Talk:Twinkie/Archive 1

about the "urban legend" -Do they last forever?
A July 31st NY Times article, as well as an August 1st All Things Considered interview indicate that the extrememly long shelf life is not an urban myth. Retired professor Roger Bennatti kept an open Twinkie in his classroom for thirty years, and it shows no significant decomposition.


 * My science teacher from 8th grade has an eight-year-old Twinkie in his classroom as well. In fact, he recently got it signed by Bill Nye, which I thought was pretty cool.  I'm not sure how hard it is, but it looks the same as it did when it was first opened.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.43.34.79 (talk) 17:31, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

The question is not, "Does the fact that it hasn't decomposed mean it is still edible?" but is, in fact, "Would you eat it?" I rest my case. Alx xlA 05:54, 21 August 2007 (UTC)


 * What the shit are you talking about. The question is "is it safe to eat?" after 30 years. It's an open question; the answer, whatever it may be, is the answer to "would you eat it?". --86.137.159.110 (talk) 00:37, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

I wondered the same thing. The first comment is useful, the second one is not. Is it true or an urban myth? Does anyone have any links or references to ad to this question? Frankly I am shocked that this is not at all mentioned in the article. --Jon in California 4 Jan 2008


 * People have been known to pass fruit cake down from generation to generation. And let's not forget the Seinfeld where Elaine eats a cake left over from a British royal wedding in the 1930s. Logic as well as experience would tell you that any kind of cake product or bread or any other baked good left in the open air would get rock-hard eventually. I'm "shocked" that twinkies would be singled out somehow. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? 03:39, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

The fact that a typical twinkie stays on the shelf for 7-10 days is completely irrelevant and should be removed or prefaced, IMO. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.208.172.2 (talk) 16:44, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

Over the Hedge reference
Over the Hedge characters like RJ and Hammy favours Twinkies as their favorite food. That is mentioned a lot on the strip. Maybe that can be added on the trivia section...

Another, equal known use of the term describes a high-level character in an RPG (typically an MMORPG) who has a low-level, alternate character equipped exclusively from the high-level character's cash and/or equipment reserves.

I removed that because it has nothing to do with the twinkie junk food, it is related to TWEAK, as in, tweaking your character, "twinking" it, nothing to do with a fucking twinkie...

I'd like to see info added on the Banana Twinkie. NOT the banana FILLED twinkie, the Banan Twinkie that was/is available only on Hawaii. Banana Bread with the regular Hostess Filling. They are amazing, but there is VERY little on the web about them and they are getting harder and harder to find on the islands of Hawaii.

I just changed "food energy" back to "calories" in the Interesting Facts section. I think food energy is somewhat confusing here. While showing the equivalence of kinetic energy to food energy is important, I think an actual unit is more concrete. I assume the modifier was concerned with the use of calories as opposed to kilojoules or other energy units. If anyone agrees that this is a problem, feel free to revert and/or discuss.

If we follow the link to the Urban Legend we find it claims that what is written in the article was not true. Until further evidence is forthcoming I suggest we follow the UL site. DJ Clayworth 21:29, 20 Oct 2003 (UTC)


 * I agree, in the absence of any better evidence, Snopes seems a pretty reliable basis for correction. I'll alter it now. IMSoP 22:32, 20 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Oops! We seem to have edited that page simultaneously. I've submitted my version in full, because I had made a few other changes as well, but feel free to edit it how you want. I do apologise for that. IMSoP 23:06, 20 Nov 2003 (UTC)

An anonymous user (24.2.86.81 - nice IP!) has changed "an extremely long shelf-life (estimated at two years)" to "an extremely long shelf-life (estimated at 25 days)" I've no idea which is nearer the truth, having never seen a Twinkie in my life, but since it's a rather drastic change, perhaps someone could check that - and perhaps clarify in the article who it is that's estimating, and what is meant by "shelf-life". Thanks - IMSoP 21:41, 25 Jan 2004 (UTC)


 * Apparently the anon was right: I've updated the article. --Minesweeper 04:31, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC)

poorly written
Shouldn't the stuff about alternate uses of the word at least be put under a seperate heading? It really doesn't seem like it fits in with the rest of the stuff. Also, "no one really knows how they are made"? Really, NO ONE? Surely SOMEone knows how they're made. That paragraph also needs rewritten.

Further, the phrase "they are made without unstabilized dairy products" is awkward due to the double negative. Prefer "with stabilized...". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.219.118.34 (talk) 21:12, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

The intro to this article is very poorly written at the moment - particularly if you don't live in North America/Canada. The whole point of an encyclopaedia is that it should help people with no knowledge make sense of things they have no knowledge or concept of.

So the intro should talk about it being an iconic American snack, not about whether production is stopped or started or whatever. Likewise I agree with having mention of (or at least disambiguation) with some of the slang. Again those of us who live at a distance from US cultural references need something to help us link (or avoid confusion with) slang words - this again is why we turn to an encyclopaedia.

Please help!

Jpmaytum (talk) 22:33, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

lack of dairy products
I have a box of twinkies right here, and it says it has whey in it, and also eggs. The long shelf life probably has more to do with preservatives and stabilizers than anything else.


 * Yes, one egg per 500 twinkies. See Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats by Steve Ettlinger. Has anyone read this book and be willing to put some more facts into the article from it? I've just heard Ettlinger interviewed. —Pengo 23:37, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Delisted GA
There are no references. slambo 10:35, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

POV in Native American Slang section
The section about Native American slang is unreferenced. Also, it as biased, and needs to be wikified. I don't know the right way to approach this problem. If someone could help with this, that would be appriciated.-- The  i  kiro  id  ( talk/parler/hablar/paroli/说/話 ) 02:58, 27 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Hopefully removed the bias, still needs a citation. 68.39.174.238 03:44, 7 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Looks pretty good. Thanks.-- The  i  kiro  id  ( talk/parler/hablar/paroli/说/話 ) 15:01, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Nuclear Twinkie
I heard somewhere that the twinkie can survive a nuclear bomb? Anyone know if thats true?--Geppy 07:30, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I doubt if one could survive the extreme heat and pressure generated by a nuclear explosion, anymore than most other matter. Try attaching one to a small firework and see what happens. Markb 12:22, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

145 Kilocalories?!
That's 483 times the caloric weight of a hamburger... in that little package! It sounds rather suspicious, doesn't it? =) Just fact-checking... Erm, my bad. I got confused... calorie vs. Calorie. Kareeser|Talk! 19:44, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Banana filling
The original twinkie had banana filling, but they had to change it to vanilla due to shortages during WWII--this isn't even mentioned in the article. Shouldn't we have a history section? --Berserk798 01:12, 11 June 2006 (UTC)


 * It used to be there; was removed by an anon in this edit, claiming it was a hoax. However, it's there on the official Hostess history page:


 * The Twinkies' popularity skyrocketed and it soon became Hostess' best-selling snack cake. During World War II a banana ration caused Continental to switch to the vanilla crème center that is loved today.


 * Put it back in, with citation. :)   &mdash; Catherine\talk 02:30, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

That section is confusing to me, it says something about chocolate filling, and then suddenly switches gears and talks about banana. Was there ever chocolate filling? I'm confused. --99.249.130.94 (talk) 20:32, 8 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Thank you for pointing that out, 99.x. That section had been vandalized with some subtle word changes - there never was a chocolate filling - and I've set the section to rights now. keɪɑtɪk flʌfi (talk) 14:27, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Unusual claim
Will likely delete this sentance from the article unless someone can cite a credible source: "A small group of eccentrics is convinced that the twinkies are brought to our planet by extraterrestrials, usually Greys." Arx Fortis 17:22, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Strawberries-n-cream-filled Twinkies?
I still need to do more research on when Hostess released the strawberries-n-cream version of the Twinkie. Few people seem to remember this one, but there seem to be several accounts throughout the web of people remembering these sometime during the 1980's. If anyone is able to find information on when this version of the Twinkie was released, and perhaps why it was discontinued, please add it to the article. Mantispid 13:17, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

how come no mention of tiger tails? its my favorite twinkie variant thats still sold, it is striped with raspberry syrup and coconut.. ~syrric —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.182.213.22 (talk) 06:36, 22 August 2010 (UTC)

Another meaning
The Friends episode The One Where Joey Moves Out depicts the relationship between an older man and a younger woman, and she is called a "twinkie" in a derogatory way by others (there is the exact quote in that article). I don't think this meaning has been covered yet. I'm not a native speaker, so I'm not sure about how popular that expression is.--134.130.4.46 09:37, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Whole eggs
The ingredients say Twinkies contain whole eggs. They must be pretty small — I can't imagine anyone stuffing a chicken egg in one of them. —  Jeremy  Talk  08:56, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Citation
I would like a citation on the twinkies produced per year. Also the James Dewar linked to is the scientist who died in 1923. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Niftymatt (talk • contribs) 14:45, November 16, 2006.


 * I changed James Dewar link to the disambiguation page; No article yet exists for James Dewar (baker). Arx Fortis 14:56, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Twinkie The Kid?
How is there a lengthy discussion of kind of obscure alternate/slang uses for "Twinkie", yet no mention of the famous mascot, "Twinkie the Kid"?

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.236.202.67 (talk) 14:42, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Twinkies measure...
" Twinkies measure 4" x 1" (10 cm x 2.5 cm)"...couldn't it be like "10 cm x 2.5 cm x 2.5 cm" or something 3-D? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.40.139.108 (talk) 15:52, 1 April 2007 (UTC).

Packages of two or three
They are also sold in packages of ten.Mr. Granger 17:30, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

The packages of ten come with individually wrapped twinkies, I think that's what it was getting at. Kiminatheguardian 22:09, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Price?
A question from an English guy - on average how much does a pack of 2 twinkies cost in America? --SirJibby 17:49, 11 August 2007 (UTC)


 * It's been a long time since I've purchased any, but as I recall, they come 10 to a box in the store. They are about $4.00 per box...so 40 cents each. ++Arx Fortis 05:17, 12 August 2007 (UTC)


 * A pack of two, however, is more expensive per twinkie. A pack of two is $1.50. Mr. Granger 01:48, 13 August 2007 (UTC)

Origin of Name
The article currently has no information regarding where the Twinkie's name came from. The reason I mention this is that it just occured to me a few minutes ago that the first four letters in the name form the word "twin", and since they are traditionally sold in twin packs, I wonder if this has anything to do with the name. Having this revelation/theory at age 34 is startling, but now I'm really wondering. Any insight? - Ugliness Man 07:32, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Good catch! I wonder if it could be short for "Twin Cakes"? I'll try and do some research after the holiday:)--71.97.147.120 (talk) 18:46, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

"Junk Food"
While I agree that Twinkies are junk food, it may be a bit biased to have that in the article. Maybe "Many consider Twinkies to be junk food" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.147.58.6 (talk) 17:54, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

"Banana Twinkies in Canada?"
Are the new Banana Twinkies available in Canada yet? I've looked everywhere for them, and so far I've been unsuccessful in my pursuit. A few stores I went into had never even heared of them. I'm located in Southern Ontario.

GLBT culture references??
How can an article about twinkie bars completely fail to reference Twink (gay slang)? I guess the latter needs to cite a decent reference about the source of the term twink, but it's been around for twenty odd years surely? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.12.191.234 (talk) 06:46, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Corrected vandalism and added information regarding representation of product in Latin America
I stumbled across this page and found it vandalised regarding this product giving Mexican children diabetes and reading this page allowing the devil to coerce people into eating Twinkies and contracting this disease. I deleted that portion and corrected it by also adding that the "Bimbo" brand does distribute twinkies in Mexico under the name "Submarinos" (submarines in Spanish given the rough resemblance of shape between the twinkies and the vessel). They are sold in traditional and strawberry-flavored filling versions with an anthropomorphized child submarine with a hat (blue hat for vanilla, red hat for strawberry) as the mascot. They are also sold in this manner in stores specialized in selling hispanic products.

"In Latin America and Mexico"???
Isn't it a nonsense since Mexico is one part of Latin America? 83.208.30.93 (talk) 14:35, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Also in Mexico they are called (and referred to as) Twinkies, sold as Wonder. Alessandro Malfatti (talk) 23:27, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Food and drink Tagging
This article talk page was automatically added with WikiProject Food and drink banner as it falls under Category:Food or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. The bot was instructed to tagg these articles upon consenus from WikiProject Food and drink. You can find the related request for tagging here. If you have concerns, please inform on the project talk page -- TinucherianBot (talk) 14:36, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

WALL-E
Is it a Twinkie that the cockroach eats in the film WALL-E? If so, is this a reference to the urban legend mentioned that they have an almost indefinite shelf life? (Along with the UL that cockroaches will survive long after people.) Rachel Pearce (talk) 18:01, 1 August 2008 (UTC)
 * It was not specifically a Twinkie, but a twinkie-like snack cake.++Arx Fortis (talk) 04:11, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I would think even a generic looking twinkie-like snack cake implied Twinkie the brand, specifically, since that is what the well-known urban legend references.giggle 01:55, 12 December 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gregory.george.lewis (talk • contribs)

Merge
The Deep-fried Twinkie is not a separate topic from Twinkie. They are one and the same; it's just a way to prepare a snack food. Neither article is ridiculously long or will get much longer so there is no reason not to keep the topic together. Reywas92 Talk 16:48, 5 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Agree - Deep Fried Twinkie should be merged into the Twinkie article. ++Arx Fortis (talk) 03:01, 6 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Strong Support - Deep Fried Twinkie clearly should be a part of the main Twinkie article. Geoff (talk) 20:07, 30 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Agree to the merge. --Jcbutler (talk) 19:56, 21 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Merge is done -Nv8200p talk 02:17, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

I don't disagree with the merge but it seems the article is MUCH more about the deep fried type than the regular-- and for that matter, the cultural references dwarf both... the article should be focused more on the product itself. Lisa mynx (talk) 10:42, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Slang terms
Although I'm not sure if the associated Twinkie slang terms are any more appropriate than posting something about male anatomy on Wikipedia's "meat" page or female anatomy on the "clam" entry, I would say that saying Twinkie is akin to Uncle Tom as a racial put down would be inaccurate and should be changed.

A more appropriate analogy would be Twinkie is to Asian as Oreo is to Black. It's a more accurate analogy. Nonetheless, I don't think racial stereotypes, epithets or put downs have any place on this entry. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.73.75.198 (talk) 22:49, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Death by Twinkie
I've heard that, if you eat seven or more Twinkies in a row (or three or more deep-fried Twinkies in a row), you die. Is this true? Valsorim (talk) 10:38, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

I will do better. I am going to eat ten deep fried twinkies in a row, very quickly, and let you know. But if I die, I will still post feedback on this talk page ...as a zombie. In-Correct (talk) 22:36, 23 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Hmmmmmm. November and no feedback has been posted.--71.38.170.27 (talk) 03:05, 17 November 2012 (UTC)
 * Because its bullshit. --2.205.204.251 (talk) 08:45, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

Green twinkie
What's with the green twinkie picture? Is that a joke, or did they actually use green frosting? Harksaw (talk) 18:48, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Broken Reference/Missing Article on Banana Flavor Twinkies.
The reference to CNN's Banana Twinkies have appeal article is no longer relevant as the article being linked to is gone.

It seems that the Chicago Sun-Times wrote a similar article, and if you search their archive, the text of the excerpt indicates the same information discussed by the referencing text, namely that the banana filling is a permanent addition to the Twinkie offerings. CarbWire.com also mentions its permanence in their Hostess Brings Back Original Banana Creme Flavor For Twinkies article, although I doubt their notability or reliability. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.76.155.2 (talk) 00:13, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

There's a broken point in this article
How did this happen? I was watching Zombieland and incidentally came here to read the article. Right at the second paragraph, the sentencing breaks: "This change proved so popular that Hostess never switched back to banana and still uses vanilla cream in Twinkies today.[1] The Twinkie was invented in Schiller Park, Illinois. Twinkies are also mostly found in the USA area and a product in USA areas " That's exactly how it is now, and i was unable to locate the program through the history revisions. ToFonikoAgouri (talk) 20:12, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * I'm sorry, I don't understand what you are saying is wrong with the article. That appears to be a valid citation and paragraph. Could you explain a little more? keɪɑtɪk flʌfi (talk) 16:09, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
 * See the last part of the sentence, sir. Also by "program" i must've meant "I haven't located the CHANGE through the history revisions". Probably was a bit tired at that moment. ToFonikoAgouri (talk) 18:46, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

twinkies popular?
twinkie are a old product by hostess but it could be famous if they made a new tastey flavor for example,chocolate —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.16.216.99 (talk) 00:07, 13 February 2010 (UTC)

Omnivore's Dilemma
There are numerous references to Twinkie in Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma. A candidate for the Literature section perhaps? —Minusf (talk) 10:45, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Filling Changed in 1970s
It would be interesting to know more about the history. Although I haven't eaten many of these, I distinctly remember that they changed radically around 1975, the cream filling changed from a kind of soft custard like substance to a sweet white foam that seemed more artificial. I was very disappointed, because they are nowhere near as good now. DonPMitchell (talk) 20:51, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

twinkie
We need to make this article open.75.171.11.221 (talk) 06:47, 22 June 2012 (UTC)

Quote movie Zombieland within the cultural references ?
In the movie Zombieland, the character Tallahassee spends the movie searching for twinkies. Waybe it's worth a quote in the Cultural references section ? Mll (talk) 15:22, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

Discrepancy
In 5.3 it says that twinkies have a shelf life of 25 days and 7-10 days. Which is correct? -Mrmagikpants (talk) 21:57, 31 July 2012 (UTC)


 * They expire in 25 days, they are usually sold within 10 days. Will Sandberg (talk) 08:38, 26 February 2013 (UTC)


 * I don't know, but I think their half life is something like 50 years. Kudos to those who got to the store today early enough to by a hoard last them the next few years. --71.38.170.27 (talk) 02:54, 17 November 2012 (UTC)


 * I can tell you from experience that they do get stale after a couple of weeks. But supposedly they can be frozen. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 06:20, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Filing for chapter 11 Is Not Confirming Product Eradication
Using the products name in past tense is jumping the gun. Hostess has "Filed" and if the courts accept there request to "sell assets" history tells us that many of its more notable products such as Twinkie will remain very active, and the potential buyer could reserve the entire sub division of such products. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Oklahoma3477 (talk • contribs) 05:59, 17 November 2012 (UTC)
 * By no means is it in the past tense yet. Even this evening, they were talking about the possibility of selling the product line to another company. The Twinkie is not dead yet - just dormant. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 06:19, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Agreed. I don't know why people keep changing it to past tense. My personal opinion is that I am almost certain that their popular brands (the cupcakes and the Twinkies) will be bought up and continue being produced. It would be insane for a company like Little Debbie to NOT purchase such a well-known and established brand. It needs to remain in the present tense until there is news confirmation that they will cease production and kill the brand. Chrisbrl88 (talk) 13:22, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 19 November 2012
Someone should include this http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/press98/twink.htm. Asbestos in the Twinkies is relevant information.

69.214.6.142 (talk) 18:14, 19 November 2012 (UTC)


 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the template. A 14-year-old press release about a voluntary recall? I'm dubious. This would be noteworthy if multiple sources indicate it received public attention over an extended interval. As an isolated incident, I don't think it merits mention. Rivertorch (talk) 19:07, 19 November 2012 (UTC)


 * Well, it would have kept them from catching fire. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:42, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

mexico
what about twinkies selled only in mexico.i mean ORIGINALs twinkies made by marinela--Augusto664 (talk) 02:41, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

Correction
Marinela did not sell Twinkies, they sell "Submarinos" a mexican copy of Twinkies and never the same flavour, Twinkies are made by Wonder in Mexico, very limited distribution, maybe only in Mexico city. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.112.32.4 (talk) 18:58, 15 July 2013 (UTC)