Mariquitas, Platanitos, Chicharritas: Plantain Chips by Any Name | Chifles
Walk into any bodega from Hialeah to Washington Heights and ask for plantain chips. You'll get a bag. But what the person behind the counter calls that bag depends entirely on where their family is from.
Cubans say mariquitas. Or chicharritas, depending on the household. Puerto Ricans say platanutres. Dominicans and Nicaraguans say platanitos. Ecuadorians and Peruvians say chifles. Guatemalans say plataninas. In Bolivia it's chipilo.
Same snack. Green plantain, sliced thin, fried until it cracks, hit with salt. Every plantain-growing country on the map arrived at it independently, and every one of them is certain their name is the correct one.
They're all right. Here's the map.
Mariquitas — Cuba
The name you'll hear most in Miami. Mariquita means ladybug — look at a chip and you can see it, a little round thing, thin and delicate. Mariquitas show up next to a media noche, crumbled over arroz, or straight out of the bag at the domino table while somebody slams a double nine and somebody else disputes it.
Don't confuse mariquitas with tostones. Tostones are thick rounds of green plantain, smashed and fried twice, eaten hot with mojo. Mariquitas are the thin, shatter-crisp cousin — the one that survives the trip to the beach cooler.
Chicharritas — Also Cuba
Same island, same chip, second name. Chicharrita borrows from chicharrón — the crackle is the point. Whether a Cuban household says mariquitas or chicharritas mostly comes down to which grandmother ran the kitchen. Nobody has ever settled this argument and nobody should.
Platanutres — Puerto Rico
The name with the most syllables and, per Puerto Ricans, the most flavor. Platanutres hold down lechonera counters and beach kioskos across the island, and every bodega shelf in New York. If someone in your life says platanutres, do not correct them. You will lose.
Platanitos — Dominican Republic & Nicaragua
The most literal of the family: little plantains. Two countries, no relation, same word — which tells you how naturally the name arrives once the chip exists. In the DR they ride alongside salami frito; in Nicaragua they show up under a pile of vigorón.
Chifles — Ecuador & Peru
And then there's the name on our bag.
Chifles is what the chip is called in Ecuador and along Peru's northern coast, where it isn't a snack so much as an ingredient — dropped into encebollado, stacked next to ceviche, served with breakfast the way other places serve bread. In Piura, Peru, they traditionally fry chifles over algarrobo wood, which perfumes the chip with smoke, and local producers have pushed to have chifles recognized as a national flagship product.
Where the word itself comes from is genuinely disputed. One theory traces it to an old Arabic-derived term for a sword blade — the thing that sliced the plantain. Another says it comes from chiflar, to whistle, either for the sharp sound of the fry or the whistle used to call people over when the chips were ready. Pick the story you like. The chip is the same either way.
So why is a Miami brand named Chifles?
Because the family that started making these chips in Florida took the Ecuadorian word and put it on a bag inspired by the vendors who sold plantain chips on the streets of Havana. An Ecuadorian name, a Cuban street snack, a Florida company. That mix is not a contradiction. That mix is Miami.
Sixty-some years later, the bag is in supermarkets across the country, and people still walk up to it saying five different words. All of them are welcome.
Los que saben, saben.
FAQ
Are mariquitas the same as plantain chips?
Yes. Mariquitas is the Cuban name for thin-sliced fried green plantain chips. Same snack, different word.
What's the difference between mariquitas and tostones?
Thickness and method. Tostones are thick green plantain rounds, smashed and fried twice, eaten hot. Mariquitas (plantain chips) are sliced thin and fried once until crisp, so they keep in a bag.
What are chicharritas?
Another Cuban name for plantain chips. The word nods to chicharrón — it's about the crunch.
What does "chifles" mean?
Chifles is the Ecuadorian and northern Peruvian name for fried plantain chips. The word's origin is debated — theories point to an old term for a blade or to chiflar, to whistle. It's also the name on our bag.
Are plantain chips and banana chips the same thing?
No. Plantains are starchier and less sweet than bananas, and plantain chips fry up savory and crisp rather than sweet. (Full post on this coming soon.)
