since the 1940s and is made from either yellow corn, white corn, blue corn, or red corn. Although tortilla chips might have been invented before the 1940s, it was Rebecca Webb Carranza—co-owner of the Mexican deli and El Zarape Tortilla Factory in Los Angeles, California—who created the tortilla chips to minimize waste from the misshapen tortillas that were rejected by the automatic tortilla manufacturing machine.

She found that she could take these “reject” tortillas, cut them into triangles, and then fry them. She then sold them for a dime a bag out of the factory. This started the popularity of tortilla chips in the United States, a trend that continues to this day.

Facts About Tortilla Chips

As we researched the history of tortilla chips, we learned some interesting facts about this snack food. Facts that people might want to learn before celebrating National Tortilla Chip Day. So without further ado, below are some tortilla-related facts that we think people will love.

• An alternate origin story for the tortilla chip is that it was invented by Jose Martinez in San Antonio, Texas. His chips were toasted, not fried.
• Rebecca Webb Carranza won the Golden Tortilla Award for her contribution to Mexican food with the invention of the tortilla chip.
• Nachos were invented by Ignacio Anaya in 1943.
• National Nachos Day is celebrated annually on November 6.
• The top-ranked tortilla chip brand in the U.S. in 2015 was Doritos. That year, they had over $1.3 billion in sales.

Celebrating National Tortilla Chip Day

Celebrating this holiday is as easy as it is fun. All a person has to do is enjoy tortilla chips in some way during the day. This can be something as simple as eating some packaged tortilla chips or heading down to a local Mexican restaurant and enjoying them in style.

No matter how you celebrate this day, however, be sure to use the hashtag #NationalTortillaChipDay to let everyone know that you’re enjoying this crunchy snack food.