What award did Rebecca Webb Carranza receive in 1994?

Rebecca Webb Carranza received the Golden Tortilla award in 1994. The honor recognized her contribution to the Mexican food industry, particularly her role in popularizing triangular tortilla chips.

Carranza’s innovation began with tortillas rejected by the automated production equipment at the Los Angeles factory she operated with her husband. Rather than discard them, she cut them into triangles, fried them, and sold them as a snack. That practical solution helped make tortilla chips a recognizable commercial product.

The award is sometimes confused with a general food-industry medal or a salsa-related honor, but “Golden Tortilla” is the specific name associated with Carranza’s 1994 recognition. Her story also sits alongside the earlier Mexican tradition of fried tortilla foods and the 1943 creation of nachos by Ignacio Anaya.