The word “fajita” comes from the Spanish faja, meaning “belt” or “girdle.” That’s exactly where the skirt steak sits — around the cow’s waist like a leather belt. Fajitas were originally a working-class meal made by Mexican ranch hands in the 1930s. They got the cheap cuts of beef as part of their pay. Nobody wanted those cuts. So they did what all good home cooks do: they got creative.
They marinated the hell out of it, grilled it over mesquite coals, and wrapped it in tortillas. It was the original “I’ll make due with what I’ve got” dinner. Fast forward eighty years, and now you can find fajitas on a white tablecloth at a restaurant that charges you $28 for three strips of meat. Life is funny like that.
The Takeaway
So, next time you bite into a fajita, give a little nod to the skirt steak or the chicken thigh. Appreciate its journey from a forgotten cut to the star of the show. And if someone asks you where fajita meat comes from, you can say, “It comes from the belly of the cow — or the thigh of the chicken — and it went from being dog food to being my dinner. Respect the sizzle.”
Now go warm up some tortillas. You’ve got a date with a skillet.
