National Cheese Doodle Day

National Cheese Doodle Day, observed March 5th, celebrates the crunchy or puffy corn-based snack coated in a powdery cheese seasoning. The snack's development is tied to the broader history of extruded corn snacks in the United States in the early-to-mid 20th century, when manufacturers discovered that cooking corn grits under pressure and forcing them through a die created a light, airy, expanded shape, a process that also happened to accidentally create some of the first "corn curl" snacks when a Wisconsin animal feed manufacturer noticed the machinery produced an edible byproduct in the 1930s. Cheese Doodles specifically became a well-known brand name snack through the Wise Foods company, while other cheese puff and cheese curl brands, including Cheetos, which launched nationally in 1948, built the broader cheese-snack category into one of the most popular in American snack food aisles. The snack's defining bright orange color and powdery texture come from a cheese-flavored seasoning dusted onto the puffed corn base after cooking, a method that maximizes flavor coverage on the porous, airy surface. On National Cheese Doodle Day, people celebrate by snacking on cheese doodles, cheese puffs, or cheese curls of any brand.