Hostess Killed by ... Yogurt

Don't blame the death of Hostess on the fight between the company and a labor union—blame it on Americans and their changing appetites. Despite all the talk of Twinkies lately, Hostess "is primarily a bread maker," notes Josh Sanburn in Time. And though Wonder Bread is about as American as it gets, consumers haven't been eating as much of it as they once did. "Yogurt's been the problem," says one analyst, because many Americans now prefer that to, say, toast for breakfast. When it comes to other meals, things like energy bars and tortillas have been horning in on bread's market share. And as for Hostess' sugary snacks, well, Americans are becoming more interested in healthier food these days.

"Hostess appears to have gotten stuck somewhere in the ‘60s and never really recovered," Sanburn writes. In the Wall Street Journal, Charles Passy strikes a similar tone, noting that while America collectively lost its mind over news of the Twinkie's possible demise (check out the snack's prices on eBay), no one seems to have actually eaten a Twinkie in years. "Affection for the brand [is] largely an exercise in nostalgia," Passy writes. We haven't necessarily given them up for healthier food, but for "'real' food—cupcakes that don't come out of a factory." Click for his full column, or Sanburn's. (More Hostess stories.)