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The Fine Art of Snacking
I love snacking. Love. It. Of course, I adore eating in all its forms, but there is something special about snacking. Watching a movie, reading, playing with my phone, working on the computer, or chatting with family and friends: all of these delightful activities are made even more sublime with the addition of snacks.
So herewith, my nominations for the best snacks in each of the theme’s categories (plus one: savory). It’s important to note that a snack is different from a meal course: that is, my favorite dessert (chocolate chip cookies with milk or mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches) will be different from my favorite sweet snack.
Sweet
Post Honey Ohs cereal, dry, straight out of the box. This snack can’t be beat for crunchiness, sweetness, and sheer shove-it-in-your-face-like-there’s-no-tomorrow snackability. I’m (not really) ashamed to admit that one box contains approximately one serving. Best consumed while playing with your phone. Suggested beverage: fizzy water.
Sour
Salt and vinegar potato chips, preferably Cape Cod or similar extra-crunchy texture. (You can keep your Lay’s, thank you.) So sour and vinegary they make you pucker but you just can’t stop once you put that first delicious chip in your mouth. Best consumed while watching football. Suggested beverage: plain room-temperature water.
Spicy
Chips and salsa. I’m partial to Tostitos Bite Size Rounds because the size is perfect (I hate having to bite into a huge chip or try to fit a too-big chip into my mouth) and the quality (crunch, subtle saltiness) are very consistent. I know there are lots of other better tortilla chips out there, but Tostitos Bite Size are my choice for affordable, mass-market chips. As for salsa, any medium to hot salsa is fine: jarred salsa, the refrigerated kind from the deli, or fresh salsa made with vegetables from the garden. I usually blend it first because I don’t like slimy vegetables and prefer a smooth consistency. Best consumed when you are sitting at a table to use the computer and you can arrange the chips and salsa and laptop in a pleasing and convenient way. Suggested beverage: orange juice/diet ginger ale mixture.
Savory
White Cheddar Cheez-its. The best cheese cracker, hands-down. Cheez-its have the perfect amount of cheesy powder on each cracker and they receive bonus points for being so perfectly bite-sized. They are also filling, so they are a good choice for a mid-afternoon snack when you still have several hours before dinner. Best consumed while reading a book on the couch. Suggested beverage: Diet Pepsi.
Any other dedicated snackers out there? What are your favorite snacks, in any category?
Published in Group Writing
I abhor snacking, even though it has contributed substantially to my being. But I do have a very effective anti-depressant I use in careful dosages, dark chocolate. Better living through medication.
Unfortunately, prodigious snacking when I was younger pretty much precludes the activity now, except in extreme moderation. I might add a category though for salty. Excellent Salty snacks are pretzels and my personal weakness popcorn.
Darn it, Charlotte! I just had breakfast and now I’m hungry again! I agree with Sisyphus–dark chocolate makes my heart sing!
Cheez-its and dark chocolate – but not together. Lindt Intense Orange Chocolate is particularly good.
I rarely snack, and I don’t have a sweet tooth. If I did, I’d be twice as overweight as I am now . . .
Guacamole and chipped carrots as the dipper.
Pimento cheese and celery or chipped carrots as the dipper.
Pecans, raw cashews, and bran/sesame chips mix.
I can pick up all of these freshly made at a local grocery store. Not a fan of the processed brand stuff.
Salty/savory…Dot’s Pretzels. I have to buy the individually-portioned bags or I can just stand there and eat the entire thing. Also, popcorn. Two tablespoons of popcorn in 1 1/2 teaspoons of oil on top of the stove. A little salt and I’m good.
Sweet…cherries. I eat them by the trash can in the kitchen for the purposes of dainty pit spitting. I’m running out of cherry season, though.
Also, cookies. But that can be very dangerous.
We actually need a discussion on dangerous foods. Things you can just inhale because they are awesome or fill an emotional hole for a bit, or both. I guess snacking falls into the emotional-hole-filler role much of the time, if I really think about it.
I remember when we lived in CA that Trader Joe’s had a product that looked like an orange; you would bang it on the counter and it would split into orange slices–with chocolate! Oh yum!! I don’t know if they still sell them; it’s a good thing we don’t live close to a TJ’s.
Ummm…although we’ve not met, I have read your writing. Beer by itself is worthy of the name “snack” (and a worthwhile one, at that). You’re not getting off the hook that easily.
These are excellent choices, and I heartily concur. On the salsa front, though, I’m a little more discriminating. My local grocery store in Pennsylvania has begun stocking Austin Grand Prize brand. First rate stuff.
Great pick! That’s how I do it too, over the trash can. But of course this precludes doing other things while snacking on cherries, which is an important element. ;-)
:-)
https://www.amazon.com/Terrys-Milk-Dark-Chocolate-Oranges/dp/B01N65ZJBG
Woo-hoo! That’s the one!
Popcorn. Just plain old popcorn with salt and nothing else. The microwave stuff is easiest to make, but probably my least favorite kind. Popped at home the old fashioned way (in oil in a pot on the stove) is much better. The best is the kind you get at the movie theater – filled with heart-stopping cholesterol and other petroleum based products. It’ll kill you, but you won’t mind. Best consumed during the course of viewing a motion picture at the theatre, naturally. I’m usually halfway through a large tub by the time the coming attractions segment ends.
My favorite line of the OP: “I’m (not really) ashamed to admit that one box contains approximately one serving.” When did the boxes get so small?
Entertaining post. Thanks for writing.
Indeed and indeed.
I’m really not a fan of salsa, though on the rare occasions I want it, I’ll get a mango salsa.
I’ll usually have an apple, or Greek yogurt. Cheese and crackers at times (mainly with beer). Maybe some roasted red pepper hummus w/pita chips.
I’ll have some peanuts every now and then as well.
I love Pepperidge Farm cookies. I’ve always said that the only thing stopping me from eating all fifteen cookies in the package is the little wrapper holding each of five-cookie bundles.
A friend of mine made me laugh. She said, “Why is it I can cut a piece of cake or pie and be happy with that amount. But put a bag of chips on the seat beside me while I’m driving, and I’ll eat the whole bag of chips!” It’s so true. :-)
Crudites.
No argument with most of this, but I’ve never quite taken to yogurt or hummus. Just not my thing. However, for a (somewhat) healthy snack involving hummus, you may want to try this. Spread hummus on a leaf of Romaine lettuce. Then top with (pitted!) Kalamata olives. Roll and eat. Pretty tasty.
Not sure if this qualifies as a snack, but here’s a good light treat using mango salsa. Cut up pita or naan bread. Then top each piece with mango salsa, canned chicken, and feta cheese. Lightly broil for a few minutes to brown the cheese.
😂😂😂
Holy moly. That could be a game-changer.
Since the post ended with questions, I feel I must answer them: no and none. But this is not to say I am snack-resistant, no ma’am.
In the summer of 1980 a friend and I rented a car and we toured the southwest for two weeks, and I cannot recall now ever stopping for a proper meal. Instead, we quickly hit on the idea of snacking…on breakfast cereal. I cannot remember which ones, but I imagine they were somewhere in between grim fibre and pure sugar. Well, we must have had sit-down food at some point, because I do remember the moment we pulled the box from behind the front seat, looked at it and at each other, and said almost simultaneously that we were tired of this.
But if you’ve never taken a long road trip with somebody, one where your hand and hers plunge into a box together, I recommend it.
Since it appears you might give this a try, I should clarify the “roll” part of the instructions. It’s more like “curl” or “fold” long-wise. It allows for more olives and you don’t get a dense bite of rolled up lettuce.
Might be too much work, TBH. I just want to pop open the hummus and dip away. Might give it a go though.
This sounds awesome.
Guacamole is one of the perfect foods.
I agree Guacamole is perfect. I have my reservations about the carrots; however, that is a matter of personal taste.
Salty: Smartfood white cheddar popcorn.
I also like plain popcorn I’ve popped myself in a microwave popcorn popper. If I have it, I add parmesan cheese.
This isn’t just a snack. I need it when I’m running on fumes between meals and don’t want to gorge myself throughout the day. It’s light, but has fiber and protein.
Salty: Hippeas, which are garbanzo bean cheese-curl-like snacks, aren’t bad, and are fun to eat with a hotdog as if they’re something less fibery and proteiny. White cheddar flavor is okay, but seems to have changed recently to something a bit too salty. I now like their nacho flavor.
I easily get low blood sugar, so my snacks have to offer substance!
Sweet: Target’s brand of dark chocolate covered pretzels. Oh, man.
In an attempt to be healthier in my snacking, I’ve turned to Pop Chips and Smart Pop. I now limit such snacking to get togethers and an occasional Friday afternoon after I shut my computer. For some reason, I want something starchy, salty and crunchy. Vegetables just don’t cut it, unless they are processed into chips.