Confessions: Junk Food Betty Edition.
When I was around nine years old, I stole a pack of stickers from a Hallmark store. I don’t even remember what the stickers were; probably Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or something. I have never told anyone about this before.
Oh, shit, wait – that was the wrong confession! Oh well; I’m pretty sure the statute of limitations has run out on that crime. What I meant to confess is that I’ve been putting off reviewing these Retro Doritos Taco Flavor because I never had the original Doritos Taco Flavor. The best I can do is treat it like any other product I review, offering my opinion on the flavor and leaving it at that. But after I read the comments on The Impulsive Buy’s news announcement, I became even more intimidated. It seems those who actually ate the original Taco Doritos are rather polarized; some say it tastes just like the original, and some are OUTRAGED at the fact that it does not.
Of course, all taste is subjective. Since I can’t give a comparison, I’d like to ask any JFB readers who have eaten both the original and retro Taco Doritos to leave a comment telling me what you think about the two. Also feel free to tell me I got the flavor profile all wrong. You know, whatever.
With that out of the way, let’s take a small exploration into the history of Taco Doritos. Introduced in 1967, it was the second flavor of Doritos to ever hit the streets. The first was Toasted Corn. That’s a pretty prestigious position to be in. Taco went away at some point, not sure when. In the 1990s, there was a flavor called Taco Bell Taco Supreme, which was later just called Taco, and then there was a Zesty Taco flavor in the Collisions line, but then there was also the Late Night line that had Tacos at Midnight, which apparently did not taste-
You know what, I’m basing all of this information off of Wikipedia, which, of course, you can’t cite as a source in your book report, so just read this and try to sort it all out. Long story short: lots of different taco flavors in Doritos throughout the years.
No matter what they taste like, I’m tempted to empty the bag and frame it. Doritos got me on the packaging; as part of the Nostalgia Generation, whenever I see something like this bag, I think back to my childhood, when my worst problems were making sure I didn’t miss Saved by the Bell and nagging my dad to put air in the tires of my Huffy bike. Simpler times, simpler packaging. I love it.
I find the taste of the chips simpler, too. Again, I never had the original (that I can remember), but these Doritos have a nice, clean flavor profile. I’ve never had a taco that didn’t contain some kind of meat before, but these chips have no meat flavor whatsoever, and for that I am grateful. 1967 – simpler times, when people didn’t have to worry about things that weren’t meat tasting like meat.
What it does taste like, however, is Doritos Nacho Cheese with hints of onion, garlic, and maybe a little tomato. That’s it. No crazy extra stuff, no weird aftertaste I can’t quite explain. Just a nice cheese chip with some pleasant complimentary flavors.
Given, that’s not really what a taco tastes like, and it’s not exactly a mind-blowing flavor, but I don’t care. I still like them, and have been shoving them in my mouth for almost this entire review, so that says something. I wasn’t alive in 1967, but maybe this was a mind-blowing flavor back then. Either way, I think it’s a solid chip. And I would hug the retro bag if it didn’t mean crushing all the chips.
Update: Since it took me so long to write this, Doritos has announced in their Snack Chat that Retro Taco Doritos will stay around for good! Now I can hug my bag, because I can just go get another one!
Update the second: As of me putting the finishing touches on this post, there has been TREACHERY! If you read the Snack Chat link in the first update, you will see that I was correct in saying Taco was the second Doritos flavor ever, and that it debuted in 1967. A few days ago, when I started this post, The Wikipedia link I posted reflected this fact. But look what the Wikipedia article says as of 12:37pm MST, 2/28/11: “The first flavor of Doritos was Toasted Corn followed by Nacho Cheese (known for a time as Nacho Cheesier) flavor was released in 1972 while Cool Ranch (known for a time as Cooler Ranch) flavor was released in 1986.”
THIS IS NOT TRUE! DO NOT BELIEVE WIKIPEDIA! BELIEVE SNACK CHAT! Just more proof that on Wikipedia, “any jackass could have written that”. And this is why Wikipedia isn’t allowed as a citation for book reports! Or my website, apparently!
- Score: 4 out of 5 sombreros
- Price: $3.29
- Size: 12 oz. bag
- Purchased at: Fry’s Foods
- Nutritional Quirks: Despite being taco flavored, Doritos Taco does not taste like meat. GOOD.
I remember the old Taco Doritos … they’d give you some powerful chip breath. I don’t remember the last time I ate some though … probably 1980 or so.
I do actually remember the first time I had Doritos, and it was the Nacho Cheese version. I had no clue what nachos were but they were quite a taste revelation for a child who was rarely allowed to have junk food. So artificial and unlike anything real that I’d eaten to that point.
The bag is indeed fantastic. I could have used a bag of these to get through my depression when Kelly dumped Zack for that tool Jeff. I knew he’d cheat on her.
I see what you did there! 1980s nostalgia humor!
As an aside, I saw Taco Doritos in the store just yesterday, already with the modern bag. Wish they’d kept the retro bag around a little longer.
The chips in the Retro Taco Doritos bag are not the same chips I ate growing up. I remember that taste sooo well and this is not it. These have a sour cheesy taste in addition to the taco taste. A bit disappointing because I bought 2 bags.
The retro bag totally got me too! I saw it someone’s cart and was on a mission to find a bag for myself! When I was in grade school my big Friday night plans included grocery shopping with mom. I would always get the Taco Doritos 🙂 Thanks for the blast from the past …
While the retro bag is close, the center circle on the bag back in the 70’s/80’s was clear so you could actually see the real chips.
Back in the ‘golden’ days when Coke was Coke (real sugar, not classic, not new, just Coke), bags of chips were 90% full of chips, not todays 50/50 chip to air ratio per bag. They could never get away with a clear window today because you’d see the bag was half empty.
While I’m sure my fatbody put down crates of these Doritos, I can’t honestly say that I remember the taste to compare them to these limited edition ones, but I do like these. I agree with the article that they have a nice clean crisp taste.
I’m old enough to have been addicted to the original Doritos Taco flavor, which was always my favorite (and is to this day). I find the Taco seasoning flavor superior to the cheesy sweet Nacho Doritos (which I still enjoy a lot). The “new” Original Taco seems to have the same flavor as the original, although it might be toned down a bit.
Today’s chip bags have much more air in them because manufacturers learned that is the best way to protect their product from breaking up into crumbs. Clear bags were abandoned when it was realized that light can degrade the quality of the chips inside.
BTW, Pepsi in much of the world is made with real sugar. What a difference it makes!
Those are all legitimate reasons for changing packaging, the air one which I almost remembered but didn’t want to get wrong, so I said nothing. Thank you for the information, Artie.
Also, I’ve consumed too many Jones sodas and Throwbacks to tolerate HFCS in my sodas any longer. I’m now that guy.
I just bought a bag of these last night and I say that they are a faithful recreation. I was born in ’73 and grew up on these. People who are outraged by a “difference” need to realise that our taste buds age like we do. A lot can happen in the 30 years since they’ve last had these. How much alcohol, cigarettes, and fast food have they consumed in the meantime? I was an avid Throwback drinker, too, until the first ltd run ran out… I was so upset that I haven’t gone back to them since. Hahaha.
You bring up a good point there, Shane. Our taste buds do change. Way to stick up for Doritos!
I had the original TACO chips back in the 60s. In fact, I loved them so much that I got sick after eating as entire bag while watching The Wonderful World of Disney one Sunday night! The flavor is the SAME as the chips I ate back then. I was thrilled beyond belief when I saw the familar bag and it immediately took me back to pleasant memories of the chip, not just that fateful Sunday night. I was so sad that they disappeared off the shelves years ago and was never quite satisfied with Nacho Cheese as a replacement. Happy now with my bag of chips in my cabinet!
I’ve been waiting for Taco flavored Doritos to come back on the market since it disappeared. I ate a bag everyday at lunch in high school in the early 70’s. Nacho Cheese doesn’t come close. When I saw the retro bag in my neighborhood market a few weeks ago I got so excited i bought every bag left on display….but that was only 4!
HOW LONG WILL THE DORITOS TOCO BE AROUND.
I saw the bag and HAD to but them. Totally remember these from the 70’s. The bag is great looking…LOVE LOVE LOVE the 70’s earth tones! The chips taste exactly like they did when I was listening to Fleetwood Mac and drinking Tab cola! Love ’em! Keep them in permanent rotation!
Best.Dorito.Ever. By alot. Taste’s exactly the same to me now as waaaaay back in the day. Love them. Have no use for Ranch Flame-throwin’-Nacho Cheese-Bufflo flavor or whatever. Afraid the author (Kelly) misses point; these are taco-flavored as in taco seasoning, you ae not suppose to taste meat,lettuce, etc that would be gross. Like so-called Pizza-Flavored stuff..never taste like a Pizza to me..hmmm Now if they would only fix Breakfast Cereals (Sugar Frosted Flakes or Sugar Pops anyone)..LONG LIVE TACO DORITOS!
I’m not sure I so much missed the point as I just let my recent previous experiences with meat-flavored Doritos color my review. I do agree with your assessment of taco seasoning. Harkens back to simpler times, when taco flavoring meant taco seasoning, not creepy meat flavoring.
I remember first seeing the non-window bags in the Commissary in Germany. I thought it was odd, but the travel distance (Pretty sure they didn’t have a Doritos factory in Europe in the 80s – if they did I never saw them on the economy, and believe me, I would have looked) and light dealio makes sense. I can still get the retro packaging at the local gas station where I live. I hope they keep it. I think the flavor is the same. They actually used to use these taco chips at the pizza places like Happy Joe’s and Pisa Pizza in Davenport, Iowa, in the 80s, for Taco Pizza. Happy Joe’s still makes the best Taco Pizza, as far as I’m concerned.
Sorry, off on a tangent, but check out these Taco Pizzas from Happy Joe’s:
http://www.happyjoes.com/menu.php?category=3
I’m glad you added that link, Jez. Happy Joe’s sounds…interesting, to say the least. Wish I had one remotely near me, because I would definitely like to try some of those pizzas.
I have been waiting for ever for these to come out. I grew up in the 70’s and this was my favorite chip of all times, well these and fritos when the packages use to come with the frito bandido pencil erasers! Anyone remember those? Anyhoo, I’m sure my taste has changed through the years but these take me right back to that time period, I love em! Don’t know if it’s the exact same but darn close, try them!
Born ion 1971, I have tried every single new dorito flavor with the word ‘taco’ anticipating this retro flavor but to be disappointed. This IS the original taco flavor I remember. I am writing this cause I am in the middle of a power outage eating my retro taco doritos and winning a bet with my husband who claims nacho cheese was first. And to think he’s three years my senior…so I won but the bet rules changed….he claims he said his bet was that taco wasn’t the first so he won. Men….
I was also wondering why the clear window isn’t on the bags anymore…thanks to the guy that posted that tidbit. Learn something new every day 🙂
these are not the original taco flavor!i remember getting my first bag at the plaid pantry when they first came out, and i bought many many more bags over the years.they changed the flavor years later when they joined with taco bell.this new version taste more like that, with sour cream. i called frito lay and a lady told me they guessed at the flavor.this is not the original taco flavor,and they should put that on their packaging!
Tom, this is nowhere CLOSE to the taco bell flavor. It really is pretty close to the original, closer than they have come in the past anyway.
You have to realize that manufacturing techniques have changed, as well as our tastebuds.
It’s the closest to the original taco that I have tasted since the original first disappeared.
I love the ‘new’ taco chips. I loved them as a kid many years before. If these aren’t the same, and I believe they’re not, they are close.
This isn’t the first time they were tried out though! When I lived in Arizona late 80’s early 90’s, taco flavor was available for a while, then they took it away again.
So don’t look funny at me for buying them three bags at a time.
haha. i like the last pic
You are the best! When I was around that age I stole a pack of stickers from Sears! They were the type that had fuzz on them. Pandas, cats, koalas, etc. But, yeah, i saw these yesterday at safeway and I was like “hey… i remember those from then I was like 10”.
Fuzzy stickers rank right above puffy stickers in the sticker hierarchy. Scratch and sniff stickers are, of course, on top.
I never ate the original Taco Doritos, since I wasn’t alive when they were made. But I LOVE these chips. They’re my favorite after Cool Ranch. (80s child here, so Cool Ranch chips are the ones I associate with my childhood)
The taco ones taste really really good. They’re not overpowering, or too cheesy.
I started eating the original taco flavored Doritos in 1970 when I was 12, and they did not have cheese or sour cream in them (they appeared nowhere in the ingredients list). They had the absolute best flavor of any chips of any kind at the time, and I looked forward to devouring each and every bag I (or my family) purchased. But then, sometime in the late ’70s, disaster struck when they changed the recipe, adding cheese and sour cream while still calling them Taco Flavor, which absolutely forever ruined taco flavor Doritos. They were no longer taco flavor; they were cheese and sour cream flavor, with a little bit of spice. They were so horrible, I stopped buying them.
So, hoping against hope, yesterday I picked up a bag of the supposedly original taco flavored Doritos in the retro packaging (the same bag pictured at the top of the article, without the Limited Edition label). I opened the bag (they looked like the original chips), pulled one out, put it in my mouth, and crunched on it. To my horror, it was the second, horrible recipe with cheese and sour cream. The taste is mostly cheese and sour cream, and does not taste like the original flavor of the original recipe. I guess I should have looked at the ingredients list before purchasing them, but I really, really wanted them to be the original recipe.
Frito-Lay, please throw these in the garbage where they belong (or at least give them a different name), and bring back the original recipe without cheese and sour cream.
Noooo! Kit and Tom are right! This is NOT the same taste of Taco Doritos I grew up with in the 70s eating a whole bag after school watching Gilligan’s Island reruns. NO it not the same! It has that nasty sour cream taste that is prevalent in ALL Doritos flavors except the original yellow bag Original.
Yep, I was excited to see the throwback bag design, but they don’t taste the same! And now that they have dragged out the classic 70s bag design, there is no hope they’ll actually trot out the original recipe ever again. I’m sure our flavor memories have lost out to focus groups that preferred the sour cream taste for mass appeal. Boo Frito Lay! I swear, if you blindfolded me and asked me to taste nacho, taco, and cool ranch, I could discern, but more or less they all taste too much the same sadly.
Steve, I should have included you too in my reply. NO, these are not the original. You were right on about the sour cream powder. I may even be crazy, but I think the 70s Nacho doritos didn’t have the sour cream either. I loved Nacho then too but now they are too sour. The smell when you open the bag is same, but that damn sour cream taste. Oh well. We are in the minority. The focus groups have trumped us in favor of mass WalMart appeal.
Taco doritos were and still are my favorite. I remember when a bag about the big grab size was a dime. Never understood why they quit making them but i’m glad there back. Old and new taste about the same as I remember. Toms brand had same recipe for awhile. In the 70’s I liked taco doritos and old el paso picante sauce in the can. Ate it all the time. Had an ulcer when I was 14. Tagamet fixed it up but be careful out there.
Anyone remember how much a bag of doritos cost in 1985? Just a little discussion the retro taxi flavor brought up between my wife and myself. Any help here?
Taco sorry
The new chips taste mostly the same, but there are no cips in the bag that caked in spice like in the old days. Those chips were the ones we all looked forward to. Those were the ones that had the “taco” flavor in spades. These new ones are too evenly coated, even though they seem very reminiscent, perhaps even identical, to the old flavor. There aren’t random chips that blow you away with spiciness!
I grabbed a bag of these as I was leaving a gas station. I was drawn to the retro packaging. As I was pulling out of the gas station I reached into the bag and grabbed a couple of chips. Upon my first bite I was thrown back to 1977. It was then that I realized that these were not Nacho Cheese Doritos in a retro package, but they were in fact the original Doritos that I grew up with. After further inspecting the bag I noticed that they were the Taco flavored variety. Exactly as I remembered them from my childhood. Good Job Doritos!
While the taco flavored Doritos may or may not taste EXACTLY like the original, (I can’t say for sure 30+ years later), the 1st chip took me directly back to the ’70s. As to the clear packaging, maybe the degredation of the chip is what made it taste sooo good – how did we all survive with “junk” in our “junk food”?
Nice article. I too enjoyed “taco flavor” as a kid and teen. Cumin flavor is sorely missing from your flavor profile though.
This was my favourite brand and flavor of tortilla chips when I was growing up in the 1960’s thru the 1970’s then suddenly sometime in the 1980’s they cut the flavor. I was outraged and came this close to writing my congressman on this unjust fascist policy by Doritos.
I found it this mourning as I was grocery shopping and I had to get one. I have to tell you, it tastes exactly the same as the original and I still love it. There is a God after all. o_~
They taste EXACTLY the same as the old school Taco Flavor Doritos. These clowns who keep saying that they taste different don’t realize that it’s probably because your taste buds aren’t as keen as they were when they were kids. Taco Flavor Doritos Rule!
TacoDor,
The only clowns here are the idiots who think they taste exactly like the original recipe. The original recipe from 1967 until the late ’70s did not have cheese or sour cream. Cheese and sour cream were then added to the recipe, completely changing the taste so that it was overpoweringly cheesy/sour creamy, completely ruining them. It has nothing to do with taste buds changing. My taste buds didn’t change from one week to the next. You must not have started eating them until after the recipe was changed.
Right you are Steve! Tacodor, have fun in your clownsuit, you are sadly wrong. Bring back the original recipe!!
Odin’s balls, Kelley! You’ve set the stage for a riot about the flavor of 30-year-old chips! Excelsior!
So maybe they’re not perfect. But they are close enough.
Remember that today’s Doritos are much thinner than the original chips, which had a much coarser texture and more of a corn taste. Today’s packaging does a better job of protecting and preserving the chips. I’m just happy that Frito-Lay is thoughtful enough to bring out a product that is so close to its original flavor.
Now, if only Coca-Cola would come out with a product that tasted more like the original formula, before they tampered with it. (Jolt is close, but not quite.) Made with real sugar, of course; I’ve had Coke outside the U.S., and it tastes MUCH better than what is sold here.
Artie, I am fortunate enough to live in a place where Mexican Coke is readily available, and yeah, the real sugar does make a big difference.
Keep in mind, however, that the original formula actually contained cocaine, so maybe you don’t want to go back THAT far. Or maybe you do, hey, you have the right to have that opinion!
(Also yes I am rather enjoying the lively debate going on here. Someone needs to procure an actual unopened bag of the original Taco Doritos to settle this issue.)
Kelley, the story has been going around for years that the reason Coke changed their formula in 1985 was because there was SOMETHING in the “original” formula that wasn’t particularly healthy. “New Coke” was nothing but a diversion; when “Coke Classic” replaced “New Coke”, it was actually a new formula, NOT what was sold for more than 80 years. Many of us who are old enough to remember Coke before 1985 have always been certain that “Coke Classic” tastes different than the original drink used to. As I mentioned earlier, Jolt tastes more like Coca-Cola than “Coke Classic” does.
Interesting that Doritos are produced by a division of Pepsi, which is Coke’s biggest competitor.
I like RC cola the best anyway! and the ORIGINAL original taco flavor is for the old folks 🙂 these taste like the original taco flavor from the 70’s.
and cool ranch sucks! woo hooo for original taco!!!!
It is the same bag, but not the same flavor. I remember as a kid my mom would buy these for me since I loved them, would eat a whole bag after school watching Gilligan’s Island and Leave it Beaver reruns. And I’d go to talk to my mom about what’s for dinner, and she’d say I can’t stand your breath from those Doritos! I’d fish thru the bag for the ones that had lots of taco powder on them, and be sure to eat them that side down to my tongue. Those were the days!
I was a child of the 70’s, grew up with a bag of Doritos in one hand and a Pepsi in the other. Reading this discussion took me on a retro blast to many pasts. I find the chips to be close but not exactly the same. I’m sure if you had a full list of ingredients to compare, there is a lot more preservatives and addatives in the new recipe. Memories and our ability to store and interpret them varies from person to person. I’m sure that as a child the flavor profile of the chips was more intense and exaggerated by an over active imagination and excitability. Not to mention the old shaker table process of adding the flavoring that left one side of the chip coated better than the other. Today’s air flow tumblers save PepsiCo a lot of money and prevent that old experience of nearly choking to death on a chunk of pure seasoning. Those little chunks would leave you without use of your taste buds for a while. Though these chips lacked the punch and earthiness of the original Taco Doritos, I do truly enjoy them. Thank you Frito Lay and PepsiCo, this was a much better result than that nasty Pepsi Throwback crap you droped us