Twinkies Sushi, Anyone?
To many kids growing up in the 1950s, Hostess Twinkies were a staple of the daily diet. I was more addicted to the Hostess Cup Cakes — the chocolate ones with chocolate icing, white squiggles on top, and creme filling, but I also ate my share of Twinkies. As a kid. Never as an adult. As with most pre-packaged snack desserts, the yellow sponge cake with creme filling, while tasty, presents a large load of empty calories. The original banana filling was replaced by vanilla creme filling due to the banana shortage during World War II.
According to the Hostess company website and other sources, Twinkies originated in 1930 in Chicago, with the Continental Baking Company. 75 years later, kids still love them as a snack, but they have also developed a cult following by the calorie unconscious among us. The Wikipedia entry has many interesting factoids, including this: “Twinkies are oblong in shape, approximately 4″ x 1″ (10 cm x 2.5 cm), and usually sold in packages of two. They have a shelf life of 25 days. 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.”
Over 500 million of these treats are sold each year. That’s a lot of sponge cake! Hmmm … I wonder if our friends in the UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia, even Canada, have access to Twinkies … or is this purely an American addiction?
Lest you thought I was just making up something absurd with the title, here is the recipe for Hostess Twinkies Sushi.
13 Comments so far
I was afraid to click for fear of finding the Twinkies had been stuffed with fish.
The best external link from the Wikipedia page is the TWINKIES Project.
Oh, wow. I thought “Twinkie Sushi” and cringed… but those are pretty cute.
No - we don’t have them in Ireland - but they are kind of iconic from American television. Until today I hadn’t a clue what Twinkies actually were!
Me neither, and it’s the shelf-life that is worrying.
Well Winston, we seem to have had similar tastes growing up. I too LOVE Hostell Cupcakes…still do. Every so often I go and buy a pack of them…old habits die hard. Same with twinkies…love ‘em. But let’s not neglect one of my ALL TIME favorites…Suzy Q’s….Nirvana. I HATE those Hostess people.
Well, spelling aside, I COULD have meant Hostell Cupcakes! That’s how I’d get if someone tried to take one from me. -Joy
heh, I guess I’ve always thumbed my nose at the mainstream…. Zingers, man Zingers!
funny….I grew up on twinkies, but I won’t let me kids eat them ever since that guy in San Francisco went wacko on twinkies.
Like you I favored the chocolate hostess cupcakes. I have a wonderful Grandson who introduced me to Sushi. Think I will get even with him by making these delights and mailing them to him!
They once had Twinkies in Australia but they went off the market. From memory they were made in the state of Queensland and shipped down to New South Wales.
And I do remember buying some at a grocery store near a military base in Sydney’s south west.
Stuff it, I love twinkies and you can’t make me stop.
Funny, I don’t think we had twinkies here in canada. Hostess cupcakes yes, but twinkies, I’m not so sure.
I’ve never had one (here in Canada), but they’re around, I hear . . . maybe people pick them up on their shopping trips to Minot.