TWINKIES. BtVS Intertext/Allusion.

In Season 2’s “Inca Mummy Girl,” Xander introduces Ampata to a Twinky, the ubiquitous American snack food he describes as “a delicious, spongy, golden cake stuffed with a delightful, creamy white substance of goodness.” Nutritionists take a less kindly view of the pre-packaged, high calorie, sugar laden treat which has come to symbolize the worst of our modern Western diet. Even Xander acknowledges the phenomenon by saying, “And the exciting part is that they have no ingredients that a human can pronounce. So it doesn’t leave you with that heavy . . . food feeling in your stomach.”

In Season 5’s  "Tough Love," Ben tries to explain to his boss why he hasn’t been to work in two weeks.  His boss’ sarcastic response is that “you can tell me that you dog ate your homework or maybe eating Twinkies made you do it . . .” referring to the so-called "Twinky defense," the notion that eating too much sugar and food additives, as symbolized by the Twinky, can cause erratic and even criminal behaviour in humans, first used by San Francisco supervisor Dan White as a rationale for his murder of gay activist Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone in 1978.

--Maggie McGregor