Ignacio Anaya

Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya (15 August 1895 – 9 November 1975) was a Mexican waiter who is believed to be the inventor of nachos.

Born Ignacio Anaya Garcia in Manuel Benavides on August 15, 1895, he worked at the El Moderno restaurant in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas. Around 1943 he began serving fried tortilla chips topped with melted cheese and jalapeño peppers at the restaurant, calling them "Nachos Especiales".

He married Marie Antoinette Salinas, with whom he had 9 children. He later opened his own restaurant, "Nacho's Restaurant" in Eagle Pass, where he served T-bone steak, tampiqueñas, and enchiladas amongst other things. In a 1969 interview with the San Antonio Express-News he stated that he never made any money from the invention, saying: "The only man making money on nachos is the man selling the cheese and jalapeños."

He died on 9 November, 1975, leaving a son Ignacio Anaya Jr who went into banking and 5 other surviving children.

On 15 August 2019, Google showed a Doodle celebrating what would have been his 124th birthday.