Ignacio Anaya García Bio, Wiki

Ignacio Anaya García was born on August 15th, 1895 and died in 1975 aged 81 years old. He was the creator of the nachos, a typical Mexican dish, which would soon reach fame due to its imminent success and popularity throughout the world.

Ignacio Anaya García Google Doodle

On August 15th, 2019, Google Doodle celebrates Mexican culinary innovator, Ignacio Anaya García whose proper name is not as familiar than his nickname: “Nacho,” a common abbreviation for Ignacio. According to Google, Nacho revolutionized world cuisine by melting grated Wisconsin cheese over some jalapeno slices and totopos (tortilla chips), thus inventing the dish he dubbed Nachos especiales.

Mexico City-based guest artist Alfonso de Anda created the Google Doodle.

Ignacio Anaya García Early Life

Nacho was originally from Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico. He would leave to live for eighteen years in the same state at Piedras Negras , where his most famous dish, the nachos, would come from.

Ignacio Anaya García Wife, Children

According to an article in Zocalo.com, Ignacio Anaya García married Maria Antonieta Salinas and they had nine children together.

Nacho’s Especiales

Nacho came up with his culinary invention in Piedras Negras, Coahuila in 1943. There are several versions in this regard about his greatest creation, although the one that stands out the most is when, after the arrival of a group of women being wives of the US military stationed at nearby Eagle Pass Army Airbase, stopped in asking for a snack. Unable to find a chef, García took matters into his own hands, improvising the tasty treat much to his customers’ delight.

The dish termed achos especiales spread and was added to the Club Victoria menu, imitated around town, and written up in an American cookbook as early as 1949. By 1960, García had opened his own restaurant, El Nacho.

In the 76 years since the invention of nachos, it has spread all over the world. A mass-produced version was introduced in 1976 at Arlington Stadium in Texas, with liquefied cheese sauce pumped out of large cans. Stadiums were quickly selling more nachos than popcorn.

García Declined to Patent His Invention

Although García refused to patent his creation—“It’s just a snack to keep my customers happy and well-fed,” he reportedly said, “It’s like any other border dish”—his name has gone down in history. Each October, Piedras Negras hosts the International Nacho Festival, and the town has erected a plaque in his honor, a fitting memorial to one man’s delicious legacy.

Vanguardia reports that the inventor’s son, Ignacio Anaya junior, who was then vice president of a bank in Eagle Pass, tried to patent nachos but it was too late and he was not able to do so.

“I’ve been from Piedras Negras to Chicago and Texas and I simply smile when I see that there is ‘Nacho’s Special’ on a menu. If they knew that it originated from my dad and that his idea never exploded, but it has given us much honor and pride to the Anaya family and the city of Piedras Negras,” he said, according to the publication.