Food that isn’t part of a regular meal, usually a small amount.
In fact, dictionary definitions specify a small amount. However, eating more than a quart of ice cream can be a snack without being small. (For some of the most popular snack foods, see last week’s blog.)
WHEN?
Any time, day or night. Or habitually, the same time every day and/or every night
WHERE?
Anywhere possible!
Wherever you watch TV
Reading chair
Bed
Boat
Car
Bar
At sports events
On fishing trips
Hiking
Pillow fort
Treehouse
In front of the refrigerator
While driving
Backstage
Grandma’s house
In class (not recommended)
Hospital waiting room
Swimming
Camping
Wakes
Wedding receptions
Card parties
Cocktail parties
Retirement parties
Birthday parties
Graduation parties
Virtually any kind of party
WHY?
Duh! Who needs a reason? But let me list a few.
Too hungry to wait for a meal
Too busy to stop for a meal
Too tired to cook a meal
Need to gain weight
Need to lose weight
To maintain blood sugar levels
To explore when traveling
It’s a favorite food, so it’s the pleasure principle
It’s right there
When you see it, you eat it, the convenience factor
To be polite when someone offers food
In many cultures, it is considered rude to refuse an offer of food, particularly from a host
You’re drinking
Well established that people snack more with alcohol
You always eat leftovers
The waste-not principle
You need an energy boost
You feel like celebrating
You’re feeling down or depressed
You want to reward yourself
It’s a habit
You always have a bite to eat at a particular time
Other people are snacking
Psychology has documented that people who’ve stopped snacking when alone in a room start eating again when someone else comes in and starts eating
Bottom line: Snacking is ubiquitous. What can we learn about ourselves and/or our characters based on what, when, where, and why we snack?
While filming The Avengers (2012), Robert Downey Jr routinely hid food around the set so he could snack between takes. When he offered to share with his co-stars, the director let the camera keep filming. And so we end up with Iron Man offering Captain America and Hulk some of his blueberries.
Some people (particularly those who keep outgrowing their sneakers) snack on anything that stays still long enough.
February is National Snack Food Month. It was started in 1989 to “to increase consumption and build awareness of snacks during a month when snack food consumption was traditionally low” according to the Fooducate wellness community. February 15th is a particularly good day to stock up on chocolate!
According to Oxford Languages, a snack is a small amount of food eaten between meals. Snacks often differ from main meals in what they contain, portion size, consumption time, and place as well as why they`re eaten So, theoretically, it can be anything. But certain foods are more likely to be chosen than others. My personal observations—totally not scientific—is that people tend to be primarily salty snackers OR sweet snackers.
Salty or Sweet?
You can find favorite junk food by state, but these are the nation’s most popular snacks, as measured by consumer opinion.
Jif. (peanut butter)
Oreos.
Lay’s.
Pringles.
Fritos.
Snickers.
Tostitos.
Cheetos.
And sometimes, one is not enough: according to a OnePoll survey of 2000 snackers, 60% said snacks taste better when they’re paired together.
According to an article by Bridget Goldschmidt (progressivegrocer.com), Americans are snacking between meals more than ever, and eating snack foods with meals grew by 5% over the ten-year period from 2010 to 2020. She cited several conclusions.
Some people bake the cookies before eating them.
NPD (a national research group) also found that snacking follows a daily pattern in most U.S. households: better-for-you snacks such as fruit or yogurt are eaten in the morning; snacks like potato chips or tortilla chips are likely eaten at lunch; and sweeter snacks like chocolate candy and cookies in the evening.
What drives snacking?
Taste
Satiety (how full the eater is)
Preferences
How easy a food is to eat
Time of day (health-driven motivation gives way to satiety as the day goes on)
The COVID-19 pandemic ramped up snacking. (How surprising is that? Not.) The NPD study cited in the article found that having enough snack foods available during the pandemic is important to 37% of consumers. These consumers’ homes are well stocked with salty snacks and frozen sweets more than other items.
In many cases, the more snack food packages in the home, the more often the item is eaten, which tends to be particularly true of certain kinds of snack foods, such as salty snacks.
Wonder Woman takes her snacking seriously.
Kebabs are wonderful!
According to the survey of 2,000 American snackers mentioned above:
71 percent of all those surveyed consider themselves “snackers”
66 percent said snacking brings them great joy
67 percent said snacking is one of their favorite forms of stress relief
(No wonder snacking is up during the pandemic!)
Snacks? What Snacks?
Conan the Barbarianalways steals Princess Yasimina’s snacks, but at least he shares.
48 percent of surveyed Americans have stashed their favorite treats in hidden spots around the house (often with no plans to share!).
Doctor McCoy tries to hide his snacks, but Vulcans are notorious snack sleuths.
46 percent of those who had hidden snacks said they simply “don’t want to share”
53 percent said the people they live with would “eat them all” if they knew where to look
Of respondents who have ever hidden snacks, 69 percent said they’re currently doing so!
72 percent said their snack stash has been discovered by someone else
The average person has moved a snack stash four times to try to keep it a secret.
71 percent of the time partners and kids were the finders of respondents’ “snackpiles”
Only 6 percent of respondents have never been caught
Does time travel for fries count as a hiding place?
A few creative snack hiding places:
Behind the washing machine
Inside oatmeal containers
Behind books on a bookshelf
In the freezer, behind the broccoli
Under yarn piles in a knitting basket
On a top shelf, out of sight
Among cleaning supplies
At the bottom of the diaper bag
Taped to the underside of the fish tank lid
Behind the butter churn
Suspended from the ceiling, above the ceiling fan
In the wall, behind the vents or outlet covers
And the average respondent believes they could survive almost FIVE full months on their stockpile of snacks alone.
Really? I’d be pressed to live 5 months on my pantry, 2 refrigerators, and a freezer! Surely that was 5 full months of snacks.
BOTTOM LINE: In the U.S., you now know the what of snacking, and a bit of the when.
STAY TUNED: Next week I’ll delve into where and why!
