The Protean Twinkie (4/6/06)

Snack food lovers, rejoice! Today the venerable Hostess Twinkie turns 76 years old. In the junk food world, though, the much-disparaged spongecake treat is but a toddler. The pretzel dates back to at least 610. The donut? A respected veteran from 1809. Even the johnny-come-lately potato chip goes back to 1853. What it lacks in age, the Twinkie makes up for with its flexibility. It's a snack cake useful for everything from art projects and sushi creations to stopping super-villains. Whether deep-fried, frozen, or even used in a wedding cake, the Twinkie is truly remarkable. The only unsolved mystery about the Twinkie, ultimately, is how long they'll last. Some say less than a month, but in the back of our minds, we wonder if there are any original cream-filled delights from the Depression Era, still sitting on a dusty shelf somewhere, as fresh as the day they were made.