Twinkie

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A Twinkie is a "Golden Sponge Cake with a Creamy Filling" created by Hostess, and baked by Continental Baking Co., which is owned by Kansas City-based Interstate Bakeries Corporation. Twinkies measure 4" x 1" (10 cm x 2.5 cm) and are usually sold in packages of two, though they can be sold in packages of three.

In the United States, the Twinkie is commonly regarded as the quintessential junk food. Each Twinkie contains about 145 Calories (607 kilojoules). Five hundred million are produced each year.

Twinkie the Kid is the advertising mascot for Twinkies and can be found on packaging and related merchandise.

Contents 1 How Twinkies are made 2 Urban legend 3 Fried twinkies 4 Twinkies in popular culture 4.1 Twinkie as slang 5 Notes 6 External links

How Twinkies are made

The Twinkie was invented on April 6, 1930 by bakery manager James Dewar, making thrifty use of shortcake pans that were used only during the strawberry season. Twinkies originally contained a banana cream filling, but this was replaced with a vanilla cream filling during a banana shortage caused by the outbreak of World War II. ^[1]

Though Continental Foods has never revealed how Twinkies are made, most people believe that they are baked, because the bottoms look brown. The Washington Post reported on April 13, 2005 that "the cakes are baked for 10 minutes, then the cream filling is injected through three holes in the top, which is browned from baking. The cake is flipped before packaging, so the rounded yellow bottom becomes the top." Hostess was the implied source of this information.^[2]

Urban legend

According to urban legend, Twinkies have a shelf life of many years. While some urban myth websites have concluded this is false^[3], the photograph shows Twinkies which have been kept since 1998 with no signs of deterioration. In one small classroom experiment at George Stevens Academy, a single Twinkie, removed from all packaging, did not spoil for 30 years, although it became "rather brittle".^[4] Another urban myth is that the cream inside of the twinkies ferments into an alcoholic beverage after eight years. This was also shown on the FOX TV show, The Simpsons. Also, on the FOX show Family Guy, after a nuclear war, the only thing that survived was a twinkie factory.

Fried twinkies

Main article: Deep fried Twinkie

According to the Hostess website, Christopher Sell invented the "fried Twinkie" at the Chip Shop, his restaurant in Brooklyn, New York. It was described by the New York Times in this way: "Something magical occurs when the pastry hits the hot oil. The creamy white vegetable shortening filling liquefies, impregnating the sponge cake with its luscious vanilla flavor. . . The cake itself softens and warms, nearly melting, contrasting with the crisp, deep-fried crust in a buttery and suave way. The shop adds its own ruby-hued berry sauce, which provides a bit of tart sophistication."

By 2002, the Arkansas State Fair had introduced the fried Twinkie to great popular acclaim, and the notion spread to other state fairs across the U.S., as well as some establishments that specialize in fried delicacies.

Twinkies in popular culture

The twinkie defense is a derogatory term for a criminal defendant's claim that some unusual factor (such as allergies, coffee, nicotine, or sugar) diminished the defendant's responsibility for the alleged crime. The term arose from the trial of Dan White, who was convicted in the fatal shootings of San Francisco mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk, but the "Twinkie defense" was in reality only a minor and insignificant element of the defense case. (Compare Chewbacca Defense.)

Twinkie as slang

The name Twinkie or twink has acquired several slang meanings:

"Twinkie" might be used disparagingly as a metaphor for an Asian-American who emulates Caucasians (yellow on the outside and white on the inside), similar to the term "oreo" for African Americans. In the movie Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, the main character, Harold, is labelled a Twinkie by his Asian-American peers due to his lack of connection with his Korean origins. An alternate synonym for the use is "Banana". It is also pejoratively applied to those biracial people who are half-Asian and half-White.

In some Native American circles a "twinkie" is a person who believes in a sickeningly sweet and artificial version of American Indian religion(s), or claims to be Native American for fraudulent purposes [1].

TV journalist Linda Ellerbee, in the opening paragraphs of her autobiography And So It Goes, defines a "twinkie" as the kind of blow-dried TV news reporter who doesn't fully understand the news he or she is reporting--citing herself as an example.

"Twink" is used in gay slang to describe an attractive young or young-looking male, usually of slender build, only slightly muscular, with little or no body hair.

A "twinkie" or simply "twink" in gamer slang is a somewhat derogatory term for a young gamer who doesn't fully understand the hobby, or a more experienced gamer whose apparent lack of understanding is presumed to be willful. "Twinking" is a term used in many role-playing games referring to the player's use of the rules to create the most effective character possible through in-game rules, (similar to min-maxing), especially when skills or abilities selected contradict the character's personality, if it is such a game where depth of character is an issue. When applied to inexperienced gamers it is less pejorative than munchkin, but can be very insulting when directed at experienced gamers, who ought to know how to avoid newbie pitfalls.

A "twinkie" is also used in Western Canadian street youth communities to describe a member of an affluent or otherwise stable home environment yet chooses to live the street kid lifestyle without necessity. The term "mark" is often used in the same way.

A "twinkie" is also sometimes used as a synonym for "twin." Appropriately, then, it is also used as an affectionately derogatory nickname for the Minnesota Twins baseball team. It can also, more neutrally, refer to two people who show up to work or a social event dressed in the same way.

"Twinkie" can also be used to refer to a young female partner of a more mature gentleman, akin to 'arm candy' or 'trophy girlfriend'.

"Twinkie" can be a harsh insult to overweight people, in other words calling them fat.

Notes

1. ^ Hostess Cakes: About Us official website
2. ^ Sagon, Candy. "Twinkies, 75 Years And Counting", Washington Post, April 13, 2005, p. F01. Retrieved on February 1, 2007.
3. ^ Urban legends
4. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-08-13-twinkie_x.htm

External links

• The T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S Project
• Twinkie Ingredients
• Twinkie, Deconstructed: a book about packaged foods to be published March 2007