Frito pie

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Frito pie

Frito pie (also known as "Frito Chili Pie," "Frito Boat" or, in the Midwest, a "Walking Taco") is a corn chip and chili con carne dish of disputed origin, popular in the South Western United States.

A basic Frito pie typically consists of a small single-serving bag of Fritos corn chips, with a cup of chili poured over the top, usually finished up with grated cheese or onions. Because there are so many Fritos compared to the amount of chili, only part of the Fritos will get saturated by the chili, and most will stay at least partly crunchy.

[edit] History

The exact origins of the Frito pie are unknown though there are several stories as to its beginnings.

One of the stories says that the Frito pie originated with Frito-Lays founder, Elmer Doolin's mother. It claims that Daisy Dean Doolin came up with the Frito pie sometime after creating the first Frito chip. Mentions of the Frito pie are nearly as old as the company itself which was founded in 1932.^[1] ^[2]

Another of the stories claims that the Frito pie originated in the 1960s with Teresa Hernandez, who worked at the F. W. Woolworth's lunch counter in Santa Fe, New Mexico.^[2] Eating it became such a tradition that around 1997, when that Woolworth store closed, locals organized to keep the lunch business open.^{[citation needed]}

However, Frito pie has been a popular dish in Texas for generations, evidenced by menus and by the presence of many frito pie recipes online and in cookbooks which mention having had the food growing up in Texas. The corn chips have been available in the San Antonio area since before 1932.

Some purists insist that only Fritos "original" can be used in an authentic Frito pie, rather than fried corn chips made by other snack food companies.

In Oklahoma it has been a standard ballpark and drive-in restaurant food for many decades. In these instances, the dish was not baked but traditionally an individual-size bag of Fritos was split open and hot chili poured over the chips, along with grated cheese and (often) chopped onions. It is no longer common to use the split bag, as the packaging material has changed, leaving the bag less insulated against heat. In Texas it is a staple of most Bingo games.

The restaurant chain Dairy Queen introduced the Frito Pie Burger as part of its menu which consists of a traditional hamburger containing Frito chips and chili.