Doritos started as surplus tortillas fried at Disneyland, then became America's first nationally sold tortilla chip

pop & funWikipediaearly 1960s · Anaheim, California, USA

Doritos started as surplus tortillas fried at Disneyland, then became America's first nationally sold tortilla chip

the gist

Doritos began in the early 1960s at the Casa de Fritos restaurant at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Staff used surplus tortillas, cut them into pieces, fried them and added basic seasoning, borrowing the idea from the Mexican snack totopo. Frito-Lay's marketing chief Arch West noticed their popularity, and after a short regional run the volume outgrew a supplier, so the company moved production to its Tulsa plant. Doritos went national in 1966, the first tortilla chip sold across the United States. The name comes from Spanish doradito, meaning little golden thing.

so what

Doritos showed that a regional snack could be scaled into a national brand, and it set the pattern for modern flavoured chips. By 1993 the brand brought in $1.2 billion in retail sales, a third of Frito-Lay's total that year.

fun fact

The name Doritos comes from the Spanish doradito, meaning little golden thing.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

historyWikipediaclassic1336–1565 · Karnataka, India

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗