The terrific twinkie
Is there any food more symbolic of artificial ingredients than the Twinkie? Last semester, as part of my writing class, I set an unwrapped twinkie in my office for about ten weeks. It got rather hard, but there was nary a sign of mold on the thing. I and some courageous students tried a bite on the last day of class. It was crunchy and still sweet, something like a Nilla wafer.
A new book, Twinkie, Deconstructed, takes a look at the twinkie one ingredient at a time. While I can't imagine that the chapter on whey is all that exciting, this kind of text is becoming increasingly common. By examining one specific food, we get a glimpse of the complex workings of the American food system--how many different crops and places are linked together. Michael Pollan did the same in last year's The Omnivore's Dilemma. My bookshelf is already overflowing, but I might try to pick this up for a summer read.