Cheetos

File:YummyCheetos.jpg

Baked Cheetos package showing anthropomorphic cartoon cheetah Chester Cheetah.

Cheetos are a brand of cheese curl made by Frito-Lay. They are crunchy and are sold as "puffs" as well. They are technically known as a cheese-flavored cornmeal snack. Cheetos was developed by Fritos creator Charles Elmer Doolin in 1948 along with a potato product called "Fritatos".

Manufacture

Main article: Cheese puffs

Cheetos are manufactured by blending corn and water. The mixture is heated under pressure, then extruded through a die. The texture of the snack is caused by contact with hot air, which causes steam in the mixture to expand, creating a bread-like snack. The traditional Crunchy Cheetos are fried. Puffs, Paws, Twists, Balls, and Whirls varieties are oven-dried. The snack is then tumbled with the desired flavor.

Cheetos mascot

Main article: Chester Cheetah

The Cheetos mascot is an anthropomorphic cartoon cheetah named Chester Cheetah. In 1986, Chester Cheetah first appeared in television commercials as an animated cartoon character. After Chester's introduction, the sly, smooth voiced cheetah began starring in more commercials and eventually became Cheetos’ official mascot. He used the slogan "It ain't easy bein' cheesy." in the late 1980s/early 1990s, then “The cheese that goes crunch!” until 1996 , when it became “Dangerously cheesy!” In the 2000s, Chester Cheetah became rendered as a computer generated character in the United States, while he continues to appear in his old animation style in other countries.

As of 2007, Cheetos has taken aim at an adult demographic. In this incarnation, Chester speaks with a mid-Atlantic accent and encourages people to use their Cheetos in acts of revenge or to solve problems.

Two Chester Cheetah videogames, Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest and Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool, were released for home videogame consoles in the 1990s. They appeared on Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis respectively.

Previous to Chester, Cheetos' mascot was a mouse called the Cheetos Mouse. He debuted in 1971. The Cheetos' Mouse's slogan was "Hail Chee-sar!"

International variants

Australia

• Cheetos Cheese n' Bacon Balls.

Brazil

• Cheetos Swiss Cheese Balls
• Cheetos Requeijão Waves
• Cheetos Parmigiano-Reggiano Moons

Israel

• Kosher, Ketchup Flavor

Japan

• Strawberry Cheetos
• Milk Chocolate Cheetos

South Korea

• Strawberry Cheetos
• BBQ flavored Cheetos

Spain

• Cheetos Queso (1980's?-)

UK

• Wotsits ( 1994-)

USA

• Crunchy Cheetos (1948-)
• Cheetos Puffs (1971-)
• Cheetos Paws (1991-1994)
• Cheetos Cheezy Checkers (1995-1999)
• Flamin' Hot Cheetos (1999-)
• Crunchy Nacho Cheetos (1996-1998)
• Cheetos Zig-Zags (1999-2003)
• Cheetos X's and O's (2000-2002)
• Cheetos Puffs Twists (2003-)
• Cool Ranch Cheetos (begun and discontinued in 2003)
• Baked Cheetos (2004-)
• Cheetos Pizza Puffs (begun and discontinued in 2005)
• Cheetos Holiday Twists 2005 (2005-2006)
• Cheddar Jalapeno Cheetos (2005-)
• Flamin' Hot Cheetos con Limon (2005-)
• Flamin' Hot Baked Cheetos (2005-)
• Cheetos Crunchy Twists (2006-)
• Natural Puffs White Cheddar
• Crunchy Mozarella
• Giant Cheetos (2009-)

In popular culture

• In an episode of The Simpsons, Mr. Burns brings a small bag of Cheetos Paws when invited to the Simpsons' home to watch the Super Bowl.

• In the movie Toy Story 2, Al, before going to bed in his apartment, snacks on a bowl of Cheetos before falling asleep and spilling them. The Cheetos on the floor serve as an effective "mine field" for Bullseye, who noisily steps on one making a crunching noise.

• In the sitcom Cheers, Norm Peterson states that to negate the problem of Cheetos cheese powder making his fingers orange, he uses "a big spoon".

• 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.

• In the movie Hackers, a package of Cheetos is sitting on top of a dresser inside of Dade Murphy's bedroom.

• 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 deadbeat with no job, home all day, eatin' Cheetos and watchin' TV recliner."

Crunchy Cheetos

• 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 Puffy 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.

• In the computer game Fallout 2 there is a kind of food named Cheezy Poofs, a reference to the snacks favored by Eric Cartman of South Park. In the game, Cheezy Poofs are the favorite of a very clever big rat named "Brain", the master of a cult under Gecko.

• In the television series The Magic School Bus, there is a parody of Cheetos called Cheesie Weesies.

• The webcomic Penny Arcade employs a minor character called "Cheeto."

• 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."

• 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.

• 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, proclaiming that "there is no fucking drummer better than Neil Peart," smashing his hand through a glass coffee table and giving 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 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.

• 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."

• In The Host by Stephenie Meyer, many of the characters like Cheetos and the main character, Wanda considers it the best snack ever made.

• In the movie Can't Hardly Wait Kenny (Seth Green) was mocked by two girls at the party calling him "Chester Cheetah" for having cheese stuck in his braces.

Pork Enzymes

Some Frito-Lay brand seasoned products, including some flavors of Cheetos, contain pork enzymes in addition to herbs, cheese and other seasonings. Frito-Lay's web site states that they use enzymes from pigs (porcine enzymes) in some of their seasoned snack chip products to develop 'unique flavors'. The presence of pig-derived ingredients makes them haraam for Muslims to eat and un-Kosher for Jews.

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze—increase the rates of—bio-chemical reactions in living organisms, whether animal or plant. Though enzymes facilitate chemical reactions on molecules, they themselves are not chemically altered (changed) by these reactions. Nor are they consumed (used up) by the reactions.

See also

• Cheezies
• Cheez Doodles
• Kurkure
• Nik Naks
• Twisties
• Wotsits

External links

• Official website
• Cheetos Orange Underground website
• Official site for Australian Cheetos
• Official site for Korean Cheetos
• Review of color-changing "Holiday Cheetos"
• Cheesus news story