A Visual of Twinkie’s 37 Ingredients

Posted: 11 Jun 2010 04:55 AM PDT You're looking at the 37 ingredients that make up a Twinkie, photographed by Dwight Eschliman, who grew up in a vegan home but has since loosened up a bit. Try to match the ingredient list to the individual images! Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour [Flour, Reduced Iron, B Vitamins (Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Folic Acid)], Corn Syrup, Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Water, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable and/or Animal Shortening (Soybean, Cottonseed and/or Canola Oil, Beef Fat), Whole Eggs, Dextrose. Contains 2% or Less of: Modified Corn Starch, Glucose, Leavenings (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Baking Soda, Monocalcium Phosphate), Sweet Dairy Whey, Soy Protein Isolate, Calcium and Sodium Caseinate, Salt, Mono and Diglycerides, Polysorbate 60, Soy Lecithin, Soy Flour, Cornstarch, Cellulose Gum, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Sorbic Acid (to Retain Freshness), Yellow 5, Red 40. OK, everybody can guess which plate contains Red 40, but the others all look rather the same. A lot of the additives here are various chemicals in powder form. Something to picture in your mind the next time you bite into a chemistry lab experiment turned "food". If you want to learn more, read Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats by Steve Ettinger. It's an entertaining and frightening look at the inner workings of our massive food manufacturing industry.