Name Change Urged for Gorditas: It’s Discriminatory, Say Critics Ben Wein - Mexico News Daily
go to original August 8, 2022

A wide variety of the fried or baked dough balls known as gorditas can be found across Mexico. (Adolfo Valtierra/Cuartoscuro)

Many of Mexico’s favorite snacks are noted for their colorful names, but one term for a stuffed corn tortilla has fallen foul of some social media users.

Gordita is the feminine form of the word for “chubby,” which some say is inherently discriminatory and should therefore be changed.

Proposals for a new name include masa con relleno (“dough with filling”) and masa frita (“fried dough”), the newspaper Proceso reported. Baked and deep-fried variants of gorditas are found all over Mexico.

Although the proposal gained some support on social media, other users considered the campaign misguided.

“They’ve been called that for a lifetime. It’s like wanting to change the name of burritos,” wrote one user, referring to another stuffed corn snack which translates literally as “little donkeys.”

“They have been, are and always will be gorditas. If anyone is offended, lose weight,” another user crudely suggested.

It’s not the first time a snack’s name has caused controversy. In 2013, the bread company Bimbo changed the name of its cake from Negrito, a racially derived nickname common in Mexico, roughly translating to “black boy,” to the less controversial Nito.

Faced with a similar issue last year, Swiss food giant Nestlé changed the name of a cookie from Negrita, roughly meaning “black girl,” to Chokita.

See the original at Mexico News Daily

Related: Where Do Mexican Nicknames Come From? (Dallas Observer)

Related: How Did Gorditas Become Part of Mexico’s Culture Wars? (Mexico News Daily)