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Anthony Bourdain and The Frito Pie Controversy

creation. “New Mexico, you have many wonder- licity doubled Frito Pie sales at the Five & Dime
ful things,” he said. “I think, let Texas have this General Store, where the snack bar is still open
one.” for business. To our knowledge, Bourdain never
Ron was upset. So were Frito Pie lovers across returned to Santa Fe.
the state and around the world.
Frito-Lay eventually settled one part of the
controversy. Frito Pie was born in the company’s
corporate test kitchen in the 1950s and included
in a Frito-Lay recipe booklet. Among the other
taste treats featured were Frito-kets (salmon
croquettes made with Fritos) and Frito meatloaf.
Bourdain publicly apologized to New Mexico
about the canned chili remark after he viewed a
video of the chili being made from scratch at the
Five & Dime.
There was a silver lining to the story. The pub-

By Leonard J. DeFrancisci, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23330856

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