Twinkie

A Twinkie is an American snack cake, described as "golden sponge cake with a creamy filling". It was formerly made and distributed by Hostess Brands. The brand is currently owned by Hostess Brands, Inc., itself currently undergoing an acquisition by The J.M. Smucker Company and having been formerly owned by private equity firms Apollo Global Management and C. Dean Metropoulos and Company as the second incarnation of Hostess Brands. During bankruptcy proceedings, Twinkie production was suspended on November 15, 2012, and resumed after an absence of a few months from American store shelves, becoming available again nationwide on July 15, 2013. Grupo Bimbo's Vachon Inc., which owns the Canadian rights to the product and made them during their absence from the U.S. market, produces Twinkies in Canada at a bakery in Montreal. They are made in Emporia, Kansas, in the U.S. Twinkies are also available in Mexican stores as "Submarinos" made by Marinela, and as "Tuinky" made by Wonder; both Marinela and Wonder are also subsidiaries of Mexican bread company Grupo Bimbo. In Egypt, Twinkies are produced under the company Edita. Twinkies are also available in the United Kingdom and Ireland under the Hostess brand name where they are sold in Sainsburys, Tesco, ASDA, and B&M stores. Twinkies are produced and distributed by multiple commercial bakeries in China, where Hostess does not own the brand. History Twinkies were invented on April 6, 1930, by Canadian-born baker James Alexander Dewar for the Continental Baking Company in Schiller Park, Illinois,. Realizing that several machines used for making cream-filled strawberry shortcakes sat idle when strawberries were out of season, Dewar conceived a snack cake filled with banana cream, which he dubbed the Twinkie. Ritchy Koph said he came up with the name when he saw a billboard in St. Louis for "Twinkle Toe Shoes".