The Twinkie as survival food

Published 12:05 pm Tuesday, November 3, 2009

I happened to catch a rerun yesterday of the Discovery Channel’s “Man vs. Wild with Bear Grylls” episode featuring comedian Will Ferrell. Ferrell manages to hold his own in the harsh environment of the Arctic Circle, while still cracking jokes and hamming it up. In one of the show’s funniest moments, Ferrell scarfs down a Twinkie that he was instructed to save for “emergencies only.”

Putting aside the myth that they have an indefinite shelf life, I don’t know if I’d rely on Twinkies as survival food. But they made for one of the best TV moments I’ve seen in a while.

More fun with Twinkies:

• The Twinkie Project, a series of science experiments conducted at Rice University in 1995
• A recipe you can use to make your own Twinkie-like desserts at home