Last night my son and I were snacking on Flaming Hot Cheetos with Lime. I didn’t have any cream cheese to dip them in, so while they were good, it wasn’t the perfect snack. Recently my son switched from a self-paced, half-day charter school full of kids who couldn’t cope with regular high school. to a private college prep school. It’s an interesting story, maybe someday I’ll post it here.:)

As we munched, I asked Logan if the kids at his school ate hot Cheetos. He snorted and said “No.” I was surprised because at the group home hot Cheetos are like crack. The kids will do almost anything for them, even behave well for relief staff.

When I asked about his old school, Logan said the vending machine had four slots for hot Cheetos. This started me wondering How much does the food we eat tell about us? My food has changed over the years, including vegetarian, vegan, preggy cravings, and now vegetarian and gluten free. I don’t know how much my food tells about me any more. Maybe there is some research about upbringing, whether you fell on your head, and the phase of the moon at your birth that makes you more likely to become vegetarian.

As I’ve worked at the group home I have been introduced to hot Cheetos with cream cheese or avocado which you scoop out of the rind with the Cheetos, sour cream in spaghetti, and Mexican candy, a mix of chilies and sweet.

I took my son, who does eat meat, to get Sonoran hot dogs. These are hot dogs wrapped in bacon and covered in beans, salsa, onions, cheese, and avocado. He fell in love with them, and really why not? Yet, it still isn’t something everyone in Tucson eats. It’s not served in the Mexican restaurants in predominantly white areas, it a Mexican/Mexican food. And why are these so different?

Have you even gotten to go to a restaurant that caters to its own people? In high school I had several friends who were Chinese, with parents from China, and they would take me with them to Chinatown. The food we would get was very different then anything I had ever eaten at an American- Chinese restaurant. The flavors weren’t as salty or sweet, the textures of the foods were different, and I’ll admit it took me a bit to get use to the more chewy rice noodles, but they are really good.

What does your food and drink tell about you? Could someone go through your cupboards and figure out how you grew up? Ever tried Flaming Hot Cheetos with Lime? If not, trust me, you want to eat them with cream cheese.

Today’s song is from Dhoom 2 and preformed by the amazing Aishwarya Rai