Reheat: Who Invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos?

复热:谁发明了辣味爆米花?

The Sporkful

艺术

2025-03-21

31 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

For two decades, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos has been one of the most popular snacks in America. In recent years its legend has grown, as word spread that they were invented by Richard Montañez, a Mexican-American janitor at Frito-Lay who went on to become a company executive. The story made Montañez something of a Latino icon, with two memoirs and a biopic based on his life. But when L.A. Times reporter Gustavo Arellano started looking into this feel-good story, he found a very different tale.
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单集文稿 ...

  • Hey everyone, Dan here with a Flamin Hot Sporkful reheat for you.

  • We took this one out of the deep freezer and heated up so much that it's now Flamin Hot.

  • I'm joking just a little bit, because in this episode we tackle the surprisingly loaded question of who really invented Flamin Hot Cheetos.

  • This one comes by request from listener Adrian in New Jersey, who writes, I just watched Flamin Hot, the comedy slash drama about the man who claims to have invented the Flamin Hot Cheetos recently, Richard Montanez.

  • I know that claim has been debunked, but it was a good story nevertheless.

  • I'd love to revisit that episode.

  • Well, it's true there's been some debunking Adrian, but the story is even more dramatic than that setup makes it sound, so I cannot wait to share this episode with you.

  • Now remember, if there's an episode of the Sporkful you want us to pull out of the deep freezer and reheat to room temperature or Flamin Hot, let us know.

  • Send me an email or voice memo to helloporkful.com make sure you tell me your name, location, which episode you want us to reheat, and why.

  • Thanks so much and enjoy.

  • This episode contains explicit language.

  • I debunked the story of Glenn Bell and how he got the idea for Taco Bell.

  • I debunked the story of Doritos.

  • I blew apart the claim by Taco John's, the fast food taco chain based in Wyoming who has a trademark to Taco Tuesday.

  • I destroyed Taco John's claim by going into the archives and telling the true story of the term Taco Tuesday.

  • I live for these things, but when it came to this one, I just couldn't cast out on it.

  • It was just too good of a feel good story.

  • I assumed it was real.

  • How could it not be real?

  • This is the Sporkful.