Ay caramba! It's National Taco Day

It all started some 5,000 years ago.

The prehistoric Mexican Aztec and Mayan peoples cultivated wild grasses into the crop we know today as corn and started to make tortillas from the resulting flour.

Stuff that tortilla with spicy meat, cheese, shredded lettuce, sour cream and salsa with a squirt of lime juice and you have the modern taco.

While it's origins may be Mexican, the taco has taken the world by storm as a delicious snack or meal that's easy to make at home, grab from a food truck or enjoy at a casual or gourmet restaurant.

As such, the taco, be it humble or a culinary masterpiece, deserves its own holiday.

That's today, National Taco Day, celebrated every year on Oct. 4.

Technically, it's a day made up by Americans, but we Canadians can partake, too.

Getting even more local, get your taco fix for dinner tonight at Kelowna restaurants Latin Fiesta, YLW Tacos or Cantina del Centro.

This year, Oct. 4 and National Taco Day falling on Monday is somewhat unfortunate because some restaurants are increasingly closed on Mondays, so not all Mexican restos are open in Kelowna today.

"Every day is taco day here," said Enrique Custio, the chef at Latin Fiesta restaurant at 400 Highway 33 in Rutland.

"I'd say the pulled-pork taco is our most popular. And you can have it in a corn tortilla (traditional) or (wheat) flour tortilla (a later incarnation)."

There's also hard-shell, crispy fried corn tortillas that were developed in the U.S. and made popular by fast-food Mexican places like Taco Bell.

Of course, the taco's versatility and the very origin of is name 'to stuff,' means it can also be packed with any protein from chicken, beef and pork to fish, chorizo sausage and tofu and can be topped with virtually anything from shredded cheese and lettuce, sour cream and salsa to creamy slaw, onion and guacamole.

If all this has made you hungry for tacos, then this article has achieved what it set out to do.

Pair your tacos with a light and crisp Mexican beer, margarita or Mexican soda and you've got it made.

Snag the ingredients from the grocery store, if you're lazy or in a hurry, stores also sell taco kits, or hit a Mexican place.

Since once-a-year is certainly not enough to celebrate tacos, Taco Tuesday has entered the current lexicon as a way to make the ubiquitous Mexican fare a weekly treat and drive happy hour-type crowds to restaurants.