If The Original Doritos Flavor Wasn't Nacho Cheese, What Was It?

Besides the enjoyment of actually eating the chip, everyone knows that the next best part about snacking on Doritos is licking the seasoning dust off of your fingers once you're done. The distinct mix of powdered seasonings is what transforms Doritos from a plain tortilla chip to a zesty, savory snack. The classic Doritos flavors (and perhaps the best flavors) are Nacho Cheese and Cool Ranch, but these days the brand has dozens of wild and wacky flavors from the limited-time Tangy Pickle Doritos to the Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos, which sport a (not so) secret ingredient. Although it seems like Nacho Cheese Doritos have been around since the beginning of time, this particular flavor wasn't the first (nor the second) flavor to hit shelves. The very first Doritos flavor was called "Toasted Corn," although the company also refers to it as its "unflavored" recipe.

The origins of Doritos are a little murky, but it is generally believed that the triangle-shaped snack got its start at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. The Frito-Lay company owned a restaurant there that served traditional Mexican food. To repurpose slightly stale tortillas, chefs at the restaurant chopped the tortillas into triangles, fried them in oil, and seasoned them with basic seasonings (in the style of Mexican totopos). The chips were an immediate hit. The story goes that Arch West, a marketing executive at Frito-Lay, saw potential in these unflavored chips. Not long after the launch of Doritos unflavored chips, the Frito-Lay brand revealed their next hit: Doritos Taco flavor.

Doritos, which means "little golden things" in Spanish, was officially introduced nationwide in 1966. Just one short year later, the Frito-Lay brand introduced the Doritos Taco flavor, their first experience with a more unique seasoning blend. The Doritos steam engine was rolling quickly at this point, as demand for the chips surged with every purchase. The bold new flavor eventually led to the now ubiquitous nacho cheese flavor, though that variety didn't make its debut until 1972. To this day, the nacho cheese flavor remains one of the company's best sellers, with some enterprising individuals even learning how to replicate the Doritos seasoning recipes at home.

Throughout the next few decades, Frito-Lay experimented with even more Doritos flavors, including Cool Ranch, which was introduced in 1986. These more popular flavors, Nacho Cheese and Cool Ranch, quickly overshadowed the unflavored and taco-flavored chips, becoming synonymous with the Doritos brand. But the innovation didn't stop with Cool Ranch. The ingenuity and progressive mindset of Frito-Lay led the brand to collaborate with Mountain Dew for a soda-inspired chip flavor named Baja Fiery Mango and to partner with none other than Taco Bell for a Flamin' Hot Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco. There's even a rumor that a collaboration between Doritos and Subway is in the works. From its humble beginning as an unflavored salsa vessel to its current status as a global phenomenon, the Doritos brand is constantly evolving to meet the needs of everyday snack lovers.