It might just be that I don’t get out often enough. It could be I am not exposed to enough processed-food grocery aisles. Stop reading if you’re already familiar with the subject of weird looking Cheetos. That is unless you don’t know about the Cheetos museum and a contest to identify and showcase the world’s weirdest shaped Cheetos.

First of all there is an online Cheetos museum. I have not personally explored all the nuances of this site. You can by going to www.cheetosmuseum.com. They are now taking online submissions of photos by anyone who wants to spend time sifting through their bags of Cheetos and then using an overactive imagination to title individual pieces of this corn meal mixture with such monikers as clowns, fish, guitars, famous people, animals, etc.

The contest deadline is August 15, so you’ve still got plenty of time to put out bowls of the bright orange or fiery red-orange crunchy snacks. I would think a sure winner would be a piece in the likeness of Chester Cheetah, the brand’s logo character pictured on bags with his white tennis shoes and nifty skateboard.

Cheetos maker, Frito-Lay is willing to give away thousands of dollars in prizes. It seems an easy way for them to get a quality control count of just what’s coming out of those tubular machines. And it is a win-win contest. You get to eat the snack, perhaps recoup the cash outlay and keep the kids and hubby busy for a few hours searching and imagining it all.

What to do if the snackers go overboard and buy up all the Cheetos in Walmart? Never fear, weirdness is personified online in the form of dozens of unique recipes using the snack as an ingredient in otherwise normal foods. Ever thought of coating your grilled cheese in crushed Cheetos? Ever tasted Cheetos-crusted chicken? Have you been brazen enough to serve macaroni and cheese topped with crushed Cheetos?

Have you been brave enough to substitute Cheetos for that crispy rice cereal in the iconic marshmallow treats? Or what about following the popular “chocolate coats everything” crowd. Dip those cheesy twisted pieces in melted chocolate for a late night snack. Substitute Cheetos for the popcorn in Caramel Corn. Can it get any weirder?

Does anybody really do this sort of cooking? If you’ve found or invented a good tasting recipe using Cheetos or corn chips or potato chips or pretzels and would like to share it with our readers, email the recipe and an explanation to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We’ll print all we have space for in an upcoming issue. Better hurry though, from what I hear there are an awful lot of Cheetos aficionados in this area. Store shelves will empty fast.

First Group 2x2
First Group 2x2
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