February 24th is National Tortilla Chip Day

If you're looking for something to do today then get ready for a crunchy one because it's National Tortilla Chip Day!

Grab some chips and your favorite dip!

Let's get right into celebrating National Tortilla Chip Day!

Why is this a holiday?

Today is a holiday for the same reason as most other food holidays; people love tortilla chips and want to celebrate their greatness! Tortilla chips are so commonly served at parties or restaurants today that it's no wonder that they have their own holiday.

These chips actually got their start back in the 1940s in Los Angeles when Rebecca Webb Carranza was trying to think of a way to use up the tortillas that were rejected from her automatic tortilla machine. A lot of them didn't come out in the right shape, but instead of throwing them out she cut them into triangles, fried them and then sold bags of them for just a dime at the El Zarape Tortilla Factory. What a great way to recycle tortillas, huh? Now you can get these chips pretty much anywhere!

Tortilla chips are made from corn tortillas, or pressed corn meal, that's cut into shape and then baked or fried into chip goodness. But don't think you're limited to just one kind of tortilla chips! They can make these with yellow, white, blue or red corn and many companies are known to add more ingredients for a wide variety of flavors. Plus you're always welcome to dip them in your favorite salsa or dip!

Ever hear of Doritos? Yeah, I thought so! And it's funny, most people don't think of Doritos when you talk about tortilla chips but they actually are just flavored tortilla chips!

I can hear the crunching already!

 So how can you celebrate today?

Well, I'm sure you want me to start out with the easiest way so why not go out to eat at a Mexican restaurant?  They will almost always offer you tortilla chips as an appetizer and a lot of the time they're better than ones you buy in a store, especially if they make them themselves.  And they will most likely bring out some salsa and possibly other dips for you to try out as you wait for your meal.  A simple celebration combined with a great meal?  Sounds like a win-win situation to me!

Or you could just go to the store and grab a bag of tortilla chips to munch on today.  Check and see what different flavors they have; maybe you can try something new.  And don't forget to pick up some salsa, cheese or dip!

And if you want to celebrate with others, then invite some friends over to watch the game or something.  Put out a nice bowl of tortilla chips and watch how fast they disappear.  And if you really want to impress them then you can make some killer nachos covered in cheese, meats, beans, vegetables and so on.  Who doesn't love a plateful of nachos?

Regardless of how you decide to celebrate, I hope you enjoy crunching on a wide variety of tortilla chips today!