Munch a bunch

January 29th is National Corn Chip Day. Hard to believe, but I lived the first 11 years of my life in a corn-chipless world.  The ubiquitous Frito's Corn Chip was first marketed in 1961. Some of you will remember singing along to the old Frito advertisement, one of the finest ear worms ever.

Now in the category of junk food, they were originally marketed as healthful. Salty snacks back then were your choice of potato chips or pretzels, so corn chips tasted pretty exotic. (Pretzels, the world's oldest snack food, have their own holiday on April 26th.)

The corn chip craze set off a creative frenzy in 1960's kitchens.  Some rather alarming recipes, but others enduring classics, like the Frito Pie (walking taco) from the Santa Fe Woolworth lunch counter.

 Frito pie

 Frito chicken casserole

Frito barbecued lima beans

Frito salad with Velveeta

 Frito prune whip

 Frito-Ketts (as in croquettes?)

Papa John's Frito pizza

Frito chocolate chip cookies

Frito dogs
And so on...