National Tortilla Chip Day

National Tortilla Chip Day, observed February 24th, celebrates the crispy, fried or baked corn chips that have become a staple snack in American and Mexican-inspired cuisine. Tortilla chips have roots in Mexican culinary tradition, where leftover corn tortillas, called "totopos" when fried or toasted, were commonly repurposed rather than wasted, cut into pieces and fried to create a crunchy snack or garnish for dishes like chilaquiles. The modern commercial tortilla chip industry in the United States is often traced to Rebecca Webb Carranza, who ran El Zarape Tortilleria in Los Angeles in the late 1940s; rather than discarding tortillas that came out of her machine misshapen, she reportedly began cutting them into triangles, frying them, and selling them by the bag, a practical solution that turned into a hugely popular product and helped establish tortilla chips as a mainstream American snack food. Tortilla chips became further cemented in American food culture through their central role in nachos, a dish said to have been invented in the 1940s in Piedras Negras, Mexico, and through their pairing with salsa and guacamole as a party and restaurant staple. On National Tortilla Chip Day, people celebrate by snacking on tortilla chips with favorite dips or making nachos.