John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

Walking taco. Texas straw hat. Stomach grenade.

It goes by many names but only one that matters: Frito pie. Cheap, hearty, and pretty darn bad for you, this humble fare, with its bold chili, crunchy corn chips, silken cheese, and bracing onion, is typically found at high school football games and state fairs. But as soon as the recipe started to appear in grocery store promotional campaigns in the fifties—to be prepared with Fritos-brand chili—it didn’t take long for home cooks like Peggy Hill to figure out that this was the stuff of which easy dinners were made.

The origins of the dish are unknown. C. E. Doolin may have invented the Frito (in 1932), but not the pie. He in fact eschewed meat and salt and probably would not have touched this concoction with a ten-foot spork. Some give the nod to his mother, Daisy Dean Doolin, a name clearly destined for greatness. A five-and-dime in Santa Fe lays claim to it. And countless sincere souls insist it was dreamed up by their “pawpaw.”

Most likely the idea for this happy union of chuck-wagon grub and Mexican street food occurred independently to a number of folks. Since then it’s been fancified (duck chili and goat cheese), bastardized (witness the “apple hash and pumpkin gravy Fritos pie” at fritospieremix.com), and improvised (let us hail the 7-Eleven Frito pie, in which an expeditious meal is made with a pocketknife and a furtive run on the hot dog condiments). But like the Frito itself, there’s no better version than the classic.

Serves 1

1 two-ounce bag of original Fritos
Pot of chili, homemade or canned
(I am loath to endorse any sort of canned meat product, but Texans swear by Wolf Brand.)
Grated cheddar cheese
Diced white onion

Picture would not copy.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/frito-pie/

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

My Mother (who grew up in Dallas) made it when I was a kid, and I made it for my kids when they were young.
I layer the Fritos, Chile, cheese, and onions like a lasagna in a casserole pan.
I also add a small can of corn.
Still enjoy it from time to time

(Download)

samantha90 Loc: Fort Worth,Texas

I've eaten a lot of this in my life.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

We like it, too. With our homemade chile. I like my Fritos on top, my wife likes the chile on top of the Fritos. She likes the classic Fritos, I like the chile cheese version. And now I have this urge to go to the store and get some Fritos to go with the chile we’ve planned on making today.

Davoallen

I worked in Frito Lays research dept. for 25 years. During that time I ate lots of Fritos and lots of Frito pie.
Great Co. to work for and I still like Frito pie.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

Just to get you all the straight dope on the Frito. Walter Mathis. He was a closeted gay American resident who went off to the Pacific war, during the WW II in the US Army Air Corp. Disguising himself during the war a an Ace, and returned to his home town of San Antonio. He was considered a well to do man about town, in fact it was a front, he was a pauper. Walter grew up in San Antonio, Texas and knew loads of people. One of his friends introduced him to a family, the husband was German American with a Hispanic wife. They were dirt poor so like many they developed unique foods. Their family claim to local fame was what would become the Frito. Walter came up with the name and became the money/business creation of promoting this cheap food, called a Frito.

Walter Mathis was extremely good at business and in a few years he hooked up with a business buddy in Houston Texas by the name of Ken Lay who need a product to help advance his potato chip company. Thus Frito/Lay was created. Now Walter had what he wanted, $MONEY$!

Walter in the 1960's began buying up old homes in the downtown residential area that was to be come The King William District and created the cities grand model The Conservation Society. All over Texas you have towns and cities that have few historic homes and buildings left, often destroyed and modernized, NOT San Antonio. In San Antonio the Conservation Society stop officially counting historic buildings at 10,000!

More? Walter Mathis was fixated of Napoleon Bonaparte. After Walters death his home in the center of The King William District was converted into a museum of artifacts related to the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, boasting one of the three death masks of Napoleon.

More? Walter helped to create a place called The Southwest Craft Center, now called The Southwest School of Art. Located in the Old Ursuline Academy School. Why the importance? In no way can you understand San Antonio without understanding the interconnectedness of any of this without grasping the mover and shakers of the sleepy little powerhouse of this city and how it has shaped the world in which the 20th century exists. That is not a boast, the deeper you dig the more this becomes apparent.

An example, there is a woman, Mary Ann Smothers Bruni. She became close friends with Walter. Walter taught Bruni how to invest in the stock market. The student became the master. The Bruni Foundation is where the money rests for Mary Ann. She deeded the land for one dollar that became The University of San Antonio. She was one of the women who ran behind the scenes The Conservation Society. The Santa Fe Opera is in Santa Fe because she moved The San Antonio Opera to Santa Fe and saw it funded.

It goes on and on. All of this because a poor returning air core vet/hero needed to create wealth and found a way to do that on the back of a junk food called the Frito.

Your next vacation destination really should be San Antonio, it the most amazing city in the United States.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

“Remember the Alamo”

Cykdelic Loc: Now outside of Chiraq & Santa Fe, NM

Everyone has a claim!

New Mexicans claim it was invented in the 1960s at a Woolworth’s in Santa Fe by a woman named Teresa Hernandez.

Texcaster Loc: Queensland

"Never eat Mexican food north of Dallas." Lyle Lovett

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

Well this claim is backed up by business transactions in which the production rights to the product are by legal transactions. Can't do much better than that. I love the "Teas Monthly' article, them guy rarely get much right! LOL!!!

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

Looks pretty yummy!!