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Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats
Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients in Processed Food Are Grown, Mines (Yes Mined), And Manipulated Into What America E
282 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
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March 14, 2023
It strikes me that Twinkies are a bit like those oil-paintings that are really prints printed onto canvas and then framed. It might look like the Mona Lisa, but it is far, far from that, but it does look 'real'.
So I finished the book and I am left with the feeling of great awe of how much goes into a Twinkie, from minerals that have to be mined to mega-processed real eggs, but mostly non-food items or ones, like the eggs so mixed, mashed and adulterated they scarcely qualify for the word 'real'.
I think the whole world would be better off buying from the local bakery that uses only a few non-traditional ingredients (preservatives). Better still, buy from local bakeries where only the bought-in flour is likely to have any ingredients you wouldn't have in the house when you have a baking session. We know that home-made biscuits, cakes, cookies and other tarts taste better home-made, we also know they aren't exactly in the five food groups and good for us, so better to limit the amount you eat but buy high quality or bake yourself and give up these absolutely delicious, sweet and more-ish but utterly artificial imitations of food. There's nothing like a home-baked sponge cake.
Reading notes There is nothing now that I don't know about fortified flour. It's essentially a mix of an awful lot of chemicals with the real, milled, grain product and good for you. The sugar by contrast, is just a highly-refined, absolutely pure natural product and bad for you.
First thing was to look up exactly what a Twinkie was. I went to the supermarket and looked in the American foodporn section: cakes are forbidden porn to those of us permanently on diets and there they were, just like on the cover of a book. In the interests of research and veracity in reviewing I thought I should try one, but I'm voluptuous, lush, zaftig whatever enough already. So I didn't. I wasn't really tempted actually. Cakes in boxes are never good unless they are the biscuit ones with jam and marshmallow covered in chocolate, then they are.
But... I am weak. So I tried one, a sponge-tube filled with something white and creamy that sort of spurted out the end when I bit into it. The creme filling was a sweetened, chemical version of something between shaving cream and the squirty aerosol cream that now passes for "real cream" in restaurants instead of lovely double cream whipped to peaks.
The book was well-written and exhaustively researched. But it reads more like a labour of obsession than love.
__________
Book finished 22 November 2014, reviewed briefly 2014, totally and utterly rewritten March 2023 because the person in front of me sitting on the bleachers watching the cruise ships turn around outside the Perez Art Museum got through a whole box of Twinkies and it reminded me of this book.
So I finished the book and I am left with the feeling of great awe of how much goes into a Twinkie, from minerals that have to be mined to mega-processed real eggs, but mostly non-food items or ones, like the eggs so mixed, mashed and adulterated they scarcely qualify for the word 'real'.
I think the whole world would be better off buying from the local bakery that uses only a few non-traditional ingredients (preservatives). Better still, buy from local bakeries where only the bought-in flour is likely to have any ingredients you wouldn't have in the house when you have a baking session. We know that home-made biscuits, cakes, cookies and other tarts taste better home-made, we also know they aren't exactly in the five food groups and good for us, so better to limit the amount you eat but buy high quality or bake yourself and give up these absolutely delicious, sweet and more-ish but utterly artificial imitations of food. There's nothing like a home-baked sponge cake.
Reading notes There is nothing now that I don't know about fortified flour. It's essentially a mix of an awful lot of chemicals with the real, milled, grain product and good for you. The sugar by contrast, is just a highly-refined, absolutely pure natural product and bad for you.
First thing was to look up exactly what a Twinkie was. I went to the supermarket and looked in the American food
But... I am weak. So I tried one, a sponge-tube filled with something white and creamy that sort of spurted out the end when I bit into it. The creme filling was a sweetened, chemical version of something between shaving cream and the squirty aerosol cream that now passes for "real cream" in restaurants instead of lovely double cream whipped to peaks.
The book was well-written and exhaustively researched. But it reads more like a labour of obsession than love.
__________
Book finished 22 November 2014, reviewed briefly 2014, totally and utterly rewritten March 2023 because the person in front of me sitting on the bleachers watching the cruise ships turn around outside the Perez Art Museum got through a whole box of Twinkies and it reminded me of this book.
May 6, 2008
The idea here is fascinating - a close look at the way our highly-processed food is made. Unfortunately, the concept is way better than the execution.
Ettlinger isn't much of a writer; he doesn't manage a consistent or engaging narrative voice, he neglects to look at either the bigger picture or the human stories around him, and he doesn't organize or tie his information together very well. The result is like a very long research report written by a tenth grader.
Also, Ettlinger doesn't appear to have any actual thoughts about what he's discovered. Throughout the book, he'll occasionally mention controversies or differences of opinions about various ingredients, but without depth or even thought. In the last chapter, where he should be discussing, he tries, but it's evident he doesn't actually have much to say. There's no conclusion worth the name.
So. The writing isn't engaging and the content is shallow. Is there a reason to read this book? Yeah, kind of - it is interesting to find out where ingredients come from. It's just not a book you'll ever want to read a second time. Get it from the library or borrow it from a friend, that's my advice.
Ettlinger isn't much of a writer; he doesn't manage a consistent or engaging narrative voice, he neglects to look at either the bigger picture or the human stories around him, and he doesn't organize or tie his information together very well. The result is like a very long research report written by a tenth grader.
Also, Ettlinger doesn't appear to have any actual thoughts about what he's discovered. Throughout the book, he'll occasionally mention controversies or differences of opinions about various ingredients, but without depth or even thought. In the last chapter, where he should be discussing, he tries, but it's evident he doesn't actually have much to say. There's no conclusion worth the name.
So. The writing isn't engaging and the content is shallow. Is there a reason to read this book? Yeah, kind of - it is interesting to find out where ingredients come from. It's just not a book you'll ever want to read a second time. Get it from the library or borrow it from a friend, that's my advice.
June 19, 2007
Consider the Twinkie...
A popular food item, first introduced to the public in the 1930's, which now represents a vast example of how ingredients have changed over the years to meet consumer demand. Honestly, I'd never really thought about it before... that long list of hard-to-pronounce chemicals on the packages of my snack cakes never bothered me. But reading this book not only opened my eyes to what, exactly goes into this innocent-seeming treat, but also how incredibly complex and vast and intricate the entire food industry in America IS. It's shocking to find out how much of our food additives come from products that were once thought to be useless by-products of steel manufacturing. And oil. SO much stuff comes from oil!! Food stuff, concrete, plastic (of course), stuff that goes into our shampoo and soap and toothpaste... it's amazing to discover the origins of all of these things, the intricate web of relationships between manufacturing and food products. I know people who won't eat Twinkies because "they're made from nothing but chemicals" but honestly, MOST of the food we buy and eat contain quite a few of these same chemicals... it just goes to show that many consumers don't REALLY know what they're eating anymore. I mean, if something you wanted to eat had an ingredients list like this: hydrogen oxide, cellulose, hemicellulose, malic acid, dexrose, fructose, pectin, sucrose, amylacetate, and citric acid... would you eat it? No? Not natural enough for you? Not healthy?
Do you realize the above is the ingredients list for an apple?
Anyway, the point of this book was certainly not to tell everyone that Twinkies are just as healthy and natural as apples; it's true purpose was simply to explore WHERE these chemicals that are contained in most food items on our shelves today come from, how they are made, and what it means in terms of the advancement of making better, tastier foods with longer shelf lives. It's astounding how much goes into something as innocuous-seeming as a Twinkie. I'm glad I read this book; it was well-written and informative and even funny at times. I'd love to see it made into a Discovery-Channel-like documentary.
A popular food item, first introduced to the public in the 1930's, which now represents a vast example of how ingredients have changed over the years to meet consumer demand. Honestly, I'd never really thought about it before... that long list of hard-to-pronounce chemicals on the packages of my snack cakes never bothered me. But reading this book not only opened my eyes to what, exactly goes into this innocent-seeming treat, but also how incredibly complex and vast and intricate the entire food industry in America IS. It's shocking to find out how much of our food additives come from products that were once thought to be useless by-products of steel manufacturing. And oil. SO much stuff comes from oil!! Food stuff, concrete, plastic (of course), stuff that goes into our shampoo and soap and toothpaste... it's amazing to discover the origins of all of these things, the intricate web of relationships between manufacturing and food products. I know people who won't eat Twinkies because "they're made from nothing but chemicals" but honestly, MOST of the food we buy and eat contain quite a few of these same chemicals... it just goes to show that many consumers don't REALLY know what they're eating anymore. I mean, if something you wanted to eat had an ingredients list like this: hydrogen oxide, cellulose, hemicellulose, malic acid, dexrose, fructose, pectin, sucrose, amylacetate, and citric acid... would you eat it? No? Not natural enough for you? Not healthy?
Do you realize the above is the ingredients list for an apple?
Anyway, the point of this book was certainly not to tell everyone that Twinkies are just as healthy and natural as apples; it's true purpose was simply to explore WHERE these chemicals that are contained in most food items on our shelves today come from, how they are made, and what it means in terms of the advancement of making better, tastier foods with longer shelf lives. It's astounding how much goes into something as innocuous-seeming as a Twinkie. I'm glad I read this book; it was well-written and informative and even funny at times. I'd love to see it made into a Discovery-Channel-like documentary.
July 7, 2019
Disturbing, on multiple levels
Publisher’s Weekly called this book a “Delightful romp though the food processing industry,” but I found Twinkie, Deconstucted a rather chilling appraisal of the state of modern food.
Ettlinger sets out on what seems a lighthearted quest to source all the ingredients in a Twinkie, on the face of it an interesting and possibly edifying task. Certainly, choosing a Twinkie as his subject is clue enough that this will be a purely wink-wink/nudge-nudge sort of examination.
The problem, for me, was that what he unearthed was not as entertaining as it was disturbing. Twinkie, Deconstructed has come in for a great deal of criticism from various quarters for not engaging some of the deeper issues that Ettlinger raises, but then blithely abandons. I would agree. Some even accuse him of being an apologist for the food industry, a serious charge indeed. This, I can’t go along with.
Instead, I’d say the chief problem is he stubbornly adhered to a flawed plan for a book. Clearly, he set out to deconstruct the Twinkie in a casual, gee-whiz-look-at-that narrative. And I have to say he unearthed a number of downright fascinating factoids. But then the quest began to be a trudge, as Ettlinger doggedly wrote chapter after chapter for each and every one of the Twinkie’s many ingredients, regardless of the fact that one ingredient begins to blur into another after the first dozen or so.
There was a great deal of discussion of chemical processes, some of which left me scratching my head. Time and again Ettlinger is taken through vast processing plants to find how this ingredient or that is produced. But just as often he is denied access to processing plants and forced to speculate how one component or another is engineered. There are a disconcerting number of secrets behind something as prosaic as a Twinkie, it seems. Ettlinger ultimately unveils what he calls the "Twinkie Nexus" - a vast international supply-and-demand-driven mechanism controlled by multinational conglomerates too complex and too multi-tentacled to fully comprehend.
Again, the main problem is this: what virtue is there of tracking down each ingredient but then not really coming to grips with the bigger issues? All trees, no forest.
I can't say that Ettlinger never addresses any of the darker issues, such as the role processed foods may play in the nationwide epidemic of obesity and diabetes. He does mention this, but only very briefly, and then scampers on to the next gee-whiz moment, leaving the “heavy” arguments mostly to the last chapter, "Consider the Twinkie." There he implies we have no reasonable alternative to the industrialized processed food industry.
More to the point, he seems to lay the blame – and responsibility – squarely at the feet of the consumer. The argument goes something like this: We want it, so they produce it. We buy it. We eat it. So we should suffer the consequences, because it's ultimately our fault it was produced in the first place. But who the heck came up with the idea for something like Gogurt, anyways? Somehow I doubt there was a popular clamor for this product, a corporate brainchild if ever there was one.
Products are researched. Studies are done. Advertising campaigns are launched. Wants are created. And, despite the habitual use there of the passive voice, someone does those things. To paraphrase Pogo, we have met the enemy, and he isn't us.
“Before getting on a high horse to decry the excessive pressure of capitalism that force food to be so overwhelmingly engineered," Ettlinger writes, "we need to remember this: no farmer would bring his or her crops to market without the promise of a reward.”
Huh? Come again? I’m not sure I follow that argument. And why am I left with the feeling he regards a desire for a healthier diet as "getting on a high horse"?
At the end of the book, he suddenly solemnly averes, "There are choices to be made – so it is up to us to keep on top of things in the food world.”
Is it, really, up to us? It doesn't much seem like it from what I gleaned from this book. It seems instead as if much is being kept from us, at least if Ettlinger's notable lack of success in penetrating "industrial secrets" (a leit motif of the book) is any indication.
If ever there were an argument for stronger government oversight of the food industry, this is it. What hope has the average consumer of navigating the hazardous food maze? Ettlinger certainly doesn’t provide any. I couldn’t help but think he wasted an opportunity – nay, evaded a responsibility – to urge a greater transparency in food production.
I gave this book three stars not so much because I “liked” it as because I was disturbed by it. And that, despite all my criticisms, is a good thing. Perhaps it was even the author’s intent, though I sincerely doubt it. Twinkie, Deconstructed was obviously marketed as entertainment. While I hate to sound like an utter stick in the mud, just how sad (and disturbing) is that?
Publisher’s Weekly called this book a “Delightful romp though the food processing industry,” but I found Twinkie, Deconstucted a rather chilling appraisal of the state of modern food.
Ettlinger sets out on what seems a lighthearted quest to source all the ingredients in a Twinkie, on the face of it an interesting and possibly edifying task. Certainly, choosing a Twinkie as his subject is clue enough that this will be a purely wink-wink/nudge-nudge sort of examination.
The problem, for me, was that what he unearthed was not as entertaining as it was disturbing. Twinkie, Deconstructed has come in for a great deal of criticism from various quarters for not engaging some of the deeper issues that Ettlinger raises, but then blithely abandons. I would agree. Some even accuse him of being an apologist for the food industry, a serious charge indeed. This, I can’t go along with.
Instead, I’d say the chief problem is he stubbornly adhered to a flawed plan for a book. Clearly, he set out to deconstruct the Twinkie in a casual, gee-whiz-look-at-that narrative. And I have to say he unearthed a number of downright fascinating factoids. But then the quest began to be a trudge, as Ettlinger doggedly wrote chapter after chapter for each and every one of the Twinkie’s many ingredients, regardless of the fact that one ingredient begins to blur into another after the first dozen or so.
There was a great deal of discussion of chemical processes, some of which left me scratching my head. Time and again Ettlinger is taken through vast processing plants to find how this ingredient or that is produced. But just as often he is denied access to processing plants and forced to speculate how one component or another is engineered. There are a disconcerting number of secrets behind something as prosaic as a Twinkie, it seems. Ettlinger ultimately unveils what he calls the "Twinkie Nexus" - a vast international supply-and-demand-driven mechanism controlled by multinational conglomerates too complex and too multi-tentacled to fully comprehend.
Again, the main problem is this: what virtue is there of tracking down each ingredient but then not really coming to grips with the bigger issues? All trees, no forest.
I can't say that Ettlinger never addresses any of the darker issues, such as the role processed foods may play in the nationwide epidemic of obesity and diabetes. He does mention this, but only very briefly, and then scampers on to the next gee-whiz moment, leaving the “heavy” arguments mostly to the last chapter, "Consider the Twinkie." There he implies we have no reasonable alternative to the industrialized processed food industry.
More to the point, he seems to lay the blame – and responsibility – squarely at the feet of the consumer. The argument goes something like this: We want it, so they produce it. We buy it. We eat it. So we should suffer the consequences, because it's ultimately our fault it was produced in the first place. But who the heck came up with the idea for something like Gogurt, anyways? Somehow I doubt there was a popular clamor for this product, a corporate brainchild if ever there was one.
Products are researched. Studies are done. Advertising campaigns are launched. Wants are created. And, despite the habitual use there of the passive voice, someone does those things. To paraphrase Pogo, we have met the enemy, and he isn't us.
“Before getting on a high horse to decry the excessive pressure of capitalism that force food to be so overwhelmingly engineered," Ettlinger writes, "we need to remember this: no farmer would bring his or her crops to market without the promise of a reward.”
Huh? Come again? I’m not sure I follow that argument. And why am I left with the feeling he regards a desire for a healthier diet as "getting on a high horse"?
At the end of the book, he suddenly solemnly averes, "There are choices to be made – so it is up to us to keep on top of things in the food world.”
Is it, really, up to us? It doesn't much seem like it from what I gleaned from this book. It seems instead as if much is being kept from us, at least if Ettlinger's notable lack of success in penetrating "industrial secrets" (a leit motif of the book) is any indication.
If ever there were an argument for stronger government oversight of the food industry, this is it. What hope has the average consumer of navigating the hazardous food maze? Ettlinger certainly doesn’t provide any. I couldn’t help but think he wasted an opportunity – nay, evaded a responsibility – to urge a greater transparency in food production.
I gave this book three stars not so much because I “liked” it as because I was disturbed by it. And that, despite all my criticisms, is a good thing. Perhaps it was even the author’s intent, though I sincerely doubt it. Twinkie, Deconstructed was obviously marketed as entertainment. While I hate to sound like an utter stick in the mud, just how sad (and disturbing) is that?
October 14, 2007
YUK!
Twinkie Deconstructed takes us on a journey through the ingredient label of the popular snack food to find out what "polysorbate 80" and "bleached flour" really are. Whether its manufactured, mined (yes mined), or put together in a laboratory, we discover what goes into the Twinkie, and a great many of the items on our store shelves.
Most interesting, and perhaps most frightening, was the process of bleaching flour.
Fascinating, yes. Inspiring, well, if heading off to Whole Foods to buy real food after discovering what is in common foods is 'inspiring' then yes, this book is inspiring.
I came away feeling as if I was just a part of some dark comedy / nerd-science / Lake Wobegon-ish tale. Science and a folksy presentation style combine well to deconstruct the snack cake.
Twinkie Deconstructed takes us on a journey through the ingredient label of the popular snack food to find out what "polysorbate 80" and "bleached flour" really are. Whether its manufactured, mined (yes mined), or put together in a laboratory, we discover what goes into the Twinkie, and a great many of the items on our store shelves.
Most interesting, and perhaps most frightening, was the process of bleaching flour.
Fascinating, yes. Inspiring, well, if heading off to Whole Foods to buy real food after discovering what is in common foods is 'inspiring' then yes, this book is inspiring.
I came away feeling as if I was just a part of some dark comedy / nerd-science / Lake Wobegon-ish tale. Science and a folksy presentation style combine well to deconstruct the snack cake.
April 7, 2021
In this book, Ettlinger examines every ingredient that is found in a Twinkie and where they come from. I didn't feel he made many judgments about the safety of these ingredients; in fact, this is one of his last statements: "Examining the labels found on supermarket shelves, it becomes obvious that Twinkies are merely an archetype of almost all modern processed foods."
Was this book helpful on my journey to understand what's in the food we eat? Yes and no. I won't retain much of what I read, but it was interesting to learn that so many of the ingredients in the 'food-like substances' on the grocery shelves started out as rock!
Was this book helpful on my journey to understand what's in the food we eat? Yes and no. I won't retain much of what I read, but it was interesting to learn that so many of the ingredients in the 'food-like substances' on the grocery shelves started out as rock!
November 9, 2017
A really, really exciting book for me. It’s probably no secret that food politics is one of my pet topics. The ethics of what we eat, the ethics of what’s hidden from consumers- all of this fascinates me and frightens me and makes me think.
An ingredient-by-ingredient, at times laborious but always interesting, breakdown of all the components of a Twinkie, all of which are in just about all processed foods, from frozen pizza to salad dressing.
--------MEMORABLE TWINKIE TAKEAWAYS:--------
1. Bleached Flour
That “bleached flour” you see on packages? Personally, I’d been envisioning this process as dipping the wheat kernels in a vat of liquid chlorine bleach, then washing it off with a vat of water. No, apparently the actual process is rather more of a national security concern: the deadly poisonous chlorine gas, used to kill people in World War I. There are factories, mostly located where there is lots of salt and hydropower (think Niagara Falls region; we aren’t given any more specifics for actual security reasons), which produce chlorine gas (besides being toxic, it’s also highly explosive). This is then put on very secure iron containers, shipped to the flour factories, which pipe tiny amounts into chambers with the milled wheat to bleach it.
2. Sugar
Sugar, quite apart from its deliciousness, has some interesting industrial uses. It’s a flame retardant used in polyurethane foam. It’s used as a water-based ink for printing on plastic bags. It’s used to clean cement mixers. You can make a cheap bomb if you mix it with saltpeter. 3rd world doctors sprinkle sugar in wounds to soak up moisture to prevent infection.
3. Eggs
There are egg-breaking factories that do nothing but yes, break eggs.
4. Preservatives
Twinkies are famous for their longevity, but shockingly expire in less than a month, and contain only one true preservative: sorbic acid. Far from the formeldehyde-like preservatives we envision making up the immortal Twinkie, sorbic acid is incredibly safe. Legal worldwide (this is very unusual for additives) and safer even than table salt.
5. Emulsifiers
Rather than preservatives, emulsifiers are the real Slim Shadys of the processed food world. They make up the bulk of those “less than 2% of” ingredients, apparently. Their job is to combine water and fats like oil. They’re also important because they give that smooth mouthfeel that’s so important, that coat-your-tongue-ness that makes us think we’re eating fresh cream when we’re actually eating nasty chemicals. The laundry list: soy lecithin (this one’s actually rather good for you), cellulose gum, whey, mono and diglycerides, polysorbate 60, and sodium stearoyl lactylate. And probably many more, but they aren’t included in Twinkies, so alas we shall never know their names.
6. Crude oil
Good old fashioned petroleum is just about everywhere in our food.
7. Fake butter flavour (diacetyl)
Fake butter flavouring, found in things like margarine and ice cream and movie popcorn and, of course, Twinkies!- is called diacetyl. Diacetyl is actually found in butter (it really does give it that characteristic taste) and even more in rancid butter (too much of a good thing). In fact, in large amounts it smells horrendous. It’s also found naturally in things like Chardonnay wine. But as an additive, it comes from- yup- crude oil. Also paint thinner. Containers of it are labeled “harmful if swallowed” which is rather ominous when you consider this is a food ingredient.
8. Calcium sulfate
Calcium sulfate, aka gypsum, aka plaster of Paris, aka “terra alba” in FDA language, has many uses as a food additive. Even though it’s used in small amounts, we will, on average, consume 28 lbs of it in our lifetime.
9. Casein.
Casein, an ingredient in milk, is found not only in Twinkies— it’s also used as a prime ingredient in early plastic, concrete mixes, glue, and paint.
-------UNRELATED TO TWINKIES BUT STILL FUN FACTS:-------
>> The most bizarre discovery story ever (and also the story of the first discovery of any element):
This guy Henning Brand (or as I like to call him, crazy old Maurice) was searching for the Philosopher’s Stone (Nicholas Flamel in the flesh).
He decided “the stuff of life” was in the liquids of the body. But blood research was “of the devil” so he decided to look at piss. Which, clearly, much holier.
He somehow convinced a convent full of nuns to donate their piss to him, which he played around with for a few years until he managed to distill it down to a ball of “waxy goop” that either burned up or glowed, depending on how pure it was.
One day he took a handfull of this goop into bed with him to try to “soak up some life from it” as he slept (note, this man is a fruitcake) but he just got some serious burns. Because that shit was phosphate. The end.
>> The first synthetic dye was mauve.
See, I told you. Laborious, but fun.
An ingredient-by-ingredient, at times laborious but always interesting, breakdown of all the components of a Twinkie, all of which are in just about all processed foods, from frozen pizza to salad dressing.
--------MEMORABLE TWINKIE TAKEAWAYS:--------
1. Bleached Flour
That “bleached flour” you see on packages? Personally, I’d been envisioning this process as dipping the wheat kernels in a vat of liquid chlorine bleach, then washing it off with a vat of water. No, apparently the actual process is rather more of a national security concern: the deadly poisonous chlorine gas, used to kill people in World War I. There are factories, mostly located where there is lots of salt and hydropower (think Niagara Falls region; we aren’t given any more specifics for actual security reasons), which produce chlorine gas (besides being toxic, it’s also highly explosive). This is then put on very secure iron containers, shipped to the flour factories, which pipe tiny amounts into chambers with the milled wheat to bleach it.
2. Sugar
Sugar, quite apart from its deliciousness, has some interesting industrial uses. It’s a flame retardant used in polyurethane foam. It’s used as a water-based ink for printing on plastic bags. It’s used to clean cement mixers. You can make a cheap bomb if you mix it with saltpeter. 3rd world doctors sprinkle sugar in wounds to soak up moisture to prevent infection.
3. Eggs
There are egg-breaking factories that do nothing but yes, break eggs.
4. Preservatives
Twinkies are famous for their longevity, but shockingly expire in less than a month, and contain only one true preservative: sorbic acid. Far from the formeldehyde-like preservatives we envision making up the immortal Twinkie, sorbic acid is incredibly safe. Legal worldwide (this is very unusual for additives) and safer even than table salt.
5. Emulsifiers
Rather than preservatives, emulsifiers are the real Slim Shadys of the processed food world. They make up the bulk of those “less than 2% of” ingredients, apparently. Their job is to combine water and fats like oil. They’re also important because they give that smooth mouthfeel that’s so important, that coat-your-tongue-ness that makes us think we’re eating fresh cream when we’re actually eating nasty chemicals. The laundry list: soy lecithin (this one’s actually rather good for you), cellulose gum, whey, mono and diglycerides, polysorbate 60, and sodium stearoyl lactylate. And probably many more, but they aren’t included in Twinkies, so alas we shall never know their names.
6. Crude oil
Good old fashioned petroleum is just about everywhere in our food.
7. Fake butter flavour (diacetyl)
Fake butter flavouring, found in things like margarine and ice cream and movie popcorn and, of course, Twinkies!- is called diacetyl. Diacetyl is actually found in butter (it really does give it that characteristic taste) and even more in rancid butter (too much of a good thing). In fact, in large amounts it smells horrendous. It’s also found naturally in things like Chardonnay wine. But as an additive, it comes from- yup- crude oil. Also paint thinner. Containers of it are labeled “harmful if swallowed” which is rather ominous when you consider this is a food ingredient.
8. Calcium sulfate
Calcium sulfate, aka gypsum, aka plaster of Paris, aka “terra alba” in FDA language, has many uses as a food additive. Even though it’s used in small amounts, we will, on average, consume 28 lbs of it in our lifetime.
9. Casein.
Casein, an ingredient in milk, is found not only in Twinkies— it’s also used as a prime ingredient in early plastic, concrete mixes, glue, and paint.
-------UNRELATED TO TWINKIES BUT STILL FUN FACTS:-------
>> The most bizarre discovery story ever (and also the story of the first discovery of any element):
This guy Henning Brand (or as I like to call him, crazy old Maurice) was searching for the Philosopher’s Stone (Nicholas Flamel in the flesh).
He decided “the stuff of life” was in the liquids of the body. But blood research was “of the devil” so he decided to look at piss. Which, clearly, much holier.
He somehow convinced a convent full of nuns to donate their piss to him, which he played around with for a few years until he managed to distill it down to a ball of “waxy goop” that either burned up or glowed, depending on how pure it was.
One day he took a handfull of this goop into bed with him to try to “soak up some life from it” as he slept (note, this man is a fruitcake) but he just got some serious burns. Because that shit was phosphate. The end.
>> The first synthetic dye was mauve.
See, I told you. Laborious, but fun.
June 1, 2009
Do you know what's REALLY in YOUR snack foods? This book might lead you to expect a modern-day Fast Food Nation or the Jungle, but it's actually a lightweight tour of American food processing that at times almost crosses the line into free advertising. To its credit, you learn a great deal about the brain-busting scope of the food industry, how a single, simple product like a Twinkie depends upon everything from chemical plants in Minnesota to mineral mines in China, and the facts about baking were quite interesting. But this is no expose...it's a cursory guided tour by a deeply "embedded journalist" who gleefully reprints uncontested party lines from chemical and agribusiness companies, reassuring us, if not of the safety, then the inevitability of processed food. The quality of the writing is mediocre and interspersed with too many incongruous (and lame) joking asides. Nevertheless, it's very readable and you will learn a great deal. But far from making you fear a product that he has in previous chapters revealed contains (in fact, depends upon!) such ingredients as chlorine and shaved-off-rust from steel mills, the author's final chapter concludes with a mouth-watering description of eating a Twinkie that borders on the pornographic. In short, much like the food product featured in the title, this book seems to promise much yet in the end prove decidedly non-nutritive.
Perhaps a good piece to read as a counterargument to Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?
Perhaps a good piece to read as a counterargument to Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?
January 24, 2014
Ettlinger takes us through each of the ingredients that make up a Twinkie, most of which are found in other packaged food as well. It is stupefyingly boring and utterly bloodless. (Only Ettlinger could write a chapter about industrial eggs and never mention the conditions of factory farm chickens.) He also doesn't seem to have a very solid grasp on the science--his explanations are obtuse and often depend on forced metaphors. His explanation of trans-fat was sadly mistaken and managed to witter on for about a page without a single mention of chirality. There was no narrative, no flow--just endless chapters with punny titles and stultifying messes of exposition.
January 2, 2020
Who knew that the world's largest producer of casein was New Zealand? Not me--I always thought it was made from domestic milk by products. This is one of a few new things I learned in an area where I have to admit I already knew a fair bit.
This isn't badly written, and Ettlinger ties in how and when he started this quest along with bit of history of food handling and processing. While I realize that we need minerals from the ground or sea (salt being one of them), much of this book made me happy that I tend to eat food as close to how it originally was, but then I've been doing that much of my life anyway, although not with extreme zealousness. There were a few disturbing things I hadn't realized, but why add spoilers beyond what I already have?
This isn't badly written, and Ettlinger ties in how and when he started this quest along with bit of history of food handling and processing. While I realize that we need minerals from the ground or sea (salt being one of them), much of this book made me happy that I tend to eat food as close to how it originally was, but then I've been doing that much of my life anyway, although not with extreme zealousness. There were a few disturbing things I hadn't realized, but why add spoilers beyond what I already have?
July 28, 2019
Cooking is just science, that's tasty.
April 7, 2023
I will never eat a Twinkie again.
I have taken many chemistry classes in college. Inorganic, organic, physical, analytical and biochemistry and I was still lost in reading this book.
I have taken many chemistry classes in college. Inorganic, organic, physical, analytical and biochemistry and I was still lost in reading this book.
February 26, 2015
I wanted to like this because I find the subject matter fascinating. And appalling. When you think about what's in the food we eat, it's just gross beyond words. You know what they say, ignorance is bliss. And apparently it's also tasty.
But in this case, it wasn't very readable. I struggled to read this book. I thought maybe it was just me. Maybe it was too technical for me. I consider myself above average as far as intelligence. Somewhat science-y (obviously language isn't my thing since I like to make up words). But I kept having to re-read things because they didn't make sense. Then I realized that part of the problem was that Mr. Ettlinger seemed to have this love affair with commas. They were everywhere. And a lot of time, they were in places where they shouldn't have been. So I was pausing like the comma told me to, and then getting all tripped up because pausing made the sentence weird and confusing.
I ended up putting this deconstructed twinkie back on the shelf half eaten. Bummer, because the science was kind of cool.
But in this case, it wasn't very readable. I struggled to read this book. I thought maybe it was just me. Maybe it was too technical for me. I consider myself above average as far as intelligence. Somewhat science-y (obviously language isn't my thing since I like to make up words). But I kept having to re-read things because they didn't make sense. Then I realized that part of the problem was that Mr. Ettlinger seemed to have this love affair with commas. They were everywhere. And a lot of time, they were in places where they shouldn't have been. So I was pausing like the comma told me to, and then getting all tripped up because pausing made the sentence weird and confusing.
I ended up putting this deconstructed twinkie back on the shelf half eaten. Bummer, because the science was kind of cool.
July 15, 2022
Steve Ettlinger is a professional explainer, an affable, reasonably intelligent guy who’s interested in how things work, and interested in conveying that knowledge to other curious folks. He’s written books on everything from typical hardware store inventory to a Beer For Dummies book.
One day he was enjoying some ice cream with his kids when his daughter, reading the ingredients on the wrapper, started asking her old man, what, exactly those sometimes-unpronounceable items were.
This set Ettlinger off on a quest to find out what went into making the famed snack cake, the Twinkie. Were the urban legends true? Could it survive for decades due to the massive number of preservatives that had been stuffed inside it alongside all that cream filling? Can you ferment a Twinkie, a la Homer Simpson, stick a straw in it, and get hammered as if it were a homemade piña colada?
The answer to both questions is “no”.
Ettlinger dispels more myths and discovers sometimes jaw-dropping truths about the Twinkie by setting himself a simple goal, then executing. He decides to read each item on the ingredients list, in order, and find out how that item is made, extracted, or mined (yes, mined).
The premise, while fascinating, produces a book that’s a little too long on fact, and too short on narrative, kind of like reading an ingredients list. The various technicians and chemists in their white lab coats and hardhats never stand out as characters in their own right, mere ciphers who barely have a presence, much less opinions. The book sort of comes alive when Ettlinger finally does descend into a mine to find out how Twinkies (and plenty of other foods) get their leavening. But again, he just relates what he saw and experienced on the journey into the earth’s bowels (fear) rather than drawing some kind of conclusion or fashioning a thesis.
To his credit, he does kind of tie it all together in the end, pointing out that taking kneejerk positions for or against GMO foods is not likely to result in healthier eating choices or a more fully sated world. He’s not too strident or alarmist, and comes to praise (or at least eat) the Twinkie rather than bury or poopoo it. But too much of the book just feels like a rote litany being read off. I went here and saw this. Then I went there and saw that, would be a pretty good summation of the work.
For those who like their pop science a little impersonal, though, without a bit of interjection or even a little gonzo journalism, you might dig it more. For this snack junkie, though, it was all too forgettable, palatable enough in the moment, sure, but ultimately disposable. You know, like a Twinkie.
One day he was enjoying some ice cream with his kids when his daughter, reading the ingredients on the wrapper, started asking her old man, what, exactly those sometimes-unpronounceable items were.
This set Ettlinger off on a quest to find out what went into making the famed snack cake, the Twinkie. Were the urban legends true? Could it survive for decades due to the massive number of preservatives that had been stuffed inside it alongside all that cream filling? Can you ferment a Twinkie, a la Homer Simpson, stick a straw in it, and get hammered as if it were a homemade piña colada?
The answer to both questions is “no”.
Ettlinger dispels more myths and discovers sometimes jaw-dropping truths about the Twinkie by setting himself a simple goal, then executing. He decides to read each item on the ingredients list, in order, and find out how that item is made, extracted, or mined (yes, mined).
The premise, while fascinating, produces a book that’s a little too long on fact, and too short on narrative, kind of like reading an ingredients list. The various technicians and chemists in their white lab coats and hardhats never stand out as characters in their own right, mere ciphers who barely have a presence, much less opinions. The book sort of comes alive when Ettlinger finally does descend into a mine to find out how Twinkies (and plenty of other foods) get their leavening. But again, he just relates what he saw and experienced on the journey into the earth’s bowels (fear) rather than drawing some kind of conclusion or fashioning a thesis.
To his credit, he does kind of tie it all together in the end, pointing out that taking kneejerk positions for or against GMO foods is not likely to result in healthier eating choices or a more fully sated world. He’s not too strident or alarmist, and comes to praise (or at least eat) the Twinkie rather than bury or poopoo it. But too much of the book just feels like a rote litany being read off. I went here and saw this. Then I went there and saw that, would be a pretty good summation of the work.
For those who like their pop science a little impersonal, though, without a bit of interjection or even a little gonzo journalism, you might dig it more. For this snack junkie, though, it was all too forgettable, palatable enough in the moment, sure, but ultimately disposable. You know, like a Twinkie.
February 17, 2009
Ooh, wow! What an amazing read. This is not an expose of the food industry, but rather a curious exploration of what twinkies are made of. So each chapter tells the story of a different ingredient on the list. He'll visit the mine it comes from, or follow how a food product is converted from petroleum, or whatever. I was intrigued by the chapter on flavors, and colors. Absolutely fascinating, and makes me wanna eat nothing but veggies. Cuz as he points out, "Eat your own vegetables and fruits raw, and you've reduced "processing" to washing" (p 2).
And who knew Mom was there in Iowa when corn syrup began: "the Clinton Corn Processing Company, where high fructose corn syrup was first mass-produced in 1967" (p 56). I also was unaware that the American Chemical Society designates sites as National Historic Chemical Landmarks (e.g. the Rumford Chemical Works, of Baking Powder fame, p 138). Other interesting info:
--"In the 1950s, soda was sold in 6.5- or 8-ounce bottles (containing 88 to 100 calories per serving) as an occasional refreshment; today, it is regularly served in 20-ounce bottles (at 240 calories a pop) and sometimes even 64-ounce servings (what does Coca-Cola expect you to put into its Monster Mug--milk?). More important, today, soft drinks are far more often consumed as a common, mealtime beverage, than as a special treat." (p 69)
--"Scientists know where to look (the liver and the pancreas, for starters) but here in the early 200s, after thirty years of common use, the proper broad and long-term studies about the effects of HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) still aren't being done." (p 70)
--In reference to food colorings, "Their function is essentially a psychological one." (p 249)
--How about the meaning of the numbers in Yellow No. 5 or Red No. 40? "It took some digging to reveal that the numbers signify nothing more than the order in which manufacturers submitted the artificial colors to the FDA for approval... missing numbers are for colors approved only for nonfood use... some were approved and never used; and some may not have been approved at all." (p 253)
But it all comes back to us, the consumers: "These companies' embrace of science is simply limited by their obedience to the marketplace and governmental policies... we love the results and express this feeling unequivocally with our purchasing power, enthusiastically demanding more protein sources, a wider range of food choices, lower prices, presumably safer and less spoiled food... The fact is that chemicals, especially those in foods, are part of nature. Perhaps a pertinent question is, "When does a chemical become a food?"" (p 258)
And who knew Mom was there in Iowa when corn syrup began: "the Clinton Corn Processing Company, where high fructose corn syrup was first mass-produced in 1967" (p 56). I also was unaware that the American Chemical Society designates sites as National Historic Chemical Landmarks (e.g. the Rumford Chemical Works, of Baking Powder fame, p 138). Other interesting info:
--"In the 1950s, soda was sold in 6.5- or 8-ounce bottles (containing 88 to 100 calories per serving) as an occasional refreshment; today, it is regularly served in 20-ounce bottles (at 240 calories a pop) and sometimes even 64-ounce servings (what does Coca-Cola expect you to put into its Monster Mug--milk?). More important, today, soft drinks are far more often consumed as a common, mealtime beverage, than as a special treat." (p 69)
--"Scientists know where to look (the liver and the pancreas, for starters) but here in the early 200s, after thirty years of common use, the proper broad and long-term studies about the effects of HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) still aren't being done." (p 70)
--In reference to food colorings, "Their function is essentially a psychological one." (p 249)
--How about the meaning of the numbers in Yellow No. 5 or Red No. 40? "It took some digging to reveal that the numbers signify nothing more than the order in which manufacturers submitted the artificial colors to the FDA for approval... missing numbers are for colors approved only for nonfood use... some were approved and never used; and some may not have been approved at all." (p 253)
But it all comes back to us, the consumers: "These companies' embrace of science is simply limited by their obedience to the marketplace and governmental policies... we love the results and express this feeling unequivocally with our purchasing power, enthusiastically demanding more protein sources, a wider range of food choices, lower prices, presumably safer and less spoiled food... The fact is that chemicals, especially those in foods, are part of nature. Perhaps a pertinent question is, "When does a chemical become a food?"" (p 258)
September 9, 2009
Though this book has an intriguing premise, to trace the progress of each and every ingredient in a common processed food, the twinkie, I found that the story lacked cohesion. The author goes on a number of spectacular journeys to find how ingredients are created from raw materials, and then how those are combined to make the familar snack, but there is little besides the ingredients list tying the story line together. The book however was packed with factoids like how artificial dyes are created and who invented Listerine, but I was frustrated by the dismissiveness the author seemed to bring to anticipated reader concerns about the artificial ingredients. I think it could have been a much stronger book if the author used the twinkie as a starting point, and began to put processed foods in a greater context of the economy and the country's health in general. But overall, it was a good, if technical, romp through the chemistry of food.
January 12, 2009
Yes, Twinkies are uber-iconic. Still, the idea of a chapter for each ingredient in the Twinkie just doesn't sustain a book. There is no narrative arc, and the ingredients just aren't all equally interesting. Michael Pollan does a much better job of explaining the worrisome rise of high-fructose corn syrup. Finally, Ettlinger's writing is just too cutesy and filled with parenthetics for my taste. I am tempted to say that the book is as substantive as a Twinkie. But I didn't finish it, so I can't be sure.
October 15, 2019
A new breed of writers continues to substitute actual content with sarcasm, mistakenly thinking that all the world is an entertainment-starved blog~reader. Though Ettlinger means well, scant factoids deep-fried in layers of flippant commentary does not a good book make. All in all, this is a disappointing, dumb-downed read whose actual info can be condensed into 45 pages.
January 30, 2024
When Steve Ettlinger’s young daughter asked “Daddy, what’s polysorbate 60?” after reading the food label on a box of ice cream bars, the author was at a loss for words. Realizing he didn’t really know what mysterious chemicals and components are in the creation of everyday foods, Steve set out on a mission to investigate the secrets behind the ultimate snack cake: the Twinkie. From the familiar vanilla plantations in Madagascar, to the lesser-known phosphoric acid plants in Wyoming, “Twinkie Deconstructed” dives deep into the complex stories that make up the beloved treat. Each chapter follows each individual ingredient, from the cultivation of the raw material to all the chemical processing needed. They even include a little history along the way.
In this book you’ll learn about where food ingredients come from, how they are made, processed, or even mined and what crucial roles they play in Twinkies. Twinkie Deconstructed is an ideal read for anyone with a curious mindset. Whether you are concerned about the mass-produced food industry, interested in the inner workings of food related factories, or are just genuinely wondering how milk gets from farm to Twinkie, this book is an excellent one for you. Ettlinger’s easy to understand explanations, dotted with witty comments and jokes balance out the long chemical names and numerous steps it takes to make each ingredient. This book implies that our modern diet is deeply interconnected with an extensive network of raw materials, chemicals, and manufacturing processes, challenging readers to reconsider the origins of the food they eat. It highlights the complexity and surprises of the ingredients that go into everyday products, prompting a re-evaluation of our relationship with processed foods. The revelations in the book contribute to a deeper awareness of our modern diet, making it an informative read for those seeking more understanding of the food they eat.
If I were to describe this book in two words, I’d have to choose intriguing and enlightening. Who knew there were so many ingredients that started as petroleum? Or that corn could be turned into carboard as well? Through this book I learned so much about how food ingredients come to be and how complex it really is to make a seemingly simple snack. It sheds light on the scientific processes and intricate supply chains that aren’t normally talked about or explored. Most of the time, people just read the food label, acknowledge the hard-to-pronounce chemicals, and move on with their day. Seldom does anyone stop to think about how the vitamins in the enriched flour are made, or where they really come from.
While I appreciate the easily understandable narrative the author uses, I think there could be some changes made. Even though each chapter uncovered new and exciting information about each ingredient, I found it to be rather repetitive, especially near the end where the process becomes quite similar between ingredients. There wasn’t much change in terms of the structure of each chapter, so the information felt predictable and even unengaging at times. I wish the author had included some more of his own thoughts and opinions in this book, or some of the greater effects the processed food industry has on us as humans. Having a more personal connection from the author in this book would’ve made it an even more interesting read, since at some times it felt like I was reading a research paper. While all the factory processing described was interesting to learn about, I was always wondering what all this processing means for the environment or what kind of implications all the chemicals being used have on the health of us consumers.
One quote from that book that resonated with me is "if you are what you eat, it behooves you to know what you are eating." This quote basically encapsulates the whole idea of "Twinkie Deconstructed", which is to uncover the mysteries behind the foods we may think are simply made. We deserve to understand what we are consuming and what these ingredients can do for us.
Overall, “Twinkie Deconstructed” is an enjoyable book, suitable for readers of all sorts. It is very educational and uncovers some of the food industry’s behind-the-scenes secrets. So, after reading this book, and as Steve Ettlinger says, “at least you know what you’re eating” now.
In this book you’ll learn about where food ingredients come from, how they are made, processed, or even mined and what crucial roles they play in Twinkies. Twinkie Deconstructed is an ideal read for anyone with a curious mindset. Whether you are concerned about the mass-produced food industry, interested in the inner workings of food related factories, or are just genuinely wondering how milk gets from farm to Twinkie, this book is an excellent one for you. Ettlinger’s easy to understand explanations, dotted with witty comments and jokes balance out the long chemical names and numerous steps it takes to make each ingredient. This book implies that our modern diet is deeply interconnected with an extensive network of raw materials, chemicals, and manufacturing processes, challenging readers to reconsider the origins of the food they eat. It highlights the complexity and surprises of the ingredients that go into everyday products, prompting a re-evaluation of our relationship with processed foods. The revelations in the book contribute to a deeper awareness of our modern diet, making it an informative read for those seeking more understanding of the food they eat.
If I were to describe this book in two words, I’d have to choose intriguing and enlightening. Who knew there were so many ingredients that started as petroleum? Or that corn could be turned into carboard as well? Through this book I learned so much about how food ingredients come to be and how complex it really is to make a seemingly simple snack. It sheds light on the scientific processes and intricate supply chains that aren’t normally talked about or explored. Most of the time, people just read the food label, acknowledge the hard-to-pronounce chemicals, and move on with their day. Seldom does anyone stop to think about how the vitamins in the enriched flour are made, or where they really come from.
While I appreciate the easily understandable narrative the author uses, I think there could be some changes made. Even though each chapter uncovered new and exciting information about each ingredient, I found it to be rather repetitive, especially near the end where the process becomes quite similar between ingredients. There wasn’t much change in terms of the structure of each chapter, so the information felt predictable and even unengaging at times. I wish the author had included some more of his own thoughts and opinions in this book, or some of the greater effects the processed food industry has on us as humans. Having a more personal connection from the author in this book would’ve made it an even more interesting read, since at some times it felt like I was reading a research paper. While all the factory processing described was interesting to learn about, I was always wondering what all this processing means for the environment or what kind of implications all the chemicals being used have on the health of us consumers.
One quote from that book that resonated with me is "if you are what you eat, it behooves you to know what you are eating." This quote basically encapsulates the whole idea of "Twinkie Deconstructed", which is to uncover the mysteries behind the foods we may think are simply made. We deserve to understand what we are consuming and what these ingredients can do for us.
Overall, “Twinkie Deconstructed” is an enjoyable book, suitable for readers of all sorts. It is very educational and uncovers some of the food industry’s behind-the-scenes secrets. So, after reading this book, and as Steve Ettlinger says, “at least you know what you’re eating” now.
December 27, 2023
I wanted to like this book more than I did; the cover is tantalizing, the Twinkie maintains a peculiarly infamous place in contemporary culture, and the materials seemed informative. However, the way the book was structured made for a somewhat slog-filled read.
Each chapter is focused on a different ingredient found on the nutrition label of a Twinkie. Here we learn all about the agricultural, industrial, and agri-industrial processes needed to manufacture this sickly sweet delectable. Elements of the book repudiate some key misconceptions (e.g. only one preservative in the food). Ettlinger gets into so much detail about the factory processes and chemical processes that I as reader tend to lose track of what's what. After about the 60% point in the book I sort of lost concentration.
This is not to say that the book isn't good for other reasons; it seems well-researched, the author went through pains to learn more about the processes for making some of the ingredients (and often times turned away because they're top industrial secrets), interviewing many people who work in food chemistry and industry.
Perhaps it's better read in series of spurts, a few chapters at a time, rather than in one go.
I wished the book included more about the development of the Twinkie as a food product, the recipes that went into it, more of the human players involved in creating it, which I guess would mean that the author would have needed to interview people affiliated with the Hostess company. The final chapter reminds us that there are gazillions of foods that utilize chemically produced ingredients, and that our perceptions of what is synthetic and what is "pure" is much finer than we assume it to be.
And curiously, I think I have a slightly more optimistic view of the Twinkie than I did prior to reading!
Each chapter is focused on a different ingredient found on the nutrition label of a Twinkie. Here we learn all about the agricultural, industrial, and agri-industrial processes needed to manufacture this sickly sweet delectable. Elements of the book repudiate some key misconceptions (e.g. only one preservative in the food). Ettlinger gets into so much detail about the factory processes and chemical processes that I as reader tend to lose track of what's what. After about the 60% point in the book I sort of lost concentration.
This is not to say that the book isn't good for other reasons; it seems well-researched, the author went through pains to learn more about the processes for making some of the ingredients (and often times turned away because they're top industrial secrets), interviewing many people who work in food chemistry and industry.
Perhaps it's better read in series of spurts, a few chapters at a time, rather than in one go.
I wished the book included more about the development of the Twinkie as a food product, the recipes that went into it, more of the human players involved in creating it, which I guess would mean that the author would have needed to interview people affiliated with the Hostess company. The final chapter reminds us that there are gazillions of foods that utilize chemically produced ingredients, and that our perceptions of what is synthetic and what is "pure" is much finer than we assume it to be.
And curiously, I think I have a slightly more optimistic view of the Twinkie than I did prior to reading!
September 6, 2017
In which a journalist pretends to present science in an unbiased manner but really proves how little he understands while also vilifying anything not "natural".
"Palladium, a rare form of platinum..."
"If you can call something completely synthetic 'pure'..."
"It's not true that a Twinkie is made entirely out of chemicals..."
Heaven forbid something have an industrial purpose in addition to being edible. The author has no problem with table salt, because he's familiar with it. Same with water. And yet both of these have huge industrial uses. But something that has a primarily chemical name? DANGER, DANGER! Steve Ettlinger should be ashamed of this farce of a book. While he does indeed present some interesting material and thorough research about what makes up a Twinkie, he fails on a grand scale at understanding how science works and at presenting his findings in a fair and nonjudgmental way.
"Palladium, a rare form of platinum..."
"If you can call something completely synthetic 'pure'..."
"It's not true that a Twinkie is made entirely out of chemicals..."
Heaven forbid something have an industrial purpose in addition to being edible. The author has no problem with table salt, because he's familiar with it. Same with water. And yet both of these have huge industrial uses. But something that has a primarily chemical name? DANGER, DANGER! Steve Ettlinger should be ashamed of this farce of a book. While he does indeed present some interesting material and thorough research about what makes up a Twinkie, he fails on a grand scale at understanding how science works and at presenting his findings in a fair and nonjudgmental way.
July 12, 2017
I was hoping this book would be kind of an expose' about how terrible Twinkies are and how jacked up industrially produced processed food is but instead it turned out to be a "Wow, look at what a marvel of modern food science industrially produced processed food is! It's a miracle!" I did find it startling, though, to realize by reading this, how much time, effort, and money goes into making a product which is detrimental to our health and which indirectly causes animal suffering and environmental destruction. I find that baffling and very tragic. But hey, Twinkies are delicious so who cares, right? Whatever, man.
December 7, 2018
The author was asked by his daughter "what is Polysorbate 60?" on the Twinkie list of ingredients. He launches a search into the web of food processing in America.
Each chapter is devoted to a single ingredient and how it came to be part of a Twinkie. As a chemist, I found the book very interesting, since he does deep dives into the chemistry and engineering that most processed foods utilize. The driving factors for the baker are light 'crumb' and taste, coupled with the longest possible shelf life...no, Twinkies are not good forever despite Woodie Harrelson's quest in Zombieland.
As a science journalist, the author grinds no axes about good and bad, and some reviewers seem disappointed this is not an outraged polemic against processed foods. I find it refreshing to be given facts and allowed to make my own conclusions.
Each chapter is devoted to a single ingredient and how it came to be part of a Twinkie. As a chemist, I found the book very interesting, since he does deep dives into the chemistry and engineering that most processed foods utilize. The driving factors for the baker are light 'crumb' and taste, coupled with the longest possible shelf life...no, Twinkies are not good forever despite Woodie Harrelson's quest in Zombieland.
As a science journalist, the author grinds no axes about good and bad, and some reviewers seem disappointed this is not an outraged polemic against processed foods. I find it refreshing to be given facts and allowed to make my own conclusions.
July 25, 2021
Even if I could, I now would never, ever eat another Twinkie again. E V E R. How absolutely horrifying. I remember reading Fast Food Nation back in the day and feeling the same way [and have essentially stayed away from fast food ever since]. I also learned that two ingredients that are in almost everything [including cool whip, ice cream, cookies etc], Polysorbate-60 and Vanilla Extract both are derived from corn and corn is used in the processing of said products. NOT okay for someone who is deathly allergic to corn [waves hand energetically]. And yet no labeling needs to exist. SO frustrating!!
October 18, 2017
I have really mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it's impressively researched and mostly unbiased, which is usually a good thing. On the other hand, it reads like a textbook and is, ya know, mostly unbiased, which is in this case not a great thing.
It's not even unbiased really. It's actually promoting processed foods. Everything in moderation, to be sure, and I suppose an investigation of health or environmental factors are simply outside of the scope for what the author planned for the book. But I can't get behind it and this wasn't for me.
It's not even unbiased really. It's actually promoting processed foods. Everything in moderation, to be sure, and I suppose an investigation of health or environmental factors are simply outside of the scope for what the author planned for the book. But I can't get behind it and this wasn't for me.
April 30, 2025
3.5 ✨
dnf
February 11, 2024Listened to the audiobook.
DNF @ 44%
I feel like im in a huge reading slump
DNF @ 44%
I feel like im in a huge reading slump
August 7, 2023
I’ve developed 13 ingredient-inspired taglines during my diligent note-taking, thanks to this book:
1. Bleached Flour: Chlorine can kill you!
2. Enriched Flour: Adding Petroleum, Ore, and Fungi into your Diet!
3. Food-Grade Iron: Ground up rust or manufactured steel waste product!
4. Modified Cornstarch: Chemically bathed with poisons!
5. GMO Soy Beans: Like cockroaches, immune to herbicides!
6. Partially Hydrogenized Crème Filling: Filling you up with chronic disease one bite at a time!
7. Cellulose Gum: Absorbs water, acids, and bleaches!
8. Polysorbate 60: With a plastic subingredient that makes food as hard as, well, plastic!
9. Diacetyl and Butyric Acid: The chemicals that artificial butter and vomit share!
10. Artificial Vanilla: Toxic melting pot for non-food flavors!
11. Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate: The delicious soapy wax emulsifier!
12. Sorbic Acid: From flammability to poison to preservation!
13. Food Coloring: Eating petroleum-based paint!
I am a lot more educated about how many artificially fabricated, toxically manufactured, or just plain gross ingredients go into snack foods like Twinkies. Of course industry experts assure us that all poison is removed in the final product, so that’s a relief.
My main complaint is that the author doesn’t necessarily take a stance one way or the other. He details example after example of all the volatile, hazardous, and caustic chemical processes involved to concoct artificial Twinkie ingredients like enriched (ground-up metals) bleached (chlorinated) flour and modified (genetically altered) cornstarch. Then he demystifies other ingredients, explaining how the eggs in Twinkies are actually a chemically altered powdered egg substrate, but because the FDA requires that ingredients be called the most common name, Hostess gets away with just calling them “eggs” in their ingredients list. Finally, the author talks out the other side of his mouth to call them miracle foods or wonders of modern science or that since all food is chemicals, it’s all good. Huh???
I’ll leave one final comment that a food psychologist made at the end of the book, after the author asked him: “what makes something food?”, to which the psychologist replied: “something is food when people say it’s food.”
All in all, I feel more enlightened and feel less likely to buy a Twinkie.
4 out of 5 ⭐️
1. Bleached Flour: Chlorine can kill you!
2. Enriched Flour: Adding Petroleum, Ore, and Fungi into your Diet!
3. Food-Grade Iron: Ground up rust or manufactured steel waste product!
4. Modified Cornstarch: Chemically bathed with poisons!
5. GMO Soy Beans: Like cockroaches, immune to herbicides!
6. Partially Hydrogenized Crème Filling: Filling you up with chronic disease one bite at a time!
7. Cellulose Gum: Absorbs water, acids, and bleaches!
8. Polysorbate 60: With a plastic subingredient that makes food as hard as, well, plastic!
9. Diacetyl and Butyric Acid: The chemicals that artificial butter and vomit share!
10. Artificial Vanilla: Toxic melting pot for non-food flavors!
11. Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate: The delicious soapy wax emulsifier!
12. Sorbic Acid: From flammability to poison to preservation!
13. Food Coloring: Eating petroleum-based paint!
I am a lot more educated about how many artificially fabricated, toxically manufactured, or just plain gross ingredients go into snack foods like Twinkies. Of course industry experts assure us that all poison is removed in the final product, so that’s a relief.
My main complaint is that the author doesn’t necessarily take a stance one way or the other. He details example after example of all the volatile, hazardous, and caustic chemical processes involved to concoct artificial Twinkie ingredients like enriched (ground-up metals) bleached (chlorinated) flour and modified (genetically altered) cornstarch. Then he demystifies other ingredients, explaining how the eggs in Twinkies are actually a chemically altered powdered egg substrate, but because the FDA requires that ingredients be called the most common name, Hostess gets away with just calling them “eggs” in their ingredients list. Finally, the author talks out the other side of his mouth to call them miracle foods or wonders of modern science or that since all food is chemicals, it’s all good. Huh???
I’ll leave one final comment that a food psychologist made at the end of the book, after the author asked him: “what makes something food?”, to which the psychologist replied: “something is food when people say it’s food.”
All in all, I feel more enlightened and feel less likely to buy a Twinkie.
4 out of 5 ⭐️
August 8, 2010
Now I know what's in a twinkie. And you know what? It made me really want a twinkie.
Now I know what FD&C Yellow No. 5 is and what it does, and what emulsifyers and shortening and leavening agents are and do. Basically what it comes down to: Twinkies don't have eggs or milk or cream in any of those conventional senses, so they need a bunch of stuff that does the things that those things do. These are the chemicals added in minute amounts that you see on the product label. Polysorbate 60? I know what that is now. And there is only one 'preservative', the highly innocuous Sorbic Acid.
Ettlinger's scope is not broad or deep, but he manages to do justice to the Twinkie instead of just vilifying it offhand as the symbol of all processed (=bad) food. Sure, he sounds a little naive when he talks about big industry and production processes and chemistry that he really doesn't understand (he doesn't claim to; nor is he ever shown the 'full' picture for proprietary reasons).
It is a nice counter-point to the highly charged debate of 'local agriculture' (=good) vs. agrobusiness (=bad) that is becoming more and more politicized (and shrill). He just says 'this is what's in a twinkie and this is how it's made (or distilled or mined)' and then he lets us make up our own dang minds about it. I respect that.
One thing I came away with was the shocking realization that petroleum is the starting point for many of the additives that go into processed foods. There is figuratively (not literally) oil in your twinkies. That should be a sobering thought, given that even our food manufacturing process is highly dependent upon oil (much of which is foreign).
So yeah, I think we should buy locally, eat less meat (and less in general), and watch our calories. The business of food processing companies from corn to chemicals is to get us to consume more. All you have to do is say 'not so much, please'. Look, it's not going to kill you to eat a Twinkie, just as it won't kill you to eat a slice of cake every once in awhile. But in each case you should know what it's made of and where it comes from and for that, I'm grateful for Ettlinger's game attempt at telling us where processed food comes from and where it goes.
Now I know what FD&C Yellow No. 5 is and what it does, and what emulsifyers and shortening and leavening agents are and do. Basically what it comes down to: Twinkies don't have eggs or milk or cream in any of those conventional senses, so they need a bunch of stuff that does the things that those things do. These are the chemicals added in minute amounts that you see on the product label. Polysorbate 60? I know what that is now. And there is only one 'preservative', the highly innocuous Sorbic Acid.
Ettlinger's scope is not broad or deep, but he manages to do justice to the Twinkie instead of just vilifying it offhand as the symbol of all processed (=bad) food. Sure, he sounds a little naive when he talks about big industry and production processes and chemistry that he really doesn't understand (he doesn't claim to; nor is he ever shown the 'full' picture for proprietary reasons).
It is a nice counter-point to the highly charged debate of 'local agriculture' (=good) vs. agrobusiness (=bad) that is becoming more and more politicized (and shrill). He just says 'this is what's in a twinkie and this is how it's made (or distilled or mined)' and then he lets us make up our own dang minds about it. I respect that.
One thing I came away with was the shocking realization that petroleum is the starting point for many of the additives that go into processed foods. There is figuratively (not literally) oil in your twinkies. That should be a sobering thought, given that even our food manufacturing process is highly dependent upon oil (much of which is foreign).
So yeah, I think we should buy locally, eat less meat (and less in general), and watch our calories. The business of food processing companies from corn to chemicals is to get us to consume more. All you have to do is say 'not so much, please'. Look, it's not going to kill you to eat a Twinkie, just as it won't kill you to eat a slice of cake every once in awhile. But in each case you should know what it's made of and where it comes from and for that, I'm grateful for Ettlinger's game attempt at telling us where processed food comes from and where it goes.
December 31, 2011
Everyday we eat a gazillion processed food, and yet, who can pronounce all those fancy name on the ingredient list, let alone explain where they come from?
What's polysorbate 60, anyway?
In this book, Ettlinger took one of the most quintessential North American snacks, the Twinkie, and, well, deconstructed it. Ingredient by ingredient. Including water (yes, there's a chapter on water!)
By reading this book, you won't become completely grossed out by processed food, nor will you feel you need to start a revolution and go back to growing your own stuff in your backyard, wheat, pig, and all. But you will know what you're eating. Some are good, some are bad, and some are middle ground. By like Ettlinger says in his final chapters, which nicely puts everything back into perspective, "reduced to the absurd: should the ingredient H2O scare us because it is often found mixed in with acids and poisons? [...] Isn't moving molecules around what you do when you fry an egg or bake a cake or even boil water?" (p. 261)
Of course, processed food ARE chemicals. And processed food will not always have all the nutriments you would find in natural food, yet alone be as healthy calorie/fat/everything wise. But once in awhile, it can be satisfying.
So if you like to know what you put in your mouth, then go ahead and read this book - it's actually pretty entertaining regardless of the all technical stuff it covers. You'll then be able to read an ingredient list and actually make more of a sense of what you see, as well as make slightly more informed choices when you buy your inevitable processed food. My only drawback with the book: a paragraph (or two) on the actual nutritional impact of the ingredients would have been nice. But at 263 pages, it already covers a lot, and if anything, it just gives you the motivation to dig deeper... now that you have a background into the subject, enough to guide any additional research, even if amateur!
And like Ettlinger said, "At least now you know what you're eating". (p. 263)
What's polysorbate 60, anyway?
In this book, Ettlinger took one of the most quintessential North American snacks, the Twinkie, and, well, deconstructed it. Ingredient by ingredient. Including water (yes, there's a chapter on water!)
By reading this book, you won't become completely grossed out by processed food, nor will you feel you need to start a revolution and go back to growing your own stuff in your backyard, wheat, pig, and all. But you will know what you're eating. Some are good, some are bad, and some are middle ground. By like Ettlinger says in his final chapters, which nicely puts everything back into perspective, "reduced to the absurd: should the ingredient H2O scare us because it is often found mixed in with acids and poisons? [...] Isn't moving molecules around what you do when you fry an egg or bake a cake or even boil water?" (p. 261)
Of course, processed food ARE chemicals. And processed food will not always have all the nutriments you would find in natural food, yet alone be as healthy calorie/fat/everything wise. But once in awhile, it can be satisfying.
So if you like to know what you put in your mouth, then go ahead and read this book - it's actually pretty entertaining regardless of the all technical stuff it covers. You'll then be able to read an ingredient list and actually make more of a sense of what you see, as well as make slightly more informed choices when you buy your inevitable processed food. My only drawback with the book: a paragraph (or two) on the actual nutritional impact of the ingredients would have been nice. But at 263 pages, it already covers a lot, and if anything, it just gives you the motivation to dig deeper... now that you have a background into the subject, enough to guide any additional research, even if amateur!
And like Ettlinger said, "At least now you know what you're eating". (p. 263)
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