Title: A Brief History of Chips and Salsa: The backstory on this power couple - Food - The Austin Chronicle
Headings: A Brief History of Chips and Salsa
A Brief History of Chips and Salsa
The backstory on this power couple
By Sierra Diaz, Fri., Aug. 18, 2017

Content: From there, more and more companies jumped on the salsa production train, sharply increasing consumption in the late Eighties and early Nineties. Salsa became a staple in American food culture – even outselling condiments like ketchup. The preferred salsa-shoveling vehicle – corn tortilla chips – also originated in Latin America. According to Mayan legend, peasants used dried ground native corn kernels to feed their hungry kings. Though the tortilla chip's definitive origin story is a mystery, Rebecca Webb Carranza claims she invented the chips as a way to use broken scraps from tortilla production. At least one national group, the Tortilla Association, recognizes her claim, but tostadas were being distributed to restaurants in southern California as early as the 1900s. With the Hispanic/Latino populations increasing in the States, the appetite for chips and salsa is also on the rise, and the spicy duo became the official state snack of Texas in 2003 by a House Concurrent Resolution. Say what you want about the legitimacy of the acclaimed combo, but we think it's delicious and we won't stop scooping more into our mouths. A version of this article appeared in print on August 18, 2017 with the headline: Awesome Sauce
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