Life

Rainbow Doritos Exist & They Look Like Straight Up Unicorn Chips

by Isami McCowan

The colored food craze has been going on for some time now. From cream-cheese filled rainbow bagels to gold-covered chicken wings, it seems like we can't get enough of the colorful stuff. In fact, rainbow-colored snacks have been in our lives since we were kids, in the form of things like Skittles, Goldfish, Sour Patch Kids, and Fruit by the Foot. So, why not bring a little bit of that magic back to our tastebuds? Wait no longer for another classic snack to get a blast of color: rainbow Doritos exist.

If you've been following food trends, you may have noticed that the cheerful snack first appeared in 2015. Doritos had partnered up with the It Gets Better Project, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ youth, to create the limited edition chips in celebration of pride and the LGBTQ+ community. A press release announced that the snack was, in fact, "the first Doritos product in history made up of multiple, rainbow-colored Doritos chips," and that the colorful design was "inspired by the Pride flag." The product wasn't available in stores, but instead would be mailed to consumers who made a donation of $10 or more to the It Gets Better Project's website. The collaboration's ultimate goal was to raise money for the organization's efforts to support LGBTQ+ youth around the globe.

The rainbow-colored Doritos made their official event debut at Dallas Pride 2015, where Doritos sponsored the event for the first time. There, attendees could visit Doritos' booth to donate to the It Gets Better Project and receive some of the boldly flavored chips.

With their awesome backstory and first-ever design, the question is pressing: can you get your hands on rainbow Doritos today? It depends on where you live. In Mexico, a line of the boldly colored (and flavored) chips is still alive and well. Delish stumbled upon food blogger Markie Devo, who posted a review of the snack and reported that they had a sweet, citrusy lemon-lime taste. The chips' unique taste was noted as "unbelievable," and now I want to try them even more (hey, U.S. Doritos branch, please hear our pleas to bring these bad boys to stores throughout the nation). If you really want a bag but can't get to Mexico to try them from the source, you can buy the snack from the Mexican Candy Lady shop online.

If you're feeling creative, you might consider following in YouTuber Jeremiah Rangel's footsteps and turning rainbow Doritos into a DIY project. Using food coloring, corn starch, and an egg, Rangel got to work with a baking sheet in attempt to make one giant, rainbow-colored Dorito. He mashed up the Doritos, and then fashioned the multi-colored chip-bits into a pyramid shape to mimic the colors of the rainbow. Honestly, it looked super good, but unfortunately he mentioned that the end result tasted like a "wet, flavorless Dorito." Don't give up on DIY though — maybe you'll have a little bit more luck with your colorful Dorito-esque snack (kudos to Jeremiah for forging the way for all of us hopefuls, though).

Rainbow Doritos were once a limited edition snack and are now an exclusive find — get your hands on a bag if you can. In the meantime, you might be wondering about why we get drawn to rainbow-colored foods in the first place. A company called Jeni's Ice Cream has an interesting answer: we like to imagine what colors taste like. They believe that "your emotions, experiences, and personal history" all come into play when bringing the colors in food to life through your tastebuds. Next time you're eating any super-colorful snack, close your eyes and think about what memories the color evokes and how it translates into what you're tasting — just some food for thought.