Twinkie, Deconstructed (32 page)

F
ROM THE
C
RADLE OF
C
IVILIZATION TO
E
VERY
S
UPERMARKET
S
HELF

Twinkies’ role in history is best understood in the inverse: history’s role in shaping the ingredient list. If all of civilization started with the farming of barley (to make beer), then all of the innovations since have led directly from flour and baking to the Twinkie and its emblematic quest for perfection in food.

Probably two of the most fascinating aspects of Twinkies ingredients are that the scientific discoveries in the name of shelf life, taste, texture, and reduced cost are directly rooted in the Industrial Revolution, and that the key inventions of ingredients or processes are tied into historic moments. Especially in the United States after the Civil War, mass supply started to feed mass demand that existed thanks to the arrival of mass communication and transportation systems. The developments are all connected.

Over the years, wars and politics, as key events in history, played key roles in inspiring the development of things like the modern, mechanized flour mill, baking soda, baking powder, artificial colors, artificial flavors, corn syrup, sorbic acid, and polysorbate 60 by forcing manufacturers to find alternative or better sources of subingredients. And these are all ingredients that make the modern Twinkie, as well as all processed food, possible. Late twentieth-century mastery of technology, coupled with the enormous post–World War II consumer demand for convenience and variety as family life became more fractured by demands of the workplace and leisure activities, pushed food scientists and the food companies to even higher levels of creativity that affect almost everything we eat, well beyond a simple snack cake born during the Depression.

This natural evolution led in the early twenty-first century to a highly profitable global processed food market worth $3.2 trillion, one that almost no modern household can do without.

N
O
C
REAM IN THE
C
REME

Shouldn’t we be able to admit that we already know that chemicals have always been in our food, and that food is made of chemicals? In fact, food additives—some as old and simple as salt and sugar—keep good food from going bad, and thus prevent food from occasionally killing us. In fact, all food is chemicals and all cooking is chemistry (“Cooking is just science that’s tasty,” the old saying goes). Remember, the chemicals hydrogen oxide, cellulose, hemicellulose, malic acid, dextrose, fructose, pectin, sucrose, amylacetate, and citric acid are found in nature’s perfect food: the apple (in fact, that is the apple’s complete ingredient list).

While there is no reason to be paranoid—these additives have been tested and in use for ages—there is reason to be vigilant. That may be what fuels the very negative reaction to genetically modified foods (GM) in Europe, something that is only beginning here. Now the competing consumer trends of natural or organic foods versus traditional convenience foods are coming into sharper focus and voices on both sides are becoming more shrill.

To underscore the confusion around the question of the healthfulness of artificial ingredients, try reflecting on the fact that one of the world’s most lethal chemicals, chlorine, and one of the most reactive chemicals, sodium, have an exalted place on every table in the Western world: the salt shaker. Or reduced to the absurd: should the ingredient H
₂
0 scare us because it is often found mixed in with acids and poisons? Shall we sound the alarm? How about those food scientists who manipulate molecules to make new foods? But wait—isn’t moving molecules around what you do when you fry an egg or bake a cake or even boil water?

In fact, it’s not just the commercial bakers who put unpronouncables in their cakes—you do, too, when you add baking powder, enriched, bleached flour, or even shortening to your homemade confections. “It just ain’t plain eggs and butter, pal,” as one friendly chef once told me. Examining the labels found on supermarket shelves, it becomes obvious that Twinkies are merely an archetype of almost all modern processed foods; so many others share their ingredients and attempts at immortality on the shelf, ranging from Oreos
^®
(which can last six months) to Freihofer’s
^®
100% Whole Wheat Bread. And contrary to the old joke, Twinkies still won’t survive a nuclear war. They’re just food. One that lots of us like, and have for a good long time.

All artificial ingredients, like recipes, reflect the balance of various needs (or our perceptions of needs) such as shelf life (long), taste (sweet), texture (fat), convenience (high), price (low), packaging (airtight), nutrition (sound), and legal requirements—and none would exist if there was no profit in it. All are needs generated by our way of life. It seems that we are, indeed, what we eat.

Back when the original Twinkie was low-tech, it was not good for anyone to find a spoiled cake on a shelf. Before getting on a high horse to decry the excessive pressures of capitalism that force food to be so overwhelmingly engineered, we need to remember this: no farmer would bring his or her crops to market without the promise of a reward. Modern food technology is a growth business. On the retail end, packaged food and soft drinks generate close to $400 billion in U.S. sales each year—and their suppliers, whether processors of corn or colors, are large corporations dependent on growth to survive. They fan the flames of consumer demand to maintain the marketplace.

C
ONSIDER THE
T
WINKIE

“Good living is an act of intelligence, by which we choose things which have an agreeable taste rather than those which do not,” said Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin in his seminal 1825 book on gastronomy,
The Physiology of Taste
. Would he have accepted the Twinkie as a culinary achievement?

Pick up a package. The appealing little finger cake just begs to be eaten. It is an appetizing size. Droplets of lush moisture cling teasingly to the inside of the perfectly clear wrapper. Rip it open, feel the softness. Take a bite, not a nibble, and you’ll be hit, all at once, with sweetness, stickiness, and a rapidly dissolving texture.

Then comes a second hit of sweetness. Explore the filling with your tongue. Notice the synergy of flavors that build—butter, egg, vanilla—then the creamy finish that lingers, sticky, sweet, and thick. Appreciate the contrast and interplay between the smooth, cool filling and the delicate cake.

Eat enough of ’em, and you’ll be able to suss out the bouquet of fresh, Delaware polysorbate 60, and good Georgian cellulose gum; a hint of prime Oklahoman calcium sulfate, or that fine, Midwestern soybean shortening, if not the finest high fructose corn syrup Nebraska has to offer.

Twinkie, deconstructed.

At least now you know what you’re eating.

HUMAN RESOURCES

I
’d like to thank the dozens of industry professionals who offered time and knowledge despite the press of their daily responsibilities that included little distractions like running billion-dollar plants, traveling the world over, and responding to paying customers. Many of the people listed here responded to my queries as professionals or individuals and not just as corporate representatives, so I am doubly grateful. They all provided a hands-on, real-life perspective for the information that I gathered from the more traditional sources, such as encyclopedias, the Web, industry media, and books. Some of them granted interviews in person, others over the phone, and many responded to numerous questions by e-mail, for which I am especially grateful. A number of them took me on long plant tours and tolerated dozens of follow-up and fact-checking questions, going well beyond the norm of general helpfulness.

Many technical support, sales, or management people helped anonymously as part of their daily toil or just out of professional curiosity and admirable generosity. Despite being unlisted here, they played an essential role in my research over the last several years. I’m sorry I cannot mention them all (and some of them did not wish themselves or their companies to be credited).

Some of the people listed here reviewed the chapters concerning their products and offered corrections, but while that was extremely generous and helpful of them, I remain responsible for any errors that may have managed to creep in.

Sources of general baking, nutrition, food product manufacturing, or scientific information included: Betsy Chotin, Chotin Consulting; Michele C. Fisher, Ph.D., R.D., and Bob Fisher, Ph.D., Food & Nutrition Enterprises, LLC; Jeanne Goldberg, Ph.D., Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy; Margery Helm, Culinary Delights Catering; Mical Honigfort, United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Matthew Jacobson, Operative Cake Company; Jozef Kokini, Ph.D., and William Franke, Ph.D., Rutgers University Center for Advanced Food Technology; Dave Krishock, FNEF Baking Instructor, Grain Science and Industry Department, Kansas State University; Joe Laffin, Southern Signature Foods; Jean C. Lange, M.S., M.P.S., ATR, Pratt Institute; Ronald L. Madl, Ph.D., Director, BIVAP, Grain Science and Industry Department, Kansas State University; Joe Regenstein, Ph.D., Department of Food Science, Cornell University; Laszlo P. Somogyi, Ph.D., Consulting Food Scientist, Teltec, a Division of FIND/SVP; Josh Sosland, Sosland Publishing Company; John Weiser, M.D.; and from the American Institute of Baking, Maureen Olewnick, VP, Stephen L. Sollner, baking instructor, and Tammy Popejoy and Meghan Dowdy, librarians.

The following people were especially generous with time and information in the form of long or repeated interviews and/or tours: Elias Alonso, Keith Krumholz, Dan Murray, and Joseph W. Swink, M.S., Lonza; Greg Anderson, farmer, Nebraska; Edna Anness, East Providence Historical Society; David Astraukas, Twin Rivers Technologies, Inc.; Charles Baker, Ph.D., and Cheryl Digges, The Sugar Association; James T. Barron, Dan Border, Dennis Grove, and Mark Willis, Morton International; Tim Bebee, Jason Mathews, Michael Foods Egg Products; Maury Belcher, Ag Processing, Inc.; Michael M. Bell and Carlton Windsor, Rayonier; Troy Boutté, Ph.D., Bill Gambel, and Bill Olson, American Ingredients, Inc.; Bill Brady and Eric Johnson, Cargill, Inc.; Derek Budgel, Tembec, Inc.; Denise Broughton, Sondra Dowdell, Chuck LaPorte, Buckeye, Inc.; Kimberlee Burrington, Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research; Mike Cadwell, Firmenich; Sandra Caputo, Hercules, Incorporated/Aqualon; Paul Caulkins, Imperial Sugar; Peter A. Ciullo, sodium bicarbonate writer; Bob Clair, Farbest; Trent L. Clark, Monsanto, Inc.; Maggie Conklin, Charles Bowman and Company; Tim Cottrell and Doug Rector, Kerry Bio-Science; Leon Corzine, corn and soybean farmer, Illinois; Tim Davis, Glenda Thomas, and Jim Wilson, FMC Corporation; Sue Dichter, Dave Hollingshead, Loren Miller, W. Dale Reynolds (retired) and Dennis Socha, United States Gypsum Co.; Gavin Dooley, Daicel Chemical Industries; Joe Ebeling, Mississippi Lime Co.; Karen Endress, Joel Wenk, Alto Dairy; Edward Ettlinger, Peter Ettlinger, and Richard Ettlinger, The Ettlinger Corporation; Susan Feldman, The Salt Institute; Mike Geiger, American Casein; Sharon Gerdes, Dairy Management, Inc.; John Gill, Papettis HyGrade Egg Products; Victor Go, BASF; Steve Goewert, The Solae Company; Graham Hall, Bill Riha, Nutrinova, Inc.; Steve Hines, United Sugar; Leonard E. Johnson, Ph.D., DSM Nutritional Products, Inc.; Wanda Jurlina, CP Kelco; Joyce Kilely, Flavor Sciences; Edmund P. Klein, Dow Jones Newswires; Joe Kuterbach, Lyondell Chemical; John LeDonne, Rhodia/Innosphos; M. Stephen Lajoie, Church & Dwight Co., Inc.; Joseph Light, Randy Holme, National Starch; Penny Martin and Harry Meggos, Sensient Colors, Inc.; Nancy McDonald, M&M Consulting; Pam Meeks, Clabber Girl Corporation; Don Morton, Maize Associates; Matt Nielsen, Nielsen-Massey Vanillas; J. Scott Peterson, Crown Technology; Peter Ranum, Ceres Nutrition; Steve Schorn, Research Products Company; Fred Schubert, Friends Seminary; Kevin Shoemaker, Purac, Inc.; Hugh Smith, Prestige Proteins; Terry Smith, PPG Chloralkali Chemicals; Bob Smolenowski, Borregaard; Dr. L. Jay Stoel, Reilly Industries, Inc.; Tom Suber, U.S. Dairy Export Council; Doug Sweet, Federated Mills; Florian Ward, Ph.D., VP of R&D, Tic Gums, Inc.; John S. White, Ph.D., White Technical Research; and Dick Wilkinson, Martin Gas. Please forgive me if I have omitted anyone.

Several editorial assistants helped me in various ways and at different times over two years, for either research or manuscript preparation, including Liz Dobricki, Tim Guetterman, Amelie Hayte, Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Rachel Tubman, Mel Wathen, Zhang Yifei (in China), and especially Leslie Kaufmann and Sara Watson. Thanks to all of you for working hard and odd hours to accommodate me.

INDEX

Acacia gum

Acetaldehyde

Acetic acid

Acetone

Acetylene

Acid hydrolysis

Adhesives

Ag Processing Inc.

Ahmann, Steve

Alkali Act

Alkali chemical lye

All in the Family
(television show)

Allied Custom Gypsum

Alonso, Elias

Alpha amylase

Alto Dairy Cooperative

American Cookery
(Simmons)

American Ingredients

American Sugar Refining Inc.
n

Amines

Amino acids

Amish farms

Ammonia

Ammonium carbonate

Ammonium nitrate

Amylacetate

Anaheim, California

Anderson, Greg

Anderson, Richard

Anemia

Aniline

Animal feed

Annatto

Anthocyanins

Antibiotics

Apopka, Florida

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)