I'm snobby about my baked goods. I like breads with lots of grains in them, have never been a fan of white bread, and if I'm having a snack, it's more than likely nuts or candy. I've enjoyed pastries for breakfast in the past, but only if they come from a local bakery.
So when Hostess announced this past week that they were ending production of their products, I shrugged. The last time I had a Twinkie was probably in college, either on a dare, on a munchies binge, or because the bakery I loved wasn't open and the gas station where I was refueling my car was open.
My thought of Hostess's failure over the news this past week wasn't just from accounts of mismanagement and union battles. It was because I've never thought that a Hostess snack was worth the calories, or that a sandwich made with Wonderbread was worth giving up the texture of, say, a nine-grain or wheat or rye alternative. It's not only that I know that Hostess products are bad for me, but that they don't even taste good enough to cheat on a diet for.
Homemade semi-sweet cookies from west coast chain Specialty's bakery? Yep, I'd cheat on a diet for one of those. French toast flavored bagels from Panera bread with hazelnut spread? There's another brand I'd leave my health code for, for just a moment.
Hostess is fighting all kinds of battles: nutritional, financial, managerial. But maybe all of that would be less of a blow if the brand was less of a joke and more of a crafted item that the leadership wanted to fight for and the employees had some satisfaction in creating. It wouldn't necessarily have to be better for all of us. Ask the mom-and-pop bakeries across the country, those who are "recreating" the Ho-Ho and the Twinkie...and actually making it irresistible.
The folks who find Hostess's current products irresistible? Their other bakery isn't open...or doesn't exist.
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