Foodies, cheese lovers, sports fans, communal eaters, stoners, Mexican food lovers and anybody else who loves cheesy food should be celebrating today!

It’s National nachos Day!

The best part about nachos is anybody, even the most culinary-challenged, can make their own celebratory plate of nachos. All you need is chips, cheese, and just about anything else you want to put on top.

How to make the most amazing nachos ever

Nachos is one of those dishes you can easily personalize to your tastes and wishes. Do you like tuna fish? Make tuna fish nachos.

(Okay, everybody else quit gagging, somebody out there loves tuna fish and will make tuna fish nachos, let them live their love.)

Here are a few tips to make the best nachos possible to celebrate this momentous day.

  • Choose restaurant style chips. These chips are usually larger and thicker than normal tortilla chips. They maintain their firmness longer under the weight of the cheese and are crispier.
  • The best cheese is either cheddar, pepper jack, Monterey jack, provolone, American, or a blend of two or more of them. The important characteristic for the cheese is it must be gooey.
  • Don’t just dump the cheese and toppings on top. Layer them in with the chips. This way everybody is guaranteed to get a taste of all the good toppings. Plus, it avoids the wars over the avocado-adjacent chips. (Nobody likes a guacamole hog.)
  • You can use a microwave or oven to heat the chips. However, many people prefer the oven because it crisps the top layer of chips.
  • Add some fruit, such as mango, onto the top after the cheese is melted. Most nacho toppings are pretty spicy, a taste of something sweet amongst all the fire will be a nice touch.

For the sports fans who want to recreate sitting in the stands eating nachos and watching football, all they have to do is buy some chips, cheese sauce, and a jar of jalapenos.

Heat the sauce, pour it over the chips, and sprinkle the jalapenos on top. Then go give $200 to a local charity to simulate buying your ticket, paying for parking, and buying one beer. To really get the full effect, sit on a hard bench in 40-degree weather.

The hero of nachos, Ignacio Anaya

According to the Dallas Star-Telegram,nachos were invented by Ignacio Anaya.

He was the Maitre’D of a restaurant in a border town in Mexico, right across from Texas. One day, he had a large number of American women, wives of servicemen, walk in wanting something to eat.

The chef was gone and there was only tortillas and cheese in the kitchen, along with a few small amounts of other food. Exhibiting a spirit and skill that would be the envy of any reality cooking show contestant, he made chips from the tortillas while he heated the cheese.

He combined the two and nachos were born.

Ignacio called them "Nachos Especiales" because his nickname was Nacho. He died in 1975, but there is a plaque dedicated to him for his contribution to the culinary world in Piedras Negras, Mexico.

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