MY LATEST @latimes COLUMNA: What the anger over Flamin’ Hot Cheetos origin story is really about. RT, porfas, and THREAD (1/?) latimes.com/california/sto…
So for this columna, I took on the criticism against my colleague @SamAugustDean for his piece on whether Richard Montañez invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos the way he's maintained for nearly 15 years latimes.com/business/story…
People are pissed, pissed, PISSED at Sam, accusing him of taking down a successful Mexican/not believing a Mexican/not interviewing certain people/and a bunch more. As @IronMang2000 would do:
I totally, 100 percent get where the anger is coming from. KEY QUOTE: 
And because of my defense of Sam, now people picoteando at me haha. As @paperandthyme would do:
So who am I? Lemme make a brief introduction. As @ArtWong128 would do:
In 2012, I wrote a book called "Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America". It sold whatever, but has never gone out of print, because people love Mexican food history libromobile.com/product-page/t…
In my book, I debunked many Mexican-food origin myths and elevated erased Mexican stories--and there are a lot. Like Doritos? In 2012, news orgs across the country said Arch West invented them in their obits on him — including the LA Times latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011…
The truth? The Morales family of Anaheim did at Disneyland in the early 1960s. NO ONE had reported that until I did in my book latimes.com/california/sto…
Fritos? Here's THAT story, which @TexasMonthly discovered in the 1980s:
Taco Bell? Glenn Bell admitted in his bio that he got his original taco recipe from a restaurant in San Bernardino but never bothered to name it. I did in my book: Mitla Cafe. latimes.com/california/sto…
How about Gruma, the company that makes Maseca/Guerrero tortillas, staples of Latino households in U.S.? Also in my book, and barely reported on before I did.
I've continued my excavations into Mexican food history in the years since. Here's me getting into the REAL history of Taco Tuesday, not the bullshit Taco John's wants you to believe thrillist.com/eat/nation/his…
And while everyone knows Chipotle is garbage, I dare say my essay on it for @Eater put them in their historical, Columbusing context deeper than most.
So all of this to say that when Sam came to me over a year ago to ask if I had ever heard that Richard Montañez maybe wasn’t the inventor of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, I was like:
How could anyone doubt Richard? Hell, even I included his story in Taco USA and told @KQEDnews it was verified two years ago: kqed.org/news/11732648/…
But you know what my verification consisted of? Richard’s words. Sam went out and researched, and brought back receipts. When I read a draft of his story, I was like:
Folks: if any among us has a bullshit detector for these Mexican-food origin stories, IT’S ME. I’ve been at this game for a minute, have the receipts to prove it. Sam’s article convinced me—and not just because he’s a colleague. Trust me: I’ll critique my own paper when needed...
...and this ain't it. But back to the anger:
So I get it. But the beef thrown at Sam is beyond wack. People are making it out to be some grand conspiracy to take down a Mexican concocted by a white guy and cheered on by this Mexican. Yeah, no
One final point: Richard Montañez didn’t return Sam’s requests for an interview—why? He’s granted multiple interviews over the years to outlets who happily tell his Flamin’ Hot origin story—but now he clamps up when someone challenges it?
Oh, and full disclosure: I’m a Doritos guy. As @CalDuranie would do:
Anyways, back to the fun. Ever-expert edits by the homie jefe @hbecerraLATimes. Onto the next columna! As @cousinplas would do:
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