What About The Twinkie?

Hostess is going back into bankruptcy again and things aren’t looking good long-term for the 87-year-old company. You and I are sort of to blame because rather than turning to Ho Hos and Sno Balls, Americans are apparently eating more energy bars and yogurt.

Yes, energy bars and yogurt. Yes, the trend disgusts me, too.

What is wrong with us? I’m proud to be an American, and I’m all for low-fat food and healthy fast food, and I even support the idea of restaurants having to list the fat and nutritional content of their offerings in their menus and on their menu boards, but yogurt and energy bars instead of chocolate cupcakes and Ding Dongs? Come on, people. This is Hostess treats we’re talking about. We have a relationship with Hostess treats. We go way back.

Hostess treats are the snacks we all grew up on and we all pretty much turned out okay, right? Faced with an apple or a Hostess cupcake in our Dudley Do-right lunch boxes our moms knew we’d toss the apple, so we got the cupcake. At least I did (I would have preferred a Sno Ball, but she kept those for herself) and I’m still here to thank my mom for that! So what’s the sudden deal with yogurt and energy bars?

The Snack War

There is another factor to consider here beyond healthy choices and that’s the snack war. Yes, Hostess gives us great snack products, but who can forget Little Debbie? Not me, that’s for sure. Yes, you can argue that Little Debbie is a Hostess knock-off and not the same quality, but at less than half the cost, I guess I’m willing to trade in my Hostess Ho Hos for the Little Debbie Swiss Rolls. I’ll dump my Suzy Q’s for the Devil Cremes and my Donettes for Mini Frosted Donuts. Plus, Little Debbie has a lot of snack treats that Hostess doesn’t, like Marshmallow Pies and Peanut Butter Crunch Bars, Caramel Cookie Bars and Cosmic Brownies. Looking at the Little Debbie product line and price point, and suddenly I have to stop and think about the quality over quantity equation a little closer.

And let’s not forget Entenmann’s. Higher up the quality scale, Entenmann’s is also a little more expensive, but the product offerings are a lot better. Treats like the Chocolate Chip Iced Cake, the different varieties of donuts, all those different loaf cakes, and the not-to-be-missed Chocolate Fudge Cake. Entenmann’s is good stuff.

The Bottom Line

So let’s try and put this health craze into perspective, shall we? Let’s quit smoking and cut back on alcohol. Let’s all get regular exercise and let’s eat fresh vegetables (despite how difficult it can be picking out the good veggies in the grocery store bins) and fruits and let’s cut back on soft drinks, but let’s not go to extremes. Remember, next to the carrots and the broccoli, the apples and the bananas, there’s always room for a Twinkie.

Always.

It would be the American thing to do. Scratch that because this is bigger than just the United States, it would be the North (and South) American thing to do.

Feel free to comment and tell me your favorite snack treat.