Vegan Punk Rock Twinkie Bakery Opens in Texas

Austin, TX-based vegan shop Zucchini Kill will open its first brick-and-mortar location on Saturday. The bakery was founded by three music lovers named Cece Loessin, MT Gibbs, and Jess Freda—former owner of shuttered vegan shop Red Rabbit Cooperative Bakery—and will offer a 10-percent discount to musicians traveling through Austin. The shop specializes in vegan, sponge-cake Twinkies but will also offer cookies, doughnuts, sweet breads, groceries, drinks, and cupcakes in flavors such as banana split, s’mores, and German chocolate. Prior to finding the brick-and-mortar location, Zucchini Kill sold (and will continue to sell) its cupcakes at vegan comfort food restaurant Counter Culture and 24-hour bar/coffee shop Buzz Mill. For its grand opening celebration this week, the eatery will feature free beer, a cupcake-eating contest, cookie tasting, and a Twinkie giveaway to the first 20 attendees. Last week, the Milky Way Shakes—Austin’s first all-vegan milkshake truck—rolled into town to further bolster the city’s growing vegan options.