• Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen

latinopia.com

Latino arts, history and culture

  • Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen
You are here: Home / Blogs / MIRÁNDOLO BIEN with EDUARDO DÍAZ 7.21.13 “MANY JOURNEYS OF MAIZ”

MIRÁNDOLO BIEN with EDUARDO DÍAZ 7.21.13 “MANY JOURNEYS OF MAIZ”

July 21, 2013 by Breht Burri

THE MANY JOURNEYS OF MAIZ.

Fritos PhotoInnovation is, among other things, the act of introducing something new. In 1932, with this country in the throes of the Great Depression, a restless C.E. Doolin walked into a San Antonio gas station and, according to a National Public Radio story (Hidden Kitchens, 2007), “found a Mexican man making an extruded corn chip out of masa, frying it and selling in  little bags… They were fritos,’little fried things’ — the beach food of Mexico.” Doolin bought the recipe and 14 customers from the man and began to make and distribute the fried corn chips from his kitchen with the help of his family. The rest, as they say, is history. In 1961, Doolin joined forces with Herman Lay, history’s recognized inventor of the potato chip from Nashville, to form Frito-Lay, which, in 1965, merged with Pepsico.

Columbis and TainosLike millions around the world, I love my corn fried. Not surprising, as I descend from the people of the corn. You could say it’s in my blood. Maíz, or Maize, is a pre-historical grain plant domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica. Importantly, the word derives from the Taíno, Mahiz. The Taíno are the Caribbean’s largest indigenous community, which met the first European incursions into the region. From that encounter, the rest is also quite a history.

As a kid growing up in Southern California I remember visiting Disneyland and heading to Casa de Frito for my fried corn fix. Always the innovator, in Casa de Frito, C.E. Doolin created the precursor of the fast food restaurant, featuring a hybrid between hamburgers and “Mexican Food.” I didn’t think much of all of this until I entered San Diego State in 1968 and became a Chicano activist. We fought a lot of battles, like the establishment of Chicano Studies at the university, the creation of Chicano Park in San Diego’s Logan Heights barrio and, yes, the retirement, in 1971, of the Frito Bandito, the stereotypical cartoon character Frito-Lay created to promote those “deeeleeecious” Fritos.

So, who invented the Frito anyway? Practically every reference source gives C.E. Doolin the credit. What I want to know, however, is who was the “Mexican man” who sold his recipe to Doolin? It strikes me that he is the inventor, right? But I challenge you to discover his name and how he came to invent a product. Surely, he knew of tostadas, the tortilla chip native to his country. Unlike the corn chip (Frito), the tostada is the product of nixtamalization, a process where raw corn is mixed with quicklime and hulled. la TamaladaNixtamal, from the Nahuatl nixtamalli, is the core ingredient of the tamal, or tamale. The Frito, on the other hand, fries extruded corn. Extrusion is a process where the corn kernel is degermed and dry mulled to form the chip. Most nutritionists will tell you that extrusion degrades the value of corn, while nixtamalization improves its nutritional value, to say nothing of what it does for maximizing aroma and taste. If you’ve ever participated in a tamalada, a family gathering necessary to turnout dozens of tamales, you’ll catch my drift.

Innovation happens when someone improves on or makes a significant contribution to a product or process. Not an inventor, C.E. Doolin was certainly an innovator, a darling of an industrious and industrializing U.S. Realizing that he had a winner in his hand with the Frito, Doolin quickly attracted the capital to purchase the machinery, conveyor belts, labor, patents, etc. to ensure necessary production levels. Obviously, he was also very savvy at branding and marketing. (Readers may also be interested to learn that he was a vegetarian and consumed little salt; Fritos are not exactly the ticket to a healthy, low-salt diet.)

corn photoOne wonders what would have happened had the “Mexican man” had the same access to capital to monetize his invention, something that would have been hard to imagine at a time when Jim Crow-like environment made this kind of mass market entrepreneurship nearly impossible for a Mexican in 1930s San Antonio. I imagine there are similar stories of similarly disadvantaged inventors of color. In examining the history of innovation in this country, I think it important dig deep and tell the whole story.

_____________________________________________________

Copyright 2013 by Eduardo Díaz

Filed Under: Blogs, Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz Tagged With: C.E.Doolin, Eduardo Díaz, history of corn, maiz in the Americas

POLITICAL SALSA Y MÁS with SAL BALDENEGRO 05.21.23 “ADALBERTO “BETO” GUERRERO

May 20, 2022 By wpengine

History surrounds us… Again, I will forego writing about political issues. Instead, I will try to do justice to a history maker, someone whose advocacy had national implications, someone I was privileged to have as a mentor – Adalberto “Beto” Guerrero. We are surrounded by history makers. Every community has them. Adalberto “Beto” Guerrero is […]

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 05.06.22 FIDENCIO DURAN

May 6, 2022 By wpengine

Fidencio Duran: A Painter Who Captures Latino Culture and Traditions in Everyday Life Texas artist Fidencio Duran has been climbing tall scaffolds since he won a commission to complete a mural in Brownsville, Texas thirty-seven years ago. Today, Duran’s murals are among the most visible for any Latino artist in America. On an annual basis […]

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 05.13.22 CARLOS ROSALES-SILVA

May 13, 2022 By wpengine

Carlos Rosales-Silva’s Abstract Imagery Captures Latino Culture Carlos Rosales-Silva, a resident of New York City for the past decade, relies on memory, photographs, and historical accounts of his native West Texas community to create art that represents a visual narrative of nature, people, architecture, and objects of a dynamic American borderland region. His art is […]

BURUNDANGA BORICUA DEL ZOCOTROCO 04.30.22

April 30, 2022 By wpengine

Burundanga de Zocotroco José M. Umpierre La atención pública en la Isla del Encanto en los últimos tiempos ha estado enfocada en la determinación del tribunal Supremo Federal en cuanto a la aplicabilidad de Seguridad de Ingreso Suplementario (SSI) a los ciudadanos residente en Puerto Rico. El caso trata de José Luis Vaello Madero al […]

More Posts from this Category

New On Latinopia

LATINOPIA WORD ROLANDO HINOJOSA “KLAIL CITY”

By Tia Tenopia on April 15, 2013

Dr. Rolando Hinojosa Smith is a pioneering Chicano author whose writings transcend genres. His novel “Klail City” won the prestigious Casa de las Americas literary award. Hinojosa has created the fictional world of Klail City located in fictional Belkin County, Texas. His writings draw on his experiences growing up in the Rio Grande valley of […]

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

LATINOPIA FOOD “JALAPEÑO SODA BREAD” RECIPE

By Tia Tenopia on March 14, 2011

Jalapeño Irish Soda Bread The sweetness of traditional Irish soda bread ingredients—raisins, buttermilk, some sugar—are richly complimented by jalapeño heat. Here’s a soda bread recipe from Ireland brought to the USA from Galway by Mary Patricia Reilly Murray and later transformed  with her blessing by her daughter, Bobbi Murray, who added jalapeño chile.  A real […]

Category: Cooking, Food, LATINOPIA FOOD

LATINOPIA MUSIC ANGELA ROA “TOCO DESAFINADO”

By Tia Tenopia on June 22, 2014

Angela Roa is a Chilean singer and lyricist residing in Los Angeles, California. Her songs are about the Latino experience in the United States and in Latin America. Here she performs an original song, “Toco Desafinado” (Out of Tune). She is accompanied by Fernando Losada, Rich Silva and Thiago Winterstein..

Category: LATINOPIA MUSIC, Music

© 2022 latinopia.com · Pin It - Genesis - WordPress · Admin