In Defense of Twinkies- Seemingly Unrelated S2E7- w/Michael Johnstone

This week on Seemingly Unrelated pod we are getting into the villain's origin story behind the most USA of all snack cakes: Twinkies. Love them, or fear them, the twinkie looms large in the US imagination and in the vision of the US from around the world. It represents all things the USA loves: soft golden hydrogenated fats and corn syrup that is pure and white at its core. We're joined this week to help explore the depths of snack cake depravity by the owner of Walkie Talky Brewing in Leith, Scotland and long time food industry expert Michael Johnstone! But how did the twinkie rise above the competition to become so famous/infamous? We'll find out on this episode and answer some seemingly unrelated questions along the way like: Why is the Twinkie called a Twinkie and does that have anything to do with the LGBT+ community? What flavour is a Twinkie meant to be anyway? Can eating too many Twinkies drive you to the edge of sanity? Is the Twinkie healthier than unprocessed roadkill?All these questions plus the life and times of Harvey Milk on this king sized snack of an episode of Seemingly Unrelated!#Twinkie #HarveyMilk #Twinkiedefense @hostess_snacks-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture. Episodes drop every other week so subscribe to listen to more. Subscribe to the audio only version on: https://shows.acast.com/seemingly-unrelated Find the videos on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SeeminglyUnrelatedPod Want even more Seemingly Unrelated content? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month as well as the list of sources for this episode (free) on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SeeminglyUnrelatedFollow us on the socialsSubstackInstagramTikTokFacebookLinkedInBibliography:‘Banana Twinkies: Made With Real Bananas -- In the 1930s - CBS News’. 25 March 2011. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-44042780/banana-twinkies-made-with-real-bananas----in-the-1930s/.Cargile, Clint. ‘This Week In Illinois History: Birth Of The Twinkie (April 6, 1930)’. Northern Public Radio: WNIJ and WNIU, 5 April 2021. https://www.northernpublicradio.org/education/2021-04-05/this-week-in-illinois-history-birth-of-the-twinkie-april-6-1930.Ettlinger, Steve. Twinkie, Deconstructed : My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated into What America Eats. With Internet Archive. 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Sunnyside History Project, 19 October 2018. https://sunnysidehistory.org/2018/10/18/george-r-reilly-and-first-lgbt-legal-victory/.‘Hostess Closing Bakery That Created the Twinkie: Associated Press Business News - MSN Money’. 23 August 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140823164810/http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&date=20140821&id=17875582.John D’Emilio. Making Trouble. With Internet Archive. Routledge, 1992. http://archive.org/details/makingtroubleess00demi.Logan, Alan C., Christopher R. D’Adamo, Joseph E. Pizzorno, and Susan L. Prescott. ‘“Food Faddists and Pseudoscientists!”: Reflections on the History of Resistance to Ultra-Processed Foods’. EXPLORE 20, no. 4 (2024): 470–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2023.12.014.Los Angeles Times. ‘Man Who Concocted the Twinkie Dies : James A. Dewar’s Treat Is Part of America’s Diet and Folklore’. 3 July 1985. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-07-03-me-10272-story.html.Pogash, Carol. ‘Myth of the “Twinkie Defense” / The Verdict in the Dan White Case Wasn’t Based on His Ingestion of Junk Food’. SFGATE, 23 November 2003. https://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Myth-of-the-Twinkie-defense-The-verdict-in-2511152.php.Reuter, Donald F. Gay-2-Zee: A Dictionary of Sex, Subtext, and the Sublime. St. Martin’s Press, 2006.Stryker, Susan, and Jim Van Buskirk. Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area. Chronicle Books, 1996.Talbot, David. Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror and Deliverance in the City of Love. Simon and Schuster, 2012.‘Twinkies, 75 Years And Counting (Washingtonpost.Com)’. Accessed 2 August 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46062-2005Apr12.html.White Night Riot. 1979. 44". http://archive.org/details/ssfWhitent1.