The Surprising Origin of Tortilla Chips: Born in Los Angeles, Not Mexico

Despite their Mexican culinary soul, the mass-produced tortilla chip is a mid-20th-century American invention.

The Inventor: Rebecca Webb Carranza

• Where: El Zarape Tortilla Factory, Los Angeles, California.
• When: Late 1940s.
• How: Automated tortilla machines produced misshapen rounds. Instead of wasting them, Carranza cut the rejects into triangles, fried them, and sold them as snacks—"Tort Chips." They became a hit.

The Dorito Connection

In 1966, Frito-Lay executive Arch West (inspired by Mexican totopos at a San Diego restaurant) partnered with Elmer Doolin to launch Doritos ("little golden things")—the first nationally distributed flavored tortilla chip, debuting at Disneyland’s Casa de Fritos.

Cultural Irony

Totopos (toasted tortilla pieces) have existed in Mexico for centuries. But the commercial, shelf-stable, triangle-cut tortilla chip—now ubiquitous in Mexican restaurants north of the border—was industrialized in L.A. Carranza’s innovation turned waste into a global snack category.