Cheetos
Cheetos are a crunchy, cheese-flavored snack made from extruded cornmeal. Introduced by Frito-Lay in 1948, currently about one billion bags are sold worldwide each year. In some markets they are popular enough that the word "Cheetos" is often used as a genericized trademark for any similar cheese puffs snack food, but it is, in fact, trademarked by the Frito-Lay company.
List of Cheetos Products/Styles
- Crunchy Cheetos 1948
- Cheetos Puffs 1971
- Cheese and Bacon Balls 1980s
- Cheetos Paws 1991 (discontinued in 1994)
- Cheetos Cheezy Checkers 1995 (discontinued in 1998)
- Chester's Flamin' Hot Fries 1995
- Flamin' Hot Cheetos 1995
- Crunchy Nacho Cheetos 1996 (discontinued in 1998)
- Cheetos Zig-Zags 1999 (discontinued in 2003)
- Cheetos X's and O's 2000 (discontinued in 2002)
- Cheetos Puffs Twists 2003
- Cool Ranch Cheetos 2003 (discontinued later that year)
- Natural Cheetos Puffs (White Cheddar) 2003
- Baked Cheetos 2004
- Color Changing Cheetos Puffs 2004 (discontinued in late 2005)
- Cheetos Pizza Puffs 2005 (discontinued later that year)
- Flamin' Hot Cheetos con Limón 2005
- Cheetos Holiday Twists 2005 (discontinued in 2006)
- Cheddar Jalapeño Cheetos 2005
- Flamin' Hot Baked Cheetos 2006
- Cheetos Crunchy Twists 2006
- Flamin' Hot Cheetos Puffs 2006
- Cheetos Mix & Move 2007
- Cheetos Asteroids 2007
- Xxtra Flamin' Hot 2007
- Baked Color Changing Xxtra Flamin' Hot Ranch Crunchy Cheetos 2008
Besides the traditional thin "crunchy" style and wide "puffs" style Cheetos, there have been several limited releases of semi-puffed Cheetos shapes: Paws, Cheezy Checkers (a grid shape), X's and O's, and Mix & Move (a thinner re-release of the previous shape).
You can taste a sample of the Cheetos Asteroids on the Frito lay Family Sack.
One of the more popular varieties of Cheetos are "Flamin' Hot Cheetos," which are covered in a spicy powder. They also come in "Flamin' Hot Cheetos con Limon," which are also flavored with lime.
A distinguishing feature of snacks in this genre is their tendency to turn the eater's fingers orange or red. This is due to the powdered dyes used to color the corn tubes. In 2005, Holiday Cheetos Twists were introduced, which were made to turn the eater's tongue green. Currently in product testing is a new Cheetos product called "Cheetos Clean Paws," which is designed to not leave any color or residue on the eater's fingers.[citation needed] Natural Cheetos use organic corn meal, and contain no artificial color, artificial flavor, or preservatives.
The manufacturing process does not create uniform pieces. At times, exceptionally large Cheetos have been sold on eBay. The largest of note is about the size of a lemon, weighs half an ounce, and is preserved and on display in Algona, Iowa. [1]
International variants
Australia
- Cheese and Bacon balls. Manufactured by Smiths Australia.
Japan
- Sugar Butter, puffed cheeto snacks are flavored like sugared toast.
India
Varieties of Cheetos sold in India:
- Cheetos Cheesy Masala Balls
- Cheetos Masala Balls (Red and Green Chili flavored)
- Cheetos Spicy Cheese Whirlz
- Cheetos Tangy Loops (Tomato and Red Chili flavored)
Korea
Neither Flamin' Hot Cheetos nor Cheesy Cheetos is sold in Korea. Koreans instead made different flavors of Cheetos such as:
- Chicken-Flavored Cheetos
- Bulgogi- Flavored Cheetos
- Barbecue-Flavored Cheetos
- Hot & Spicy Cheetos
- Strawberry Cheetos[2]
Mexico
- Cheese & Jalapeño Claws Cheetos
- Cheese & Jalapeño & Ham Cheetos
- Cheetos Puff
- Cheetos Twisted
- Cheetos Flamin' Hot
In Mexico, Chester Cheetah is "Chester Cheetos."
Egypt
- Cheetos Puffs (Smaller Size than the U.S. version, 50 and 100 gm packs).
- "Mini" Cheetos (Looks like small balls of Cheetos. Served in small thin packs so the consumer eats them directly from pack to mouth).
Peru
- Hamburger flavored Cheetos.
- Hot Dog flavored Cheetos.
In Peru, Cheetos are called by the people as "chizitos".
Advertising
From the beginning [citation needed], Cheetos' slogan was "The cheese that goes crunch!" That slogan remained until 1996 , when it became "Dangerously cheesy!" This is the current slogan for the product.
Variety packs of snack-size packages of Cheetos and other Frito-Lay snacks featured Family Circus in the 1980s.
Cheetos originally did not have a mascot until 1986, when an anthropomorphic cartoon cheetah named Chester Cheetah was introduced. Since his commercial was successful, the sly, smooth voiced cheetah soon starred in another commercial, and eventually, he became Cheetos' official mascot. He has even starred in two video games.
TV commercials for Cheetos have consistently featured a theme where Chester Cheetah desperately attempts to eat other people's Cheetos. Through the mid '80s and '90s, he was often seen sneaking up on an unsuspecting stranger at a beach or public park. The result would always involve cartoon violence like Chester clumsily getting his face smashed flat by a trash can lid or being launched into a water tower. Contemporary TV spots are beginning to portray Chester in CGI animation and in less antagonistic manner.
One particular commercial series in 2006 had Chester defeating a rival chef, by the name of Chef Pierre, in a baking contest to create Baked Cheetos. This led to an advertising campaign titled Chester Goes Undercover, in which Pierre, disguised in silhouette, steals the Baked Cheetos recipe, and Chester gives chase by finding clues that lead him to Pierre's minions Twisted McGee, Flamin' Hot Fiona, and Cruncher. This is linked to an interactive Internet site. Upon confrontation with Chef Pierre, Agent X signaled all the agents to appear and Pierre and his minions were apprehended.
Popular culture references
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2007) |
Cheetos are often referred to in pop culture as the snack choice of lazy, overweight nerds and unemployed people.
- In the movie Office Space, Peter, the main protagonist, continues to pursue his lifelong dream of "doing nothing". He shows up at the office just to play Tetris and eats Cheetos off his desk.
- On Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld refers to cheetos during his Stand-up comedy set at the start of episode 5, season 6, when he is describing the La-Z-Boy recliner. "...the half-conscious dead beat with no job, home all day, eatin' cheetos and watchin' tv recliner."
- On South Park, Cartman is excessively fond of a snack called Cheesy Poofs, which are very similar to Cheetos or cheese puffs.
- According to an article in GQ magazine, Saddam Hussein was very fond of Cheetos.
- A character who looks exactly like Chester appears in issue #72 of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book.
- In the movie Herbie Fully Loaded, the race car driven by Trip Murphy (Matt Dillon) is sponsored by Cheetos.
- Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres constantly announces her love for Cheetos.
- Britney Spears has been photographed several times with a bag of Cheetos in her hands, and has often proclaimed her fondness for the snack.
- In the computer game F.E.A.R., a character named Norton Mapes eats bags of snack food called Cheezee Pooz which are similar to Cheetos and South Park's Cheesy Poofs. A bag of Cheezee Pooz can also be seen in Condemned: Criminal Origins. Both F.E.A.R. and Condemned: Criminal Origins were developed by Monolith Productions. Cheetos have also appeared in the game Neverwinter Nights.
- Two Chester Cheetah videogames were released for home videogame consoles in the 1990s. They appeared on Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.
- In the Dinosaur Comics webcomic, Cheetos are referred to as "hobosnacks." In the comments easter egg, Ryan North claims, "If you've eaten Cheetos and you're not a hobo, WELL THEN, you're doing it wrong." [3]
- In the webcomic Overcompensating, the character Weedmaster P overdoses on Cheetos clearly labeled "Dangerously Cheesy" and meets with Chester Cheetah in a near-death experience [4]
- In the movie The Shining, Jack Nicholson eats Cheetos in his kitchen early on during the movie.
- Chester Cheetah makes an appearance on Family Guy during the episode "Chick Cancer," where he snorts a line of crunched up Cheetos while listening to "Tom Sawyer" by Rush and gives his famous "it ain't easy being cheesy" line.
- In Season Two Episode 5 Map 1213 of Prison Break escaped convict Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell steals a bag of Cheetos and noisily eats them.
- In the popular webcomic 8-Bit Theater, Bikke the Pirate feeds his crew on nothing but Cheetos in an attempt to ward off scurvy, citing that they are cheaper than actual oranges, yet still orange in color. This eventually leads to the downfall of his crew.
- On the Adult Swim animated series, Robot Chicken, Chester Cheetah is seen present in the episode Sausage Fest as a defendant in a sexual assault case being sued by Timer, the Cheese Guy, who is apparently the victim of Chester Cheeta, claiming that Chester Cheeta "hankered for a hunk of his ass".
- In the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, Ron White refers to Cheetos in part of his stand up comedy routine:
"I was sitting on a bean bag chair, naked, eating Cheetos the other day... when Robert Tilton came on TV. He's a televangelist out of Dallas. He looked at me and said, "Are you lonely?" Yeah. "Have you spent half your life in bars pursuing sins of the flesh?" (slightly worried) This guy's good! "Are you sitting in a bean bag chair naked eating Cheetos?"... (in a high-pitched voice) Yes, sir?? "Do you have the urge to get up and send me a thousand dollars?" (with a sense of relief) Ha, ha close! I thought he was talking about me there for a second; apparently I'm not the only cat on the block that digs Cheetos."
See also
- Cheez Doodles, a similar product made by Wise Foods, Inc.
- Wotsits, one-time rival to Cheetos on the UK market, now owned by Pepsico/Frito-Lay
- Utz Cheese Balls
- Wild Oats Cheese Curls. Made of Organic Corn and contains no MSG.
- Nik Naks, a UK brand similar to Crunchy Cheetos
References
External links
