Hostess Ho-Ho's
Not only has the Pittsburgh area been rated the No. 1 place in the country for Baby Boomers to find love and keep it, but the City of Boomer Love also consumes more Ho Hos than anywhere else.
The boomer study by Bert Sperling of Sperling's BestPlaces puts the area ahead of Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Raleigh area of North Carolina.
The guide used Census data on marriage and divorce rates among the 45-to-60 set.
In addition to a lower than average divorce rate and higher than average marriage rate among boomers, Pittsburgh also ranked No. 1 among the Top 10 cities for flowers and plants given as gifts and No. 2 among Top 10 cities for chocolate consumption.
The chocolatey Ho Hos achievement was announced yesterday by Hostess, the Kansas City-based makers of the Swiss-rolled cakes with the creamy filling and sweet icing, as part of the company's 40th celebration of the tubular treat.
According to Hostess' data, Pittsburghers pound 1.51 Ho Hos per person per day. The only cities that come close are Buffalo/Rochester (1.39), Cincinnati (1.37), and Cleveland (1.15).
The announcement came as no surprise to Leslie Bonci, director of sports nutrition for UPMC at the Center for Sports Medicine on the South Side.
"I guess we just really like our snack stuff here because it's tasty, it's easy to get and they can be fairly economical, especially if you buy them in bulk," Ms. Bonci said. "We like that taste and our lifestyle is grab-gulp-go, and the Ho Ho just fits right in with that."
More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
First Published: April 18, 2007, 7:00 p.m.