Twisties is a snack food product available in Australia, New Zealand (marketed under a different name), Singapore, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, among others.It was launched in 1950 by the General Foods Corporation. The brand name is owned by The Smith's Snackfood Company. While originally an Australian owned company, Smith's was acquired in August 1998, by Frito-Lay the second largest producer of snack foods in Australia, which in turn is owned by PepsiCo.
In Malaysia, since Danone Malaysia has been acquired by Kraft Twisties is now a product of Kraft Malaysia. Twisties are one of the most popular snack foods in Australia. Smith's claims it to be the "number one extruded snack brand"[1].
Twisties are produced by feeding a mix of milled corn, rice and water into a machine known as a rotary head or random extruder. This machine cooks the mix at high temperature and pressure whilst forming the pieces. This process results in the characteristic Twisties shape with the knobbly surface and squiggly shape. After forming, the pieces are oven baked before being flavoured with a coating of seasoning and vegetable oil.
During the 1990s the texture of Twisties was altered resulting in a smoother finish, and may have coincided with the acquisition of The Smith's Snackfood Company by Frito-Lay.
Twisties were originally available only in cheese flavour, but chicken flavour was introduced and became a standard part of the product line. There have also been flavours in various countries as diverse as Toffee, Tomato and Salmon Teriyaki.
Adding this snack food to a buttered bread roll has been a staple of Australian school children for decades. It must be a buttered roll!
Others have had a preference for "burger rings" or "potatoes chips" (Crisps)
Information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisties
