I first knew of Hostess Twinkies decades before I actually tasted one. They were advertised in all the Archie comics I ever read.
   But I saw recently in Time magazine that the company that makes (or, rather, made) Twinkies is closed for business. Apparently Twinkies are only two steps away from being shoes, and they really shouldn't be thought of as "food". I don't know if it's true, but the writer reckoned that in this nutritionally enlightened age, that was Twinkies' downfall. They just couldn't sell enough of them.
   I mentioned this in conversation recently, and got a different version of events from a colleague. I don't know if it's true, but he reckoned the real reason the company went bust was that it had a really good pension scheme and couldn't afford to keep paying out. People are just living too damn long these days.
   If you ask me, the real problem was unsuccessful marketing. People drink Coke knowing even though it's terrible for them. If the Twinkies people wanted profits to go up and pension payouts to go down, they could have killed two birds with one some if they'd just sold more Twinkies.