Sandra Nickel: Hi, my name is Sandra Nickel, and I'm the author of Nacho's Nachos: The True Story of the World's Favorite Snack. I've been a lifelong nacho fan. I ate them every weekend as a kid in these fantastic local Mexican restaurants in my hometown. Fast forward to six years ago, when I was making a batch of nachos at home, and I thought, "Hmm, I wonder who invented these?" My first search on the internet revealed that Ignacio Anaya was the inventor, but, beyond that, there wasn't much agreement on the details.

At first, I thought I would go with the version that seemed most likely and expand on it through narrative nonfiction. The more I thought about it though, the more I was convinced that kids deserve the true story, the straight story. So I traveled to Piedras Negras in Coahuila, Mexico, which is right across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas. I spoke to as many people as I could, gathered photographs, watched the original version being made, and then follow it up with a long email exchange with Louis Anaya, Nacho's grandson, and other descendants.

I also had the fantastic luck to discover two newspaper articles on microfilm for which Nacho himself was interviewed. I put all this together and it became Nacho's Nachos: The True Story of the World's Favorite Snack. And here, I would like to emphasize "World's". It might surprise some to know that I have found and, I admit, eaten nachos in England, Switzerland, France, Spain, Russia, Egypt, Dubai, Italy, and Thailand. I think it's important for folks to know that it is because of Ignacio Anaya and his quick thinking that so many people around the world share time with friends and family gathered around this spectacular snack. So, thank you, Nacho.