“Where Might I Find A Twinkie In Boston?”

Believe it or not… These words were asked of me last week. And I actually had to sit for a few seconds to think of a place where one could find a Twinkie. I didn’t even know if they were made anymore.

The person asking was my counter-part in my company’s United Kingdom office. He was visiting the US so we could have a “search marketing summit” of sorts. (It’s basically when we get together and “geek out” talking about search engine optimization.) It had been a while since he had last been to the US… And he was craving two things… Twinkies and Arby’s.

I tried to find a place he could get Twinkies. Unfortunately though, the 7-Eleven across the street from the office did not carry them Nor did the two CVS shops on our block in downtown. But I know they have them at the grocery store, so before I go visit him in a few weeks, I will pick some up for him.

As for the Arby’s though… That was a completely “lost cause.” In the five years I have lived in Boston, I’ve never seen an Arby’s. Do they even exist in Massachusetts?

Instead of Arby’s and Twinkies, I managed to satiate his craving for “junky” American food by going with him to a few local places to get “ridiculously large” bacon cheeseburgers. The one place where the burger sent him over the junk food “edge” was Beehive in the South End.

The burger was definitely close to a pound. Between the beef, the bun, the fried onion rings on it, along with the bacon and the cheese… It was a perfect example of how crazy American portions can be.

“In London,” he told me, “the burger would be much smaller than this.”

“How much smaller,” I inquired.

“Probably a third of this size,” he answered.

I was shocked. I think Americans would feel jipped getting a burger that much smaller. But my UK friend had a point… American portions are on the large side… Which explains why a lot of American bums (mine included sometimes) are on the large side too.

I certainly sent him back across the pond full of American junk. But I still intend to sneak some Twinkies over to him when I visit in the next two weeks. Though, I won’t be able to help him out with his Arby’s fix.

For future reference though… The closest Arby’s is 27 miles away, in Marlborough.