Food Holidays: October 4th, 2021

Good evening welcome to our series sharing Food Holidays: October 4th, 2021. It’s National Taco Day and Charlie had asked for Taco Bell at lunch which would have given us Taco’s but instead we ended up at Mc Donald’s and no, I can’t make Tacos because we don’t have the ingredients and I don’t want to ask David to stop on his way home even though he would if we asked.

National Taco Day

Consider National Taco Day, October 4 every year, a intensified version of the “Taco Tuesdays” many restaurants offer in a bid to bring in Happy Hour-like crowds. Come to think of it, to further whet your appetite for the subject, get this: the phrase “Taco Tuesday” was actually trademarked across the country in 1989 by a Wyoming-based fast-food chain called Taco John’s, except in New Jersey, where the trademark had already been claimed by Gregory’s Restaurant & Bar back in ‘82.

Nobody needs to worry about the legality of what their dinner is called. On National Taco Day, we only need to grab Tortillas and stuff them with savory fillings, from the traditional Carne Asada, Cheese, Tomato, Lettuce and Sour Cream, to exotic gustatory treats like Fish, Chorizo, or Tongue, to name a few of the “Meat” alternatives. Even the word “stuff” is no accident; many believe the word Taco derives from the Spanish “ataco,” meaning “to stuff.”

WHEN IS NATIONAL TACO DAY 2021?

National Taco Day is celebrated on October 4 every year in the U.S but there are some previous mentions of Taco Day being celebrated on May 3rd, but that is no longer the case. In Mexico, Día del Taco (Day of the Taco) is celebrated on March 31st.

HISTORY OF NATIONAL TACO DAY

The anthropologist and historian Arturo Warman (1937 — 2003) specialized in prehistoric Mexican culture for much of his career, and was cited as saying that it was the Aztecs and Mayans who hybridized wild grasses beginning around 3,000 BC to produce the large, nutritious kernels we now know as Corn.

At National Today, we feel fine marking that time as the true beginning of the Taco as a foodstuff, because the Corn Tortilla became such a versatile part of Mexican Cuisine quickly, spreading far and wide only increasing in the number of its aficionados, whose descendants are of course the Taco-loving foodies of today.

We’re not sure if the calendar day was October 4 that conquistador Hernando Cortez mentioned the native flatbread “tlaxcalli” in a letter to Spain’s King Charles V, but the year was 1520 and it was then that Cortez and his fellows dubbed the food “tortilla.”

From that point forward, it was inevitable that advances in both culinary Science and communications would bring the Taco exploding onto dining-room tables across the globe. By 1914, Californian cookbooks had begun to include Taco recipes. In the following decades, the Taco has fully lived up to its definition and became nearly ubiquitous. We don’t have a single complaint. 

NATIONAL TACO DAY ACTIVITIES

1. Visit your local Taqueria, Mexican restaurant, or Taco Bell walk in and enjoy a finely crafted Taco at your fingertips.
2. Create your own Taco and you can choose one of the Taco recipes online, then go to your grocery store to buy the ingredients, and create your Tacos. A Taco Press or Deep Fryer go a long way in making your National Taco Day even better.
3. Don’t forget you can give the gift of Tacos. Yes, we said it. Give a Taco to a loved one, a friend, orstranger you pass on the street. Together we’ll make the world a better place, one Taco at a time.

5 AMAZING FACTS ABOUT CORN TORTILLAS

1. The word “Maize” was first used by the Taino peoples indigenous to the Antilles and the Bahamas, though technically their word was “mahiz” and only changed to “maize” when adopted by Spanish explorers.
2. A popular use of the earlier gas-powered engines and electric motors was used to grind grain for “Masa,” the dough or paste that was flattened into Tortillas.
3. There are fluctuations in the market involving more variables than we can list here, it’s Mission that is the top-selling Tortilla brand in the U.S., out of about 450 distinct vendors.
4. Uno mas, por favor…In terms of Tortilla consumption, the typical Mexican family of four eats more than two pounds of tortillas per day (imagine holding a single tortilla in one hand, and eight sticks of butter or margarine which is what most people use on there Tortiallas.
5. The market is anything but “flat” As of August, 2019, the Tortilla-production industry employed over 21,000 people in the United States alone.

WHY WE LOVE NATIONAL TACO DAY

1. Tacos are a taste like no other. Looking to have your mind blown well the possibilities are endless when you create your own Tacos using your own combination of Meats, Cheese, Vegetables, Seasonings and Sauces making your Taco your own.
2. Carnivore, omnivore, or herbivore, you’re covered. While people love sitting down and taking their time to enjoy a Taco, others simply have a fast-paced lifestyle. For those always on the go, Tacos are always a great idea.
3. Tacos are the ultimate comfort food. It’s hard not to get excited for Tacos in those crisp shells or soft, warm wraps filled with goodness. Tacos can be big or small, spicy or sweet, they can be crafted to fit any taste. Vegetarian, Vegan, Kosher, Lactose-intolerant, Gluten free — there’s a Taco for everyone.

Thank you,

Glenda, Charlie and David Cates