Flamin’ Hot Cheetos: The Humble Beginnings Of A Junk Food
Speaker 1: 00:00 These days. Some folks can't seem to get enough of flaming hot Cheetos, this spicy California born snack as a devoted following, and for people who consider them a snackers Nirvana, the story of the man who invented them will give you more to love. His name is Richard Montana's. He worked as a janitor at a Frito lay factory for nearly two decades before he came up with this concoction. KQ Edis Bianca Taylor shows us, he grew up picking grapes, living on a farm from migrant workers near Rancho Cucamonga with his 10 siblings, flaming hot Cheetos in one way or another, have always been part of my life. Speaker 2: 00:38 Gustavo Adriano is a features writer for the Los Angeles Times and author of Taco USA, how Mexican food conquered America. Speaker 1: 00:45 So before the invention of flaming hot Cheetos, what we Mexican kids would do would just get a bag of Cheetos and put a bunch of [inaudible] on it so they already flaming hot. Speaker 2: 00:54 Richard Montanez was one of those kids. He was born in Mexico, but grew up in southern California picking grapes on a migrant labor farm with his 10 siblings. He dropped out of school at a really young age and in 1976 without knowing how to read or write, got a job as a janitor at Frito lay in Rancho Cucamonga Speaker 3: 01:14 [inaudible] Speaker 2: 01:16 he had been working there for nearly two decades when one day Richard was mopping floors when he noticed something was wrong, Cheetos were getting pumped out without their signature neon orange flavoring on top. So he decided to take a few of these blink Cheetos home to experiment with some of his favorite spices, things he had grown up eating on the burritos. His mom made them and on the lot he bought from street vendors. Here he is describing that day in a talk at UCLA. Speaker 4: 01:45 What if I put some chiller? I made my own Chili. It just wasn't my idea. I'm making my own Chili there. I wasn't made at night. Oh, tish grape took it to work. What do you think? What do you think? Everybody loved it. Speaker 2: 02:00 Frito lay had just launched a campaign to empower its workers. So Richard took those words to heart and called up the CEO of Frito lay. He told him he had an idea for how to break into the Latino market before they met. He read a library book on market strategy and bought a $2 tie. At that meeting he sold the idea of flaming hot Cheetos. Here's Gustavo Adriano again, Speaker 1: 02:24 Montana. His genius was that he was bold enough to go up to his bosses and say, hey look, this would be a really great idea. And the bosses were smart enough to, uh, run with the idea Speaker 2: 02:34 decades later. His creation is when a Frito Lay's top selling products and Richard is an executive at Pepsi Co. By the way, I reached out to Richard for this story, but he never got back to me either way. This is an insane rags to riches tale, but it's not where this story ends these days. Flaming hot Cheetos are completely ingrained in pop culture from hip hop shout outs. This song is appropriately called hot Cheetos and talkies Speaker 5: 03:02 [inaudible] hot Cheetos and copies of this [inaudible] offering to Ebay. Speaker 1: 03:09 Well, this just goes to show people spend money on anything or at least try to a cheeto shapes like the famous gorilla Harambe Bay just sold on Ebay for nearly $100,000 Speaker 2: 03:19 and Katy Perry's Halloween costume, the 30 year old pop star went to Kate Hudson's Halloween party Thursday night, dressed as a crunchy, flaming hot cheeto. It hasn't all been good publicity though in 2012 schools in Pasadena band, flaming hot Cheetos from their campuses, citing nutritional concerns, but that hasn't stopped staffs from creating dishes inspired by the red hot snack like steaks and Burrito's Sushi and even pizza. So how long were you eating hot Cheetos before you came up with this idea? Speaker 6: 03:52 Long time. Yeah. I used to kind of save my lunch money and eat hot Cheetos instead. So Speaker 2: 03:57 agrarian is the owner of Amaechi Pizza Kitchen and Glendale and claims to be the inventor of the flame and hot cheeto people. Speaker 6: 04:04 Exactly the secrets really in all three combined with the sauce and cheese and the dough. And then we kind of just crush up the hot Cheetos and then we bake it in the oven. And then afterwards we put the regular like original hot Cheetos on there, Speaker 2: 04:21 hikes those people, see the photos of the hot cheeto pizza on social media and come from all over to try it. So of course I couldn't leave without trying some myself. All right, I'm going to take a bite. Speaker 6: 04:30 Cool. It's really good. I like that. Speaker 2: 04:37 The most surprising thing to me about the story of flaming hot Cheetos, besides the fact that people are putting them on pizzas, is Richard Montañas his story. It hasn't been co opted by. Big companies claiming the invention as their own and it hasn't been misdefined or whitewashed. Gustavo says this is pretty rare Speaker 1: 04:54 when it comes to Mexican food. There is so many, uh, origin stories, myths really, and almost all of them are fake. Almost all of them are just a bunch of lies. And so the flaming hot Cheetos, uh, origin stories, one of the very few that has actually been verified. Speaker 2: 05:10 Not only is it verified, Richard Montañas has written an autobiography. There's a feature film about him in the works. Ariano says Hollywood doesn't have nearly enough stories featuring Latino's in a positive light, but Richard's life is kind of the perfect inspirational tale featuring and incredibly unique snack. What flavor is flaming hot is not Speaker 1: 05:32 a flavor. It transcends flavors. It transcends food. That's why it just, it hits people and it stays with people so much Speaker 5: 05:40 you. That's text me. I'm ACO. I'm Bianca Taylor. Speaker 2: 05:50 I wasn't eating hot Cheetos in talkies before. I'm on it now. Lunchtime.
