Sunday, November 18, 2012

hostess, i'll miss you

Ok, they aren't healthy.  They contribute to tooth decay and elevated blood sugar.  But Twinkies have been around for longer than I have been alive.  Invented in 1933, they have been a staple in kids lunch boxes for years, and every time I opened my lunch box and saw a package of Twinkies, my day was a bit brighter.

Now they are gone.  Forever.  There have been imitators, but nothing ever came close to a Twinkie for me.  I was surprised to hear that Hostess was liquidating, due to decreased profits and a union strike that could not be resolved.  In our health conscious society, it has become harder for makers of high sugar products to continue to make a profit.  Competing brands didn't help either.  For many years Hostess was the king of the baked goods market.  Do you remember Wonder Bread?  I do, and ate it for years when I was a kid.  Now we avoid processed white flour products like the plague.  The thing I remember most about Wonder Bread was that they advertised how nutritious it was and that it helped build strong bodies.
It is a fact of life that nothing is static, and things change.  But still, I was a bit saddened to see part of my youth gone forever.  To try to capture one last bite of that youth, I sent Stevie Wonder on a Twinkie hunt yesterday.  It was too late.  Even in remote areas Twinkies were sold out.  There was a run on Hostess products by people who were feeling nostalgic and a little panicky, like me.  In fact, everything Hostess was sold out, except for this:

Yes, all that was left was fruitcake, and it looked and felt like it was left from the holidays last year.  That was probably why it was the only thing left.  Stevie Wonder brought it in and held it out in his hand like it was  precious metal, and he had found the mother lode.  I am not a fruitcake lover, but I snarfed most of that down like a dying man having his last meal, and enjoyed every bite.  It wasn't a Twinkie, and it wasn't about Twinkies at that point, but about enjoying the end of an era.

Goodbye Hostess.  I'll miss you.

...life is good. ~cath
find me @jonesbabie on Twitter

10 comments:

  1. Although I haven't had one for decades, I felt a twinge of regret at their demise. I have a hunch, though, that someone, somewhere, is going to come out of the woodworks and revive them~

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  2. I am not a Twinkie girl, but I love Hostess cupcakes. So sad! I have to agree with Shelly, though. Someone will save the casualties from this liquidation. They just have to, right?

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    1. I love the cupcakes too Denise! I used to love to try to scrape that white squiggle off the top with my teeth, without messing up the chocolate icing. I hear there might be a Mexican company interested in them, but who knows what will happen? It will be interesting to follow.

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  3. I have been looking for devil dogs everywhere!! If I had known it was my last devil dog the last time I had one - I would have appreciated it so much more!!!! Sigh.

    http://lgoogoogaga.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/raising-justin-beiber/

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    1. I hear you on that! I wish I had thought of a Twinkie weeks ago. I haven't had a binge on them in years.

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  4. Haven't had a Twinkie in a long time, but think I just might have to make an exception now.

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    1. Good luck finding one at this point Jack! :D I hear a box is going for thousands of dollars on Ebay, if you are interested.

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  5. When I started to read your blog post my mouth watered! I haven`t had a Twinkie in many years! So sad they are saying goodbye :(

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    1. I hate to see them go too Nelieta, but I guess that is life, and the economy.

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