Twinkie

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A Twinkie is a "Golden Sponge Cake with Creamy Filling" created by Hostess, and baked by Continental Baking Co, which is owned by Kansas City-based Interstate Bakeries Corporation. The Twinkie was invented on April 6, 1930. Twinkies originally contained a banana filling, but this was replaced with a vanilla filling during the great banana shortage of World War II.

Twinkies are oblong in shape, approximately 4" x 1" (10 cm x 2.5 cm), and marketed in packages of two. They have a shelf life of 25 days - unusually long for baked goods - due to their lack of dairy based ingredients. Various urban legends have stated that Twinkies have shelf lives anywhere from several years up to one century in duration, but there is no evidence to support this. The Twinkie is often derided by unattributed critics as the quintessential junk food. 500 million are produced each year.

In 2002, the Arkansas State Fair introduced the fried Twinkie.

The Minnesota Twins are nicknamed the "Twinkies" by fans, a joking reference to the team's tradition of ineptitude dating back to their days as the Washington Senators.

The shortened form of the word twinkie, twink is commonly used slang. In its most common use, in gay circles, it is used for a young, slender, clean-cut man/boy; far less commonly, it might be used derogatorily for an Asian-American who emulates Caucasians¹.

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Notes

¹A "Twinkie" (the edible variety) is yellow on the outside, but white on the inside. The yellow of a "Twinkie" refers to the skin color of Asian-Americans, while the white (which alludes to Caucasians) refers to their mindset.

External Links

Welcome to Planet Twinkie
The T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. Project - humorous "scientific" experiments with Twinkies
Snopes: Forever Twinkies
Study for Twinkie authenticity as a "food" done for J. Edgar Hoover