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New Article: The Mystery of Hostess Choco-Diles!

Hope you're hungry -- here's a tribute to Hostess Choco-Diles! The snack cakes have taken on a cult following over the years, mainly because they've become so hard to find. If you live in a city that sells Choco-Diles, don't take it for granted. You're part of an elite minority. Promoted with the help of "Chauncey Choco-Dile," the chocolate-covered Twinkies are a sadly obscured corner of junk food history. Review includes everything from a trip to the Hostess Bakery to old commercials starring "Captain Cupcake."

Posted by Matt on 01/09/2004. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 262 comments

I am absolutely beside myself that I have never heard of the great classic, "Choco-diles!" I was watching the television program, "Unwrapped," on The Food Network, and they featured them. I cannot believe that they have been around for over 40 years (I’m 32 myself, and I’ve never heard of them!). I understand that they have been confined to the West Coast for some time. I WANT A CHOCO-DILE!!!! Can anyone tell me how to order some? I do live in "The Big Easy" of New Orleans. Please e-mail at twilloug@tulane.edu

Thanks!

Chestnuts roasted by T Willoughby @ 02/15/2004 3:34 AM

http://www.twinkies.com/mediaroom/virtualmedia.asp">Check out this Media Kit at Twinkies.com for into about the characters Apparently IBC the makers of Twinkies do not have much about the Chocodiles on their site other than the obscure reference.

Chestnuts roasted by Sky Martin @ 02/15/2004 10:14 AM

They mentioned Choco-diles on "Yes, Dear" tonight on CBS. Greg was in a convenience store and was going to buy them for his dying aunt. Just after reading this article, what a kawinkydink!

Chestnuts roasted by Fr8train @ 02/16/2004 8:21 PM

CHocodiles….WHERE?!! WHO!!!? :o
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I moved from Prov. RI. to Miami back in 1989 and have NEVER SEEN a Chocodile SINCE!

Explain to me what hostess is thinking. I can see the sales/marketing department now…

"OK folks, lets make the WORLDS best tasting Snack cake call is ah…THE CHOCODILE…and…."
"Ah…….hmmm…….."
"I GOT IT! Sell it in limited markets so we don’t make the profit potential on this item!"
"OH and maybe some fans might dedicated WEBPAGES to it!"
"BOOHHOOHHHAaaaaaa!"
Mr.Hostess replys,"GENIUS!"

-Rob
robertduran@hotmail.com

Chestnuts roasted by ROB in MIAMI, FL. @ 02/17/2004 1:56 PM

When I was a kid I used to buy Chocodile for 25 cents each, which at the time meant that buying two chocodiles was CHEAPER than buying a package of two regular twinkies. I used to think Hostess was INSANE. But kept it to myself and quietly spent every loose quarter I could find on them. YUM. You should see how giddy I got when I was able to get my hands on a whole dollar! That meant FOUR of those bad-boys. :D

Chestnuts roasted by Tony @ 02/17/2004 2:27 PM

Hey! I just saw a thing on food network about choco-diles. Yes, hostess is still making them, but only for the west coast. They showed the things being made, explained why they only come in singles, and basically raved about the chocolaty goodness. I just thought I’d let everybody know that there’s still hope yet in finding you fave treat.

Chestnuts roasted by backgroundmusik @ 02/17/2004 2:31 PM

I am doing a project on the company of Hostess. Since you did a page on Hostess Chocodiles, I figured you might know a few things about the company and its history. Thank you for your time and help. You can reach me at jnw20@hotmail.com if you have a reply.

— Jill W.

Chestnuts roasted by Jill W. @ 02/17/2004 2:44 PM

I am doing a project on the company of Hostess. Since you did a page on Hostess Chocodiles, I figured you might know a few things about the company and its history. Thank you for your time and help. You can reach me at jnw20@hotmail.com if you have a reply.

— Jill W.

Chestnuts roasted by Jill W. @ 02/17/2004 2:44 PM

My best Chocodile story (sadly, I have more than one)goes like this: when I was in College, in 1986, my roommate and I bought a bunch of junkfood (including a Chocodile) for a night of binge junkfood eating. Well, we had eaten a small mountain of candy, candy bars and pastries, and I unwrapped the Chocodile. I found, however, that my desire to continue with the binge had abruptly left me completely. I was unable to bring myself to take even one bite of the Chocodile. Nor was my roommate inclined to take a bite either. I carefully placed the Chocodile on top of its shed wrapper and set it down on my windowsill. The Chocodile stayed, undisturbed, on that windowsill for three months and NEVER CHANGED. It never melted, hardened, or grew mold. At the end of three months it still looked and smelled exactly as it had when I unwrapped it. Unable to persuade anyone that it was still OK to eat, I tossed it in the trash when we vacated the apartment at the end of the Quarter. I have never since had a desire to eat a Chocodile from that day to this.

Chestnuts roasted by Rufus Xavier @ 02/17/2004 6:37 PM

After watching the ‘Unwrapped’ about Choco-Diles, I immediately shearched on the web for a place to order them, all to no avail. Next thing I did was place a call to my girlfriend in California, as ‘Unwrapped’ stated they were still available there. I asked her to look around, and try to find me some, as I was pining for my Choco-Diles for some time. I can now say with pride, that I have a ‘Choco-Dile Connection’, and am the proud owner of 3 boxes, that she lovingly shipped to me. I ate one box, and the other 2 went straight into the freezer. =D

Chestnuts roasted by Chauncey ;) @ 02/19/2004 6:11 AM

You’ve never seen WINDMILL cookies??? Where have you been?

Chestnuts roasted by Kersten @ 02/21/2004 10:19 PM

I was in Riverside,California last week visiting the in-laws with my wife when I nearly caused her to drive off the road.. There it was, The Hostess Bakery outlet at the side of the road. It looked EXACTLY like the picture in the article. I had a vision and made my wife stop the car. It HAD to be the same place. I rushed inside and again, I was convinced it had to be THE MYSTERY SPOT that Matt wrote about. I requested Chocodiles from the weary looking clerk. She pointed them out…..3 boxes of Chocodiles!! I was ecstatic. I had flown 3000 miles from Michigan and I found them… God bless my wife for putting up with my idiocy. For the record, Chocodiles are very tasty

Chestnuts roasted by Jon @ 02/23/2004 6:16 PM

Also, I have the phone number and address in case you want some for yourselves….

909-686-5932
Wonder/Hostess Bakery #7034
2215 Third St
Riverside, CA 92501

Chestnuts roasted by Jon @ 02/23/2004 6:33 PM

Every page in this article, screenshots included, featured an ad for WeightWatchers.ca. Gotta love context sensitive internet ads, all the better to say "Hey Fatty! Quit looking longingly at these pictures of delicious refined sugar delivery systems and get off your ass and take a walk or something!".

Chestnuts roasted by Ummagumma @ 02/24/2004 9:56 AM

Me thinks someone pilfered your pics:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2990229990&category=1467

Chestnuts roasted by Another Matt @ 02/27/2004 1:40 PM

OH MY GOD. I REMEMBER that Twinkie commercial!!

Now if someone can track down the ones with Twinkie the kid and Fruitpie the Magician..

Chestnuts roasted by Adam @ 03/03/2004 7:33 AM

I’m so happy that Chocodiles still exist! Your narrative about the outlet store was wicked funny! I’m sure with all the chemicals/preseratives in the snack cakes the expiration date doesn’t really matter much! I’m in New England and I doubt I’ll ever see another Chocodile :(

Chestnuts roasted by Jen @ 03/10/2004 8:55 PM

Hey man, lets watch the Fearless Photog Movie….EH

EH WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT THAT !!!

Chestnuts roasted by Chocodile @ 03/11/2004 9:14 AM

Oh, it is so comforting to know that there are other hungry souls out there, yearning for the sweet caress of choco-dilian rapture. My buddy and I, actually, hit our jackpot after only a couple weeks of searching: He’s on his way up with a duffle-bag full of Choco-diles, fresh from Los Angeles.

I knew we Californios were the lucky ones.

Chestnuts roasted by atilla @ 03/14/2004 3:28 PM

expiration date? what are you talking about???? that stuff never goes bad, i say eat’em up.

Chestnuts roasted by welton @ 03/14/2004 3:57 PM

Chocodiles are pretty readily available in my part of California. Anyone interested, I’ll look into buying and shipping ‘em to you. Email me at ellielbc@yahoo.com.

Chestnuts roasted by ellen @ 03/27/2004 10:42 PM

I was watching Boyz In The Hood yesterday and right before Ricky gets gunned down by Chris Tucker, he’s snacking on a delicious Chocodile. Guess Hostess don’t know….don’t show…or just don’t care about what’s goin’ on in the hood….

Chestnuts roasted by buc nasty @ 03/28/2004 9:39 AM

Surely someone has already sent you this, but while Googling Chocodiles I found this source!

http://www.hometown-treats.com/products/chocodiles.html

Chestnuts roasted by K @ 04/10/2004 9:56 PM

I just had a chocodile this weekend from a flying J truck stop inAZ. I have seen them around but it is far and few between. Thanks for the article!

Chestnuts roasted by Lil Red @ 04/10/2004 10:54 PM

http://www.hometown-treats.com/mw.html is selling boxes of 8 chocodiles for under 5 bucks.

Chestnuts roasted by sarah @ 04/11/2004 7:36 PM

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2004 at 3:48 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.