Living in an urban setting, you get to see young people of many colors. When it comes to snacks, the only color you see is red, the color of Flamin' Hot Cheetos.
Monica Eng of the Chicago Tribune (full disclosure: I know Monica) did a wonderful in-depth analysis on Flamin' Hot Cheetos in urban settings and how the snacks are targeted toward minorities. Eng also wondered out loud whether Flamin' Hot Cheetos were addictive.
I had always been intrigued by the snack. Red color, check. Crunch of Cheetos, check. Stained fingers, check, Spice and kick, check. Yet I don't remember having tried them.
Now when you read that a food may be addictive, and you haven't tried that food, that might be the cue to stay away. With schools banning the red-colored snack, the forbidden nature makes you want to try the snack that much more.
I used movie time right after work to test the idea of Flamin' Hot Cheetos not just being a good snack, but actually carrying my stomach to dinner after the film. After all, some of these kids were eating Flamin' Hot Cheetos as "breakfast."
I could have bumped it up to Flamin' Hot Limon (lime) Cheetos but decided to stick with the original flavor. The store also had several knockoffs of spicy cheesy corn-based snacks — but again — had to try the original.
I enjoyed the same crunch of Cheetos — never was a puffy Cheetos fan — but otherwise, it didn't taste like Cheetos. The spice was in your face, and if there was cheesy in these Cheetos behind that, I couldn't find it.
Having 2-3 Flamin' Hot Cheetos was awesome; great burst of flavor. As I went through the bag, I grew tired of eating them pretty quickly. I ate the rest of the bag because I was hungry, but my enthusiasm dropped pretty quickly. Addictive? Not for me. They were very salty, so this was the perfect snack if I had something bad tasting to drink that I somehow needed to finish.
I like spice, and I liked the spice in the Flamin' Hot Cheetos. But I missed the original flavor ¼ through the bag. Cheetos might invest in a mixed bag with equal shares of regular and Flamin' Hot. I might not be addicted to that, but I would be tempted to take another taste.
While I'm clearly not in the demo of Flamin' Hot Cheetos, I am enjoying the battle over the "evilness" of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. The schools that have banned/are trying to ban the snack vs. the students who can't get enough.
A Chicago high school, trying to cure itself of the Flamin' Hot Cheetos addiction, got students to trade the snack for apples.
Kids shouldn't have their entire breakfast revolving around a bag of spicy cheesy snacks. But childhood obesity is not the fault of one version of one snack food, no matter how "addictive" they might be. Besides, Flamin' Hot Cheetos are cool. When adults say that the cool thing isn't cool, well that isn't cool. And yes, kids don't say cool anymore.
photos from me
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