I remember trying to describe what an elote was to two former co-workers from the Midwest. The memory of an elotero honking his horn and yelling out “elotes!” The mad scramble to ask my parents for money. Racing to the sidewalk hoping the speedwalking elotero didn’t already pass me as he pushed the shopping cart filled with ingredients.

This is what my former coworkers got out of all that:

“A street vendor pushing a shopping cart? Are you sure that person wasn’t homeless?”
“Yeah, that sounds more like homeless corn rather than street corn.”

That happened not too long ago actually. The ordeal left me feeling silly that I expected them to try to understand the culture behind the elote. (Yes it was culturally insensitive, but this wasn’t my hill to die on.)

So to see a “boysenberry elote” proudly displayed on advertisement for the Knott’s Berry Farm Boysenberry Festival, to witness a theme park embrace something so essentially Latino, was like a triumph for me. A win that made me feel that I was no longer an “other” and the snacks I loved weren’t weird.

Now, before you all start extrapolating theories surrounding my cultural identity and need for acceptance, it’s really not that deep. Sometimes you just want to eat Takis with lime and not have to explain it. Imagine having to describe the layers of a mangoneada. It’s like “damn, I’m just trying to eat this before it melts!” and having to explain every ingredient guarantees that is not going to happen. Just let a woman eat her chucherias in peace.

Now as I stared at this purple-colored elote, I could see the proof. Knott’s was wisening up to what Latinos wanted. Knott’s wanted our money, they wanted us fed and kept happy and this elote was doing the trick.

Ironically, I could see actual others or “elote foreigners” trying to see what the long line for corn was all about. No one asked what was in it because it was clearly labeled on our food festival map. Some waited in line, others looked at the dish with confusion and walked away but that was the end of it.

Maybe elotes at Knott’s weren’t like what churros were at Disneyland but it was a start. Knott’s was my childhood theme park and elotes just made the visit even better.