Say It Ain't So, Twinkie the Kid

Via felixtcat on flickr
In case you haven't heard the sad news already, Twinkie the Kid is officially retiring. Hostess, the maker of Twinkies, Sno-Balls and other blood sugar-spiking goodies as well as Wonder Bread, is officially going out of business after more than 80 years as an American-made brand. Their union workers have been on strike since September, and the company was unable to reach a deal with them. Additionally, profits were down--probably a sign that some Americans are taking healthier eating habits to heart. 

Now I was more of a Drake's Devil Dog kid myself, partly because I remember a recurring story that my mother had heard from her Weight Watchers group in the 70s. It was about a lady who tossed a package of Twinkies on a shelf to hide her snacking habits from her husband. A year later, while cleaning the shelf, she found the Twinkies and they looked exactly the same as the day she bought them, which meant they were chockfull of preservatives. This tale has been dismissed as an urban legend, but in 2005, NPR interviewed a chemistry teacher who unwrapped a Twinkie which then took 30 years to develop green fuzzy mold.

At any rate, I never touched Twinkies (but liked those coconut covered Sno-Balls) and the last time I ate Wonder Bread was when I was 12 years old (remember squishing one slice up into a little ball the size of a marble and popping it in your mouth?) There are tons of copycat recipes out there for Hostess products that you can make yourself at home and are probably better for you since they won't contain food additives. But today, I'm holding a moment of silence for Hostess and offering up a splattering of vintage commercials. Hostess is dead...long live Hostess...












8 comments:

  1. The Mister is so sad about this. When he was a young boy, he wanted to be a Hostess delivery truck driver when he grew up.

    I'm disappointed because there is a version of Wonder Bread that was actually healthier than the so-called healthy bread (more fiber, no HFCS, etc) that was budget friendly, too!

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  2. Dr. JulieAnn - that's awesome about your husband. I used to eat the fruit pies when I little, even though some of the flavors tasted terrible. I hear that it's possible another company will pick up the Hostess products and continue to make them.

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  3. And of course, who can forget those Hostess superhero comic strips from the 70s and 80s? Stopping bad guys just became that much harder...

    I started out liking Twinkies and then switched to Cupcakes later in childhood. Still eat them every once in awhile.

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  4. My Mom used to buy Twinkies for my lunch at school. I haven't had one in years (I'm pre diabetic now) but I have a soft spot for them as well as the cup cakes. My fave was the Peanut Butter Funny Bones; from what I'm reading Drake had been bought out by Hostess some years ago.

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  5. Mmmmmm Hostess Fruit Pies. Hope someone buys the brand and recipes for others to enjoy. I haven't had any Hostess products in years but do fondly recall them from my youth.

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  6. I was really sad when I heard about this. And then I immediately planned to stockpile Twinkies but got sidetracked. Thanks for the reminder.

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  8. Great post. I recently posted an entry on my blog about the Hostess mascots.

    http://ascaleof.blogspot.com/2012/11/hostess-snack-cake-mascots-scale-of.html

    R.I.P. Twinkie the Kid. Hopefully we'll find out it's not really you in the grave and you'll live on.

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