Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Hilary - "¡Quiero mi Tuinky!"

Much has been written these last few days on the demise of Hostess and that Twinkies will no longer be available.




I have little knowledge of the wonders of Twinkies as I never ever had one. I had plenty of opportunities as I lived in Mexico for many years where Hostess (it went by the name of Bimbo and or Wonder) made many variants of the original Twinkies. To this day I can remember the ads and the particular Mexican pronunciation of Twinky Wonder which is beyond the scope of this blog to explain how funny those two words sound in English. The letter W does not exist in the Spanish alphabet so it only makes it presence in foreign words like Twinky, Wonder, BMW and Volkswagen. In most Latin countries (Mexico is the exception) the letter W is called a double V. In Mexico it is the double U.

Through the many years that Twinkies have been available in Mexico the brand name has changed from Twinky to Twinkie to Tuinky and other variants to help Mexican sort of pronounce the word correctly. And Mexican bread companies were not going to be left behind in the market for North American junk food. A Mexican company called Marinela produced a similar product called Pingüinos Marinela.



You might wonder (ha! Unintended pun) why I am so well versed on the subject of Twinkies.

It is all because of my youngest daughter Hilary who is now 40. When we lived in Mexico, she was born in 1971 (we left for Vancouver in 1975). Hilary as a little girl in Mexico ate nothing except beans, tortillas, chocolate milk and yes! Twinkies.



Hilary refused to drink plain milk we soon discovered. We made the mistake of mixing her baby bottle milk with Choco-Milk a chocolate powder that had an impractical ability not to dissolve even with severe shaking. I soon, too discovered the pleasure of spooning the chocolate from the top of a glass of milk with the product that was made in Mexico by a pharmaceutical company called Richardson & Merrill that also made Vick’s Vaporub. Choco-Milk had a character called Pancho Pantera who promoted the product's ability to produce muscles of steel.

During a trip to San Francisco (Hilary was 3) we were staying at the venerable and beautiful St. Francis Hotel on Union Square. We were having breakfast and Hilary was screaming. Our maître d' came to our table (he was dressed in tails) and said with a very English accent, “Is there anything we can do to satisfy the young lady?” I answered, “I don’t think so unless you can find some tortillas and beans.”



To this day Hilary is unable to drink milk without chocolate and in the many trips that she has made in the past to Mexico she would gorge herself on Twinky Wonders and Gansitos or Pingüinos Marinela. It seems that the Mexican versions are superior to the original.


As they say grandparents sooner or later get even with their children, when their children have offspring of their own. Hilary’s older daughter Rebecca (15) will eat anything. She is adventurous. But her sister Lauren, 10 was always a fussy eater and virtually ate nothing except Heinz Zoodles. She is much better now but she refuses to eats sauces with her food. She will not touch mayonnaise and refuses to eat salad with oil and vinegar or any kind of salad dressing.

I remember when Lauren was around five or six when she refused to eat something at the table. I told her she was going to stay at her seat until she did. We left her alone. From our living room we watched as she sat motionless for almost an hour. I finally gave up and told her she didn’t have to eat it.



In a trip to Mexico last year Hilary had lots of Gansitos and Pingüinos. And she brought several containers of Choco-Milk.  Both Lauren and I have been eating Oreo Double Cremes, of late.

Twinky Wonder

Photographs of Hilary taken with Pentax S-3, 50mm Takumar lens and Kodak Tri-X