The stadium nachos. A food that’s been written about in the Smithsonian (website), hass become a staple of the American ballpark. Nothing quite says baseball like missing an inning and a half waiting in line to drop $20 on a beer and a pile of kinda-stale-but-whatever tortilla chips doused in the finest liquid cheese that comes from a large plastic bag. The stadium nachos can take many forms; cheese and jalapenos in a paper boat, throws some meat and salsa on there and upgrade to a paper tray, or the rare souvenir helmet of nachos.
To really appreciate the ballpark nachos you first need to understand the history of the nachos.
The history of nachos has been tirelessly traced by both the Oxfrod English Dictionary and the Smithsonian. Turns out, the birth of nachos can be tracked down to a restaurant in called the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, Mexico in 1943. A group of army wives, tired from a day of shopping, wandered into the restaurant being maitre d’ed by Ignacio Anaya, known to his bros simply as “Nacho”*. Nacho, being a swell guy, put together what food he could to feed the ladies despite having no chefs around, and so nachos were born.
But the stadium nacho didn’t truly come into form until Frank Liberto, aka “The Father of Nachos,” introduced the cheese sauce in common use today.
According to the Food and Drug Administration’s standards, the sauce is technically not “cheese,” but that hasn’t stopped fans from pumping it by the gallons since – Smithsonian, K. Annabelle Smith
Frank introduced his cheese sauce to the baseball fan at the Arlington Stadium in 1976, and they were immediately hooked. Rangers fans gobbled that stuff up at a rate of 1 sale for every 2 and a half customers. That’s good hustle.
Well, now you know a little more about those nachos you so crave. So next time you’re at the ballpark send us your best nacho pics at viewfromthepine1 [at] gmail [dot] com or tweet them at us at @viewfromthepine with the #nachoporn and share your nachos with the world.
*Nacho is actually a common nickname for Ignacio. Makes sense.
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