Snacks - savoury, salty & soft

[TamiTayorismyparentingguru]

Last year DH underwent some medical treatment that has left him with permanent issues with his mouth and throat. He has dry mouth and swallowing is often more difficult than it was pre-treatment due to scar tissue. His treatment also affected his taste buds and so for the last 18m food has held little joy and a lot of pain, discomfort and unpleasantness - in short: eating has become a chore.

Anyway - things have improved to an extent and he can now say he actually enjoys some foods again. In terms of taste; savoury foods are better than sweet, but most snacks which are suitable in terms of swallowing are sweet.

So - can anyone suggest any snacks which are savoury, preferably salty, and soft? He says he would love to snack on crisps/crackers/nuts like he used to, but it’s such an effort. He manages to snack on desserts etc if they are drowned in custard etc but he just wants to eat something savoury because then he actually might enjoy it, rather than just tolerate it.

Any ideas?

Olives
Dips
Quavers
Skips
Cheese balls
Soft cheese wrapped with ham
Parma ham

Oh! Little cocktail blini are very soft, you can top them with all kinds of things. Creme fraiche and caviar (well, lumpfish roe for us plebs!!) is my fave but also smoked salmon, potted shrimp, pate of all kinds.

Olives?
Smoked salmon and goats cheese on blinis?
Peppers stuffed with cream cheese?
Sui mai?

Marmite or salt and vinegar rice cakes are apparently quite easy to swallow, but not sure if they’d work with a dry mouth.

How about quiche?

Thank you! Some great ideas here. I’m going to buy some olives for a start. He used to hate them but his taste buds have changed a lot so it’s at least worth a try to see if he could enjoy them now.

Dips are a good shout, except that he needs something to dip in them and those things are usually crisps/tortilla chips/crudités etc.

Unfortunately bread and other doughy things don’t really work - they get a bit cloying in his mouth and he needs a lot of water to help him swallow. Cheese is similar, so he only really has cheese now if it’s melted on top of pasta or something - he can’t eat slices or lumps of cheese anymore.

I actually wonder if toasted rice cakes would work. I hadn’t thought of them, but they go quite melt in the mouthy when they are toasted and he could sprinkle salt on the top, or add salted butter.

He can (and does) eat some crisps like pombears but the strong cheesy flavours like quavers and wotsits don’t taste good for him anymore.

Thanks for all the ideas - please keep them coming - I would love to find something he can actually enjoy - there’s really not much enjoyment with food at all for him and it’s horrible to see

Cheesy mash

Melted Camembert

You can get packets of small marmite rice cakes in the baby aisle. I, and the children, love them!

How about savoury pancakes?
Thick ones with feta and pea or sweetcorn and smoked paprika? You could make tiny ones and freeze them. They’d be lovely with a salsa dip.

Babybels or those nets of different bite size cheeses.

Are blinis also too doughy? Some salty fish on top could work. Maybe pate.

What about something like crispy kale done in the oven with garlic salt and olive oil?

You could also try making things like Parmesan crisps.

Maybe a savoury custard? I've had an Asian style one and it was good! Anything with soy would hit the salty notes.

Things to dip in dips ~
asparagus especially the sprue type
Small florets of cooked broccoli or cauliflower
Small cooked mushrooms
Chopped up peppers, courgette, sun dried tomatoes, either roasted Mediterranean vegetables style or the Italian antipasto ones in olive oil.

As you're going to try olives, maybe get the ones stuffed with pimento or anchovies for extra flavour.

Hard boiled quail eggs dipped in celery salt or mayonnaise.

You could look at recipes for fat bombs/balls usually aimed at a keto diet but might give you some ideas.

Some of the more exotic falafel like beetroot might work, with enthusiastic amounts of yoghurt/cottage cheese/ mayonnaise dip.

Thanks for the post OP, I have dysphagia and some of the suggestions above have given me some new ideas.

One to try is soft 'silken' tofu (straight from fridge) cut into small bits and dipped into things like hummus, mayo or soy sauce. It has a bland taste so he can experiment with which savoury tastes are ok. Miso soup is nice for an easy salty snack. Sometimes strong tastes like garlic or chilli can be hard on the throat, so it's worth experimenting with making your own if supermarket varieties are too overpowering.

Baba ganoush (I make it with a bit of garlic-infused oil instead of cloves of garlic) can be made as runny as you like - I add smooth peanut butter for calories and water it down for a runnier texture. Mackerel 'pate'- adding cream cheese to this for extra calories and blitzing it for ages, maybe adding water to make it runnier, is also good. I boil potatoes without skins until they just about hold their shape and dip them in mayo - he could try flavoured mayo.

I hope your DH finds some savoury snacks he can enjoy, it's so hard to not feel part of the world of food when it's ever present but experimenting (and support like yours) will really help.

New potatoes rolled in oil, sprinkled with sea salt then roasted then cut into thin slices might be good with dips. Or tinned potatoes fried and sliced, might be good with something like melted cheese.

Chips?

The McCain Rustic chips are big and soft.
Microchips are “quick and dirty”, but might sreva bit crunchier.

Thank you all for your suggestions. Lots to keep me going with new experiments. Potatoes are newly ok-ish for DH - last night he had a baked potato for dinner and it was fine with lots of butter, beans and cheese, but a lot of chips can be really dry in his mouth and require a lot of water - I made homemade twice-cooked chips recently and he really loved them - first time in 18m he has actually enjoyed chips - but they are such a faff to make! I’m glad potato is getting easier though because it gives so many more options.

As for the doughy things - he has eaten some fresh pancakes as we make them fairly regularly for breakfast for the kids, but he can only manage a few and then it gets too hard work and he needs a lot of water to help him swallow - little blinis with dip might be ok, but I wonder would they be cloying too.

Inthemane you absolutely have my sympathy and you have hit the nail on the head with your comment about being outside of the food world - it’s so integral to everything we do, and a huge part of meeting with friends and celebrations etc that it is so demoralising to find it such hard work all the time.

Does he like tapenade? Then you can spread it on something that he can eat.

Is cucumber manageable? When I’m on a diet sliced cucumber covered in salt and vinegar is a brilliant crisp substitute.
Cooked veg with dips/ cheese fondue?

Nice piece of bread with salted butter or primula do a jalepeno flavoured cream cheese.

Padron peppers, lightly fried then sprinkled in sea salt, served warm or room temperature.

Chips with mushy peas and gravy?

Soup? Daal? Ethiopian curries? Roast beetroot?

What about Halloumi? Slightly different texture to your standard cheeses, especially if fried?