Monday, April 7, 2008

On a Lighter Note . . .



Yesterday marked the 78th year since the invention of the Hostess Twinkie. Why does that strike me as funny?

Today, 500 million Twinkies are produced every year. That's about 2 Twinkies for every man, woman and child in the country. You can have my two, I don't really like them. I do like some of the other Hostess products which include Ho-Ho's, Ding-Dongs, Cup-Cakes and Sno-Balls. Now there's a wholesome treat, coconut-covered, strawberry Sno-Balls. That strikes me as funny, too. I'd like to meet the guy who came up with the name Ding-Dong and Ho-Ho. "Let's see it's a chocolate-covered, vanilla cake mix in a round format, hmmm... I know, we'll call it a Ding-Dong, yea sounds about right. And the tubular ones we'll call Ho-Ho. Perfect."

You can often tell where someone was raised by the pre-packaged snack food they like. I'm from the mid-Atlantic northeast, home of TastyKake. From my first day of high school until my last, everyday, I had the following: two sandwiches made with Pepperidge Farm bread, ham and cheese, an orange, a bag of potato chips, and a TastyKake, usually Butterscotch Krimpets. I'm not sure what a Krimpet is but that is what they are called. If I had a dollar or so, which I usually did, I added to that, a soft pretzel, a pint of chocolate milk and a Coke from the school Cafeteria. If that sounds pretty specific for being over 30 years ago, remember, I had the same thing everyday for 4 years, and in case you are wondering, I had barely an ounce of fat on me.

Back to the prepackage snacks. In the Fort Worth area, I often hear people talk about Little Debbies and fried pies. I'm not sure if Twinkies were big here or not and I don't see them on the shelves but I'm not looking for them either. I know TastyKake doesn't go much further south than Maryland.

If you were born in Fort Worth, am I right about the fried pies? Any southern Californians, what about you? I think the Midwest is Twinkie land.

6 comments:

Becca said...

the mid west, at least the Minnesota part is for sure Twinkie land..

Francis Shivone said...

Thanks Becca, I thought so.

The Old Bare said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Old Bare said...

New England was Hostess country. The real test if someone is from New England or not is to ask them, "What's a Hoodsie?"

If he makes nostalgic yummy noises, he's from NE. If he looks at you with the blank stare, he is a poser.

(repost due to terrible grammar)

Francis Shivone said...

Never heard of a hoodsie. Must not have traveled south to the lower three counties of PA (DE). You can tell me when I'm back in a few weeks.

Anonymous said...

Hostess butter cup cakes have been catching my eye lately, but I haven't indulged; Little Debbie Lemon pies keep winning. They really are nice and tart, if a little greasy.

Someone's obviously eating more than their share of twinkies, because I haven't had one in ??? more than 30 years.