Arch West was a marketing V.P. for Frito Lay in 1961 when, on a family vacation near San Diego, he happened upon a snack shack selling fried tortilla chips. And in a fiery blast of scorchin' inspiration, he came up with the idea for Doritos. The wildly addictive snack debuted three years later, and was the very first tortilla chip to be launched nationally—according to Wikipedia, the word "dorito" sounds similar to "doradito," which means "little golden" in Spanish. Our Spanish is a little rusty, but we always thought it meant "Oh God, did I really inhale that whole bag while watching Cops?"
West passed away Tuesday in Dallas at the ripe old age of 97—living proof of the cleansing and restorative power of his creation. There will be a memorial on October 1st, and his daughter, Jana Hacker, tells The Dallas Morning News [paywall] the family is planning on "tossing Doritos chips in before they put the dirt over the urn." Snack food sources tell us Frito-Lay is poised to announce a new limited edition flavor, Doritos First Degree Urn.
