National Taquito Day

Five Food Finds about Taquitos

  • Taquito is a Mexican food dish consisting of a small rolled-up tortilla and some type of filling, usually beef or chicken.
  • The filled tortilla is crisp-fried. Corn (maize) tortillas are generally used to make taquitos, though flour is sometimes used.
  • Taquitos as they now exist are claimed to have been invented in San Diego, California, by Ralph Pesqueria, Jr., when customers at his tortilla factory began asking for prepared food items.
  • The tortilla factory became El Indio Restaurant, where taquitos and other Mexican food are still served.
  • There are many varieties of taquitos in different regions.

1879 Edward Murray East was born. An American botanist and chemist he helped with the development of hybrid corn. Specifically, he concentrated on controlling the protein and fat content of possible hybrids.
1979 American actress Rachael Leigh Cook was born. She began working as a model at age 10, and her picture is still used on boxes of Milk-Bone Dog Biscuits.
1995 Edward H. Lowe died. He invented Kitty Litter.
2004 American scientists Richard Axel and Linda Buck were awarded this year’s Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine. They received the award for their work on our sense of smell. Axel and Buck discovered genes that are responsible for our ability to recognize thousands of complex odors, and remember them throughout life.
2006 New York Times journalist and food writer R.W. Apple died at the age of 71.