Human arrogance will have us believe that our creations will last forever.
It was in 1976 when then-chemistry teacher Roger Bennatti
took a freshly unwrapped Twinkie and, in a spontaneous moment of science
education, placed it on top of a chalkboard in his classroom so he and his
students could see how long it would take to decompose.
That question, however, remains unanswered to this day, with
said Twinkie having outlasted both Bennatti’s teaching career and Interstate
Bakeries Corp., the original company that churned out the cream-filled snack
cakes from 1930 until it filed for bankruptcy in 2012. This is despite the fact
that, according to NPR, the official shelf life of Twinkies (as stated by the company
that now makes them) is only a few weeks.
Today, the same Twinkie unwrapped by Bennatti 40 years ago
sits in a glass case on a shelf in the office of Libby Rosemeier, George
Stevens Academy’s dean of students, looking a tad more ashen in color than it
used to but nonetheless in one recognizable piece, except for a few crumbs that
have fallen to the side.
Rosemeier said the possibility of tasting the ancient snack
often is joked about, but so far no one has dared — either because at this
point it is a famous pop-culture artifact or because they are scared of what it
might do to them.
“Kids have said ‘Can I take a bite?’” Rosemeier said. “The
most remarkable thing to me is that this is a piece food that is 40 years old
and the shape is basically unchanged. Preservatives work, I guess, to some
extent. I think it is dusty more than anything.”
Rosemeier, a George Stevens Academy graduate herself, was a
student in Bennatti’s class in 1976, when the unscientific experiment began,
she recalled.
“We were studying the chemistry of food. We went next door
to the [ Merrill & Hinckley] store, bought Twinkies and we gave them to Mr.
Bennatti and [asked him], ‘How many chemicals do you think are in something
like this?’” Rosemeier said. “He said, ‘Let’s find out and see how long it
lasts.’ He opened the Twinkie package, ate one, and put the other one on top of
the [chalkboard].”
It stayed in his classroom for the next 28 years.
When he retired in 2004, Bennatti left the Twinkie in the
care of Rosemeier, who became dean of students that same year. Rosemeier had
her father make a glass case for the snack and, for the most part, it has been
in her office ever since.
Any thoughts on what those preservatives do to your innards?
