The Hostess Twinkie made its debut in Chicago in 1930. Until World War II, the Twinkie was filled with banana flavoring. A banana shortage during the war forced a change to vanilla filling, which persists to today.
Here are some more interesting facts about the Twinkie garnered from a variety of sources:
- It became famous in the late 1970's in a San Francisco murder trial. Dan White, accused of murdering San Francisco Mayor George Mosconi and Supervisor Harvey Milk, claimed that eating junk food such as Twinkies helped cause a change in his behavior and made him more aggressive. His lawyer claimed that White's consumption of Twinkies should be a mitigating factor. A public uproar followed White's light sentence for murder, and the "Twinkie Defense" was born.
- Calling the Hostess Twinkie "an object of enduring American symbolism," President Bill Clinton placed it in the National Millenium Time Capsule in 1999.
- A Twinkie is 68 percent air.
- Following the announcement of the imminent bankruptcy of Hostess, EBay entrepreneurs started selling them online. One vendor had an opening bid of $200,000 for one box last weekend!
- The Twinkies Cookbook went on sale in 2006. It contains a multitude of recipes, including one on how to use Twinkies to stuff your Thanksgiving turkey!
- At peak production, Hostess was turning out over 500 million Twinkies a year-- about 1,000 a minute.
- The original price for a package of Twinkies was two for a nickel.
- Even though the shelf life of a Twinkie is 25 days, a teacher from Blue Hill, Maine kept a package of Twinkies atop his blackboard for 30 years. The Twinkies were described as brittle but edible after he retired.
- Lewis Browning, a retired 89 year old milk truck driver from suburban Indianapolis, has appeared on the Jay Leno Show. Lewis has eaten at least 1 Twinkie a day for over 60 years--over 25,000! Could Twinkies explain Lew's longevity?
- Each Twinkie has about 150 calories.
- Each Twinkie has about 39 ingredients, including minute amounts of rocks, glue, and petroleum!
- Ever hear of "Twinkiegate?" A Minneapolis councilman named George Belair gave Twinkies to a senior citizens' group in 1985 while campaigning for office. He was indicted for bribery; eventually, the charges were dropped. The incident did, however, lead to campaign reform laws in Minnesota.
