Twinkie

A Twinkie is a "Golden Sponge Cake with Creamy Filling" created by Hostess, and baked by Continental Baking Co[?], which is owned by Interstate Brands Corp[?]. The Twinkie was invented on April 6, 1930.

It is oblong in shape, approximately 4" x 1", is marketed in packages of two, and has an extremely long shelf-life (estimated at about two years). The Twinkie is often derided as the quintessential junk food.

In 2002, the Arkansas State Fair[?] introduced the fried twinkie.

A "Twinkie defense" is a criminal defendant's claim that some unusual factor entered into the causes or motives of the crime. It is a derogatory label implying a defense theory is silly. The expression derives from the 1979 trial of Dan White[?], a San Francisco, California (U.S.), City Supervisor who shot to death Mayor George Moscone[?] and fellow City Supervisor Harvey Milk on 27 November 1978. A psychiatrist, Martin Blinder, testified for White at trial that White had been depressed, and eating Twinkies and drinking Coca-Cola had further depressed him, leading to the shootings. White was convicted of manslaughter instead of murder on 21 May 1979, and that set off the "White Night Riot."