A group of American women, wives of soldiers stationed at the nearby Eagle Pass Army Air Base, stopped to ask for a snack. Unable to find a chef, Garcia took matters into his own hands, and improvised the tasty delicacy to the delight of his customers.
Soon word spread about the special Nachos, they were added to the Victoria Club menu, imitated in the city and in 1949 they were written in an American cookbook. By 1960, Garcia had opened his own restaurant, El Nacho.
76 years after its invention, nachos have spread throughout the world. A mass-produced version was introduced in 1976 at Arlington Stadium in Texas, with liquefied cheese sauce. Stadiums quickly sold more nachos than popcorn.
Garcia refused to patent his creation: “It’s just a snack to keep my clients happy and well fed,” he said according to the chronicles. “It’s like any other border dish,” he said despite his name has gone down in history.
Every October, Piedras Negras hosts the Nacho International Festival, and the city has erected a plaque in his honor, where it is recalled that in that place Ignacio’s famous dish was created.
