This Cheesy Snack Was Originally Invented To Be Cattle Feed

Potato chips, Dippin' Dots, chocolate chip cookies, and nachos. Legend has it that countless delicious, nostalgic snacks were made by accident, and we're here to add another one to the list of foods that we only have because something didn't quite go as expected: cheese puffs. Believe it or not, they were never intended for human consumption — in fact, they're simply air-filled horse food.

In 1932, the Flakall Corporation, a Wisconsin-based animal feed manufacturer, was working to create a corn-based food that would be easier for animals to digest. The company created a machine that flaked corn into pieces, getting rid of any potential sharp edges of corn that could cause digestive issues. While this made it easier for animals to eat, it made a serious mess, and employees were troubleshooting ways to clean the machine. A worker added moistened corn to the machine in an attempt to remove stuck-on flakes, and was surprised when a puffy, crunchy, perfectly snackable treat came out of the other end.

Flakall employee Edward Wilson saw an opportunity and took the puffed-up corn kernels home. He seasoned them to his liking, called his newly-developed snack Korn Kurls, and the rest is history. Flakall adopted Wilson's delicious concept and rebranded, changing its name to Adams Corporation in an attempt to sever its association with selling animal feed, helping customers to see it as a trustworthy producer of human-grade food.

Food legends are questionable at best, and Flakall isn't the only company that claims to have invented cheese puffs. In fact, the Louisiana-based Elmer Candy Corporation says it was the one who came up with the product as well. While it's tough to know exactly who created the first cheese puff, it's easy to see that they've had a hold in the snack food industry for years.

You can find a wide variety of cheese puffs on store shelves, but the Cheetos brand has become synonymous with the pork-rind-esque snack. Fritos founder Charles Elmer Doolin invented Cheetos (then spelled Chee-tos) in 1948 (and later merged with potato chip magnate Herman W. Lay to create Frito-Lay, Inc.). Originally, only the crunchy version of Cheetos was sold in stores. Cheetos Puffs were introduced in 1971, alongside the brand's first mascot in the '80s, the Chee-tos Mouse, the predecessor to Chester Cheetah.

Cheetos are a hot item today — the brand can be found everywhere, from collaborations with fashion brands to adding flavor to other snack foods (like the brand's current partnership with Smartfood popcorn). It's crazy to think that without the ingenuity of a couple of Flakall employees and the quick thinking of Edward Wilson, the original concept for what would become Cheetos may never have been invented — and you might never know what it's like to kick back at the end of the day as you take a sip of your Hot Cheeto-dusted martini using an evolved version of Wilson's creation.