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posted by martyb on Saturday August 08 2015, @12:54AM   Printer-friendly

One for our orange-fingered brothers and sisters:

The first real cheese powder was developed in 1943 by George Sanders, a USDA dairy scientist. (Even before the war began, USDA's research facilities had been enlisted to work toward military goals, exhorted by Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace "to consider their possible contributions to national needs as the defense program approaches the stage of 'maximum effort'." This relationship continues to this day; the USDA has collaborated with the Quartermaster Corps and later the Natick Center on topics as varied as chemical testing, fungi collection and classification, potatoes, dairy, and, from 1980 on, operation of the army's radiation food sterilization program.)
...
In 1948 the Frito Company (it merged with H. W. Lay & Company in 1961 to become Frito‑Lay, Inc.) debuted the country's first cheesy snack food, made with the same Wisconsin cheddar the army used for its dehydrated products. Frito Company founder Charles Doolin had been a military supplier, even building a facility in San Diego, where there is a naval base, to service his contracts.

According to his daughter Kaleta Doolin, "During the war, tins of chips were sent overseas to be served in mess halls and sold in PXs. This venture helped put the company over the top as a nationwide business." Afterward, new plants were opened in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City, where soon cornmeal and water were being extruded, puffed, fried in oil, and coated with finger‑licking, orange dehydrated cheese. Cheetos!

The article is an interesting read for anyone who's ever wondered where American junk foods came from.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2015, @06:02AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2015, @06:02AM (#219807)

    I didn't have any problem finding them in the grocery stores of upper middle-class sections of Boston and Los Angeles. They didn't have a huge variety or anything fancy, but there was always at least one variety mixed in with the doritos in the aisle of chips.