Category: Food

Frito Lay Thinks Pico de Gallo Flavored Chips are a Good Idea

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lays-pico-de-gallo

I kind of like it when gringos go out of their way and tweak their menus and snacks to cater to “a more diverse America.”

Thanks to their relentless search for multicultural tasty perfection, we now have the Dunkin Donuts’ culturally-relevant Cuban sandwich, 7-Eleven’s Latin-inspired food and the millennial-targeted Doritos Dinamita to name only a few.

And now a new contender has arrived: Frito Lay’s Pico de Gallo flavored chips, which I’m sure will help the m lure the taste buds of my people (i.e. The Mexicans).

But if you are in the restaurant business, don’t think these papitas will help you lure more Hispanics to your establishment… This will, though. Enjoy the windfall.

Thank you @minsd for the tip.

Insight: How to Attract more Hispanics to your Restaurant

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hispanicrestaurants

I just love it when business writers and business journals on the business of writing meaningless business pieces give business owners advice on how to attract more Hispanic customers to their, ahem, businesses.

Take the Orlando Business Journal, whose appropriately-named Latino spin-off (Latino Business Journal) recently walked us through 4 tips to get more Hispanics into your restaurant.

Among the earth shattering insights shared by presumably non-Hispanic writer Hernan Tagliani:

Make it a pleasant, relatable experience. […] Fresh, healthy ingredients, along with quality and service are very important factors.

Because, as everybody knows, non-Hispanics love to dine out in unpleasant, un-relatable places, where they can stuff themselves with canned foods and unhealthy ingredients.

Thank you, Orlando Business Journal, for the insight!

Bimbo’s ‘Negrito’ Goes Rasta with ‘Negrito Raztachoc’

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photo

If you thought Bimbo’s decision to drop the name ‘Negrito’ from one of its decades-old brands was final, think again.

A “correspondent” of this blog in Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo has spotted this treasure, now in vanilla flavor.

(And no, it’s not old: This Raztachoc is good through May 7, 2014)

Click here to see Bimbo’s negrito “evolution” through the years.

Photo: Begoña Lozano

J.C. Penney Wants you to Have a Very Happy ‘Tamalegiving’

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And you? Do you imagine a Thanksgiving full of tamales?
And you? Do you imagine a Thanksgiving Day with a lot of tamales?

In the latest installment of the “How to Turn your Gringo Holiday into a Relevant Latino Holiday,” series, I give you Tamalegiving, a simple -yet delicious- way to turn Thanksgiving Day into Tamalegiving Day instead.

Watch a very cute, acculturated Guatemalan-American kid saying “guácala” to his mom’s gallina as he makes his case for a Thanksgiving full of tamales. Oh, sí.

Alas, I’m more of a ‘Tacogiving’ type of person. But hey, that’s me!

Happy Tamalegiving, pues!

hat tip: Betti Ortega

Looking to Reverse Soup Slump, Campbell’s Turns to Hispanics

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NachoFiestaCheese
What other delicious recipes might Campbell’s be cooking for my people?

If you thought Fiesta Nacho Cheese, Kick-It-Up a Nacho or Mexican-style chicken tortilla  soups were enough to satisfy the demanding palate of my people (i.e. Hispanics,) think again. The venerable Campbell Soup Company, hoping to reverse a “soup slump,” is ready to accelerate its Hispanic-themed and Hispanic-targeted canned soups and other so-called food products.

But don’t think that throwing in some queso and tortillas will be enough to attract more U.S. Hispanics. According to this article in Food Business News, the company “has added dual-language packaging for some of its products,” presumably in a similar way they’ve done with the “French” language.

Somehow Campbell thinks "Fiesta de légumes" is Spanish for "Fiesta Vegetable."
Somehow Campbell’s thinks “Fiesta de légumes” is French for “Fiesta Vegetable.” [Oh, but is Fiesta Vegetable English or Spanish?]
Alas, there was no mention in such article about how “Fiesta Vegetable” became Fiesta de légumes in “French” but I guess that’s material for a future post.

Yummy!

This Argentinian ‘Chef’ Will Teach you How NOT to Make Tacos

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botanaArgentinian “chef” Maru Botana this week came under fire by my people (i.e. The Mexicans) after she attempted to do something Argentinians should never, ever, do: prepare Mexican food.

“Botana,” which is Spanish for “snack” and thus very likely not her real name, took to national television in Argentina to demonstrate how to prepare “real Mexican tacos,” which was nothing but a bizarre concoction of eggplant, green peas, chicken, cherry tomatoes and hard boiled eggs wrapped up in something she thinks is a home-made tortilla.

The offending recipe reaches its peak when Ms. Botana decides to place the tortilla maker actually on the burner, quickly transitioning her endeavor from a cooking parody to just plain disaster.

tortillera

Below is a small taste of the debacle. For the complete mess tutorial of how NOT to make tacos, go here: