NACHO (LIFESTYLE AND LEISURE)

A tortilla chip, usually served grilled and topped with melted cheese, jalapeÄo peppers, spices, etc.; often in the plural nachos, a 'Tex-Mex' snack with these ingredients. Etymology: The word is clearly borrowed from Mexican Spanish, but its further origins have been the subject of some debate. The dish was first served in the late forties, and one attractive theory is that it was named after the chef who first prepared it. Nacho is the diminutive form of the Spanish given name Ignacio, and one Ignacio 'Nacho' Anaya, a Mexican chef working in the Texan border area of Piedras Negras in the forties, has claimed the honour. The apparent plural form may have originated as a misinterpreted possessive Nacho's. Another theory is that the word is borrowed from the Mexican Spanish adjective nacho, meaning 'flat-nosed'. History and Usage: Although first prepared as long ago as the forties, nachos did not spread far outside Texas and North Mexico until the seventies, and only became widely known through fast-food chains in the eighties. The original dish consisted of a wedge of tortilla, garnished and toasted, but in Britain the basic ingredient has always been corn chips. The chain of Mexican fast-food restaurants is busily expanding its product line to include...a nacho side dish, and a salad. Fortune 14 Nov. 1983, p. 126 I can tell you what they served. It was guacamole and nachos and there was Gallo jug wine and shrimp dip. Jonathan Kellerman Shrunken Heads (1985), p. 86