Even if you've never tried a bag
of Flamin' Hot Cheetos,
you probably know they exist.
And you probably know they're extremely spicy.
The fan culture around Flamin' Hot Cheetos has
helped these fiery cheese puffs
gain widespread notoriety, survived school bans,
media panic, and an origin story debacle.
Fans have imbued meaning and value into Flamin' Hot Cheetos
and they've become ingrained in pop culture.
Food nannies looking to snatch them from our hands
don't stand a chance.
They're the outlaw snack that may be more American
than apple pie.
My name is Tirsa Farah and I am the owner, executive chef,
along with my husband, of Tirsa's Mexican Cafe.
And we are, in what I call, the living room of
my little casita Mexicana restaurant in
downtown Los Angeles, Chinatown, Downtown,
whatever you guys want to call it.
Tirsa Farrah started her cafe
because she wanted to be her own boss.
Her menu is inspired by her experience
growing up in Los Angeles.
An L.A. girl with Mexican roots.
You know, so that's what you're going to find here, is my,
my take on the L.A. flavors and the Mexican scene growing
up in a house that's literally divided.
My dad was born in Mexico and my mom
is an L.A. native, herself.
One of the ingredients in
Farah's dishes, Flamin' Hot Cheetos,
which she sprinkles on a variety of dishes
from sopas, to nachos, to esquites.
She first encountered the snack in high school.
Either before school or after school,
you were gonna go get a bag of chips.
And the only one you were going to get was "Flamin' Hot."
It's just kind of this kooky tradition
even though we're like, why are we eating this?
We just can't stop.
Part of the lore around Flamin' Hot Cheetos
was the dynamic story of their self-proclaimed inventor,
Richard Montañez.
What would happen if I put chile
on a Cheeto?
Montañez said he was working as a janitor at Frito-Lay when he said he dreamed up
the idea of a spicy version of the company's
famous cheese puffs.
That led to a meeting with
Frito-Lay's president, and that impulse decision
would become a billion-dollar snack.
The story went viral.
Montañez, a Mexican-American, earned legend status
and was invited to give motivational speeches
at corporate events for Walmart, Target, and Harvard.
He became a hero in the Mexican-American community
and his rise was considered an example
of the American dream fulfilled.
Journalists repeated the story without bothering
to investigate its veracity.
Montañez chronicled his story in a 2021 book.
And it's even being made into a movie by
actress and producer, Eva Longoria.
Turns out that story probably isn't true.
The times quoted several former
Frito-Lay employees as saying he had nothing to do
with Flamin' Hot Cheetos and that the product was created
by a team in 1989, based out of Texas.
Montañez started taking credit for their creation
in the early two thousands, almost two decades after
they were invented.
Montañez and his fans still maintained
that he was the true inventor.
The best way to destroy a positive message
is to destroy the messenger.
Never allow that to happen.
So what if the Flamin' Hot Cheetos origin story is a fairytale?
It's part of the folklore.
What's most interesting about these spicy cheese puffs
aren't what actually happened at Frito-Lay,
but how consumers re-imagined a corporate snack
with a Mexican twist into something uniquely American.
Flamin' Hot Cheetos are in rap songs,
YouTube and TikTok videos, clothing and jewelry,
and a variety of dishes with roots all over the world.
Even Katy Perry wore a Flamin' Hot Cheeto outfit
with matching purse to a Halloween party.
The fan culture around Flamin' Hot Cheetos
has been perplexing to food nannies
intent on controlling our consumption
of artificial dyes and high-calorie cornmeal.
Flamin' Hot Cheetos, anyone?
Flamin' Hot Cheetos.
So hot, careful where you eat 'em.
Bags of Flamin' Hot Cheetos appeared
on American store shelves in the early nineties.
They came to symbolize the poor eating habits
of America's youth.
The panic intensified with the rise of social media.
Flamin' Hot Cheetos, now banned, actually,
in many schools around the country.
There were claims that kids were showing up
at doctor's offices with heartburn and red stool.
The ban just seems to make the snacks
more tempting.
Flamin' Hot Cheetos had already permeated
pop culture.
♪ Cop me some Hot Cheetos and a Lemonade Brisk ♪
They love the spiciness, the crunch,
the illicit nature of the snacks.
The goal is to eat as many Hot Cheetos
as possible in 10 minutes.
Today, YouTube creators unintentionally
mock the calorie intake concerns of school administrators
and dieticians.
Here, Matt Stonie takes the 10,000 calorie
Flamin' Hot Cheetos challenge.
Ooh, that burns, the lick.
The snack started appearing in places
its creators never dreamt of.
On Etsy, there are Flamin' Hot Cheetos earrings,
false eyelashes and nails, shoes, clothing,
and even household items.
I almost bought the leggings.
There was some, there was some leggings I wanted
so bad.
But I think they, like, sold out or something.
I'm still hopeful for their future.
They're extreme spiciness is used as a metaphor
for political convictions
and expressions of individual power.
This pin with Flamin' Hot Cheetos colors and style
features the name Chingona,
Spanish slang for bad-ass woman.
The cultural remixing is also happening with food.
It's not just a flavor, it's a memory,
It's a, like, occasion,
you just flashback to all the times you
eat "Flamin' Hot."
We have an, esquite, which is a corn that we call
a "Me so Corny."
With the butter, the mayonnaise, the cotija cheese,
lime chili powder.
And then if you want to get "Flamin' Hot,"
we put crushed "Flamin' Hot" right on top.
And it takes you to nostalgia heaven.
I'm going to be eating Hot Cheeto sushi.
I did make these my own, not the sushi though,
but like the Hot Cheeto on the sushi.
Here, YouTube creator, Wendy,
from the "Wendy's Eating Show" channel,
is Mexicana, eating a Japanese dish, and taking part
in a Korean trend on YouTube called a mukbang,
a video where someone eats food
and talks to the audience about it.
You guys want to know why I picked these?
These sushi rolls?
Because they have cream cheese in the middle,
and Hot Cheetos and cream cheese also go together like
peanut butter and jam, so.
Flamin' Hot Cheetos are uniquely American.
They give us the opportunity to engage with cultures that are different from our own,
or allow us to define new, surprising, and dynamic ways to be.
Love comes in all flavors, you know, it's just the different chip.
The love story that I'm telling is
you can be as different as you want to be or
non-traditional as you want to be
and still make delicious, yummy food.