Snacking State of Mind

Show me what snack you reach for when you're stressed, excited, procrastinating, or just plain bored, and right away I understand you more. Our snacking choices and habits say a lot about us, from our heritage, our desires, our personality, and more.

But what EXACTLY is a snack? I could easily call munching on a handful of Bamba peanut butter puffs snacking as I would diving into a deep dish of pasta. The dictionary defines a snack as a light meal. Fair enough, but in the case of 2020 my days became defined by snacks. In fact, a consumer poll this past year showed that more of us snack than eat full meals these days. This feels dramatic, but let's explore this shift more.

The mere word "snacking" invokes warm emotions of nostalgia from 90s icons (hello, Dunkaroos), to cherished moments with my best friends when times were simpler. This is probably why many of us found solace in snacks through the pandemic. From day one, food advertisements drilled the tie between snacks and togetherness into our heads, so it's natural that just when we were feeling most disconnected from the world, snacks filled the void. That same consumer poll I mentioned earlier found that 52 percent of us worldwide viewed snacking as a "lifeline" through the pandemic, with comfort as the number-one driver. All I can say is, I FEEL YOU.

But let's be clear, this revolutionary time of snacks is not all doom and gloom. We are stepping out of our comfort zones, both in the store aisles and in the kitchen. There's diversity across the shelves, introducing us to all kinds of cultures and ingredients. In a sense, some snacks inspire the sense of travel we've been longing for from the couch cushion.

Moreover, there's more to snacking these days than filling energy levels. Enter: sustainability, adaptogens, mindfulness, diets like keto, and functional snacking (bites with nutritional benefits). While Millennials lead the charge in sustainability awareness, age groups across the board show that both environment and wellness play significant roles in their buying decisions. Resources like Upcycled Food Association are encouraging us to buy items that close the loop on waste, packaging, labeling, and sustenance with a heavy focus on plant-based. Funny to think the birth of TV dinners originated from this very notion by packaging leftover Thanksgiving turkey into frozen meals. Fast forward 70 years, and the food revolution is even more exciting as well as environmentally driven.

Before I nerd out even more on my latest obsessions (Yuca everything) or the future of the snack industry, I'll leave you this: Remember those Dunkaroos? Did you know Yan Yan, a Japanese treat, is the real OG of cookies n' dip? Get out there, get snacking, and get inspired.

- Lauryn Bodden
Associate Food Editor, The Spruce Eats