Cheez Doodles
Cheez Doodles are a cheese-flavored cheese puff produced by Wise Foods which are similar to Frito-Lay's Cheetos. They debuted several years after Frito-Lay's snack in the 1950s. Originally developed and manufactured by King Kone Corp. of the Bronx (owned and operated by Morrie Yohai),[1] it became the prevalent cheese puff snack on the East Coast. In the mid-1960s the company (now known as Old London Foods) was acquired by Borden and assigned to the Wise potato chip division. Cheez Doodles remain one of the strongest brands marketed by Wise, which is no longer part of Borden.
Like Cheetos, Cheez Doodles were produced in many varieties. Currently available and past varieties include:
- Cheez Doodles Puffed - the baked snack version
- Cheez Doodles Puffed White Cheddar - white cheddar puffed rather than yellow cheddar
- Cheez Doodles Puffed Balls - round puffed baked snacks
- Cheez Doodles Hot 'n Honey Cheese Flavored - puffed with honey and cheddar flavoring
- Cheez Doodles Honey BBQ & Cheese Flavored - puffed with barbecue sauce flavoring in addition to the cheddar (discontinued)
- Cheez Doodles Jalapeño Cheddar Poppers - puffed yellow cheddar with jalapeño flavoring (but no green coloring)
- Cheez Doodles Mac -n- Cheese - elbow pasta-shaped puffed snacks (discontinued)
- Star Spangled Doodles - puffed white cheddar with specks of red and blue (discontinued)
- Croc-o-Doodles - crocodile-shaped puffed snacks
- Cheez Doodles Crunchy - the hard, crunchy fried version
- Cheez Doodles White Cheddar Crunchy - white cheddar hard, crunchy rather than yellow cheddar (discontinued)
- Cheez Doodles Crunchy, Reduced Fat - lower fat version of the hard, crunchy
- Cheez Doodles Crunchy Hot & Tangy - mildly hot and tangy hard, crunchy irregular shaped crunchy snacks (discontinued)
- Cheez Doodles Crunchy Jalapeño Cheddar - partially cheddar covered hard, crunchy snacks with green specks (discontinued)
- Cheez Doodle-O's - circle-shaped hard, crunchy snacks
- Cheez Doodle Heads - face-shaped hard, crunchy snacks (discontinued)
- Cheez Doodles Cheese Flavored Potato Chips - potato chips with Cheez Doodle flavoring (discontinued)
Wise recently made their Crunchy Cheez Doodles "cheezier," more akin to Cheetos' flavor.
They have recently entered pop culture as the preferred snack of ESPN NBA analyst Stephen A. Smith,[2] and are the favorite food of Lincoln Peirce's comic character Big Nate.
Cheez Doodles were also featured in two episodes of the HBO series How to Make It in America's first season.[3]
They are referred to in the 1991 video game Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, as the food given to the pet lizard of the Scabb Island hotel keeper. Lead character Guybrush remarks 'Cheez Doodles, one of my favorites' when you observe them and pick some up.
Cheez Doodles were briefly featured in the Grojband episode "Inn Err Face."
References
- ↑ Hevesi, Dennis (2010-08-02). "Morrie Yohai, 90, the Man Behind Cheez Doodles, Is Dead". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2011-10-17.
- ↑ "ESPN: Heckling Stephen A. Without Mercy". Deadspin.com. 2006-06-29. Retrieved 2011-10-17.
- ↑ "How To Make It In America: S 1 EP 05 Big In Japan: Synopsis". HBO. Retrieved 2011-10-17.