In 1992, the world saw the birth of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, the spicy chip that leaves your fingers a deep shade of orange. Richard Montañez, a former janitor at the Frito-Lay Rancho Cucamonga plant invented the tasty treat. As the story goes, when an assembly line machine broke and couldn’t dust the Cheetos with their familiar orange coating, he decided to take some of the chips home to experiment. Modeling it after the elotes he grew up eating, he added chili powder and invented the best snack known to mankind. (Probably.) According to Inc, he checked out some books from the library to perfect his pitch and bought a $3 tie, which ended up paying off big. Montañez is now the executive vice president of multicultural sales for PepsiCo’s North American division.
In that time, the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto has taken on a new life on Instagram. Here, people have transformed the crunchy, cheesy treat in unimaginable ways. Check out 17 Flamin’ Hot Cheeto creations that will either delight or haunt you: