In the lexicon of food, a fajita generically refers to grilled meat served on a flour tortilla with condiments. Popular meats are beef, chicken, pork and shrimp. Popular condiments are sour cream, guacamole, salsa, pico de gallo, cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion. Fajitas are associated with Tex-Mex cuisine.
In Spanish, fajita is a form of the word faja which translates to "belt" or "girdle" in English. Butchers along the Texas border with Mexico used the word to refer to the diaphragm muscle of a steer. Researchers found references to Hispanic ranch hands eating this cut of beef in a tortilla with condiments as early as the 1930s but the word "fajita" is not known to have appeared in print until 1975.
