The Man Who Ate At Least One Twinkie Every Day For 64 Years

Richard and I both wrote articles about Twinkies today. His just published an hour ago, but I still couldn’t resist writing my own little Twinkie tribute. When was the last time you ate a Twinkie? The last one I had was about two or three months ago when I splurged and bought a box. I had no idea that would be the last one I’d ever eat. However, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a dim light, but it’s a light nonetheless.

First of all, you know another brand will probably buy the rights to sell them. So who knows, we’ll probably still be able to buy them, but they’ll be Nabisco Twinkies, Kraft Twinkies, Hershey Twinkies or something like that – instead of Hostess.

And, if you live in the States, all you’ll have to do if you get a serious craving is drive over the border into Canada. In Canada, a third party company already sells them, so their legacy is safe there. It might be a good enough reason to venture into Canuck country. For my Twinkies tribute, I’ve chosen to share a story from the Hostess archives (2005) that is making a bit of a comeback in light of the recent Hostess developments. It’s the story of Lewis Browning, who as of 2005, had eaten at least one Twinkie every day for 64 years.

Even when he was in intensive care at the hospital with pneumonia, his doctor gave him permission to eat his daily Twinkie. He estimated in 2005 that he had eaten over 22,000 of those little cakes filled with white deliciousness. As he said, “Nobody likes Twinkies like I do.” According to the Hostess website, he and his wife would make weekly trips to the store just to buy them. I don’t know if Mr. Browning is still alive, or if he’s still eating at least one Twinkie each day, but if he is, I’m sure this news is hard for him. You can read the original article from 2005 here on The Washington Post. We’ll miss you Twinkies!