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Original poster

I do not understand snacks

392 replies

Yellowdaffodila · 27/03/2023 10:52

So I'm not from the UK and I hear and read about the snack thing all the time.
What is a snack? When I take my children out I'm asked to bring snacks. They will be home for food after our trip. They eat breakfast. Why a snack?

OP posts:
SemperIdem · 27/03/2023 14:24

I’m not really one for providing snacks, often it seems unnecessary.

Tekkentime · 27/03/2023 14:26

Most people don't eat nutritious meals 3x a day anymore, so they're hungrier and placate this with snacks.

potniatheron · 27/03/2023 14:28

When I were a lass, we never had snacks. There were no such thing as snacks.

we ate once a week, if we were lucky. Raw potatoes.

Albiboba · 27/03/2023 14:29

MN is hilarious about snacks. There’s this weird undertone of superiority if you don’t have a snack.
Some people eat between meals. Big deal.
Some people don’t but they might stuff themselves at mealtime.
Some people have incredibly structured lives and some don’t so their mealtimes can vary depending on how busy they are.

Some people just use it as an excuse to bash the uk.
It’s a disgusting habit for a child to have a chocolate biscuit after school in the uk, but in France it’s totally acceptable to have Nutella in a bap because they don’t call it a snack!
Hilarious really.

Imagine having some holier than thou attitude over a bloody biscuit. Get a life.

Mirabai · 27/03/2023 14:29

Snacking is very British and American.

IClaudine · 27/03/2023 14:30

If other countries in Europe don't snack, why do their supermarkets sell...snacks?

CJsGoldfish · 27/03/2023 14:31

justasked my Sri Lankan friend
He said fuck off with you.we eat snacks and are food lovers. Usually called short eats
That's so funny. I got a veeeery similar response when I asked a Sri Lankan friend.
But I already know that because I adore her pan rolls and curry puffs. Delicious snacky snacks 😝

Maia77 · 27/03/2023 14:32

BrightYellowDaffodil · 27/03/2023 11:17

OP, you're getting an unfair pasting here. Lots of countries don't have the unhealthy idea of constant snacking that the UK seems to have got into so it's not that hard to see how someone wouldn't understand the concept even if they can translate the word perfectly well.

Essentially, there's lots of people who feel they've got to graze constantly and can't possibly wait until their next proper meal and/or ever feel a little bit hungry. So there's constant 'snack' foods which are often unhealthy and which goes some way to explain the country's high obesity levels. Sure, if you've done quite a bit of exercise you might want a banana or something afterwards, but there's a world of different between that and endlessly grazing on crisps at your desk.

As a case in point, I Googled "snacks" and this was one of the top results: Snacks Healthy, huh? But apparently we "need" this Hmm

100% agree.

Terven · 27/03/2023 14:36

It’s easy. Children needs a snack at times, grown ups don’t unless sporting or sick.

Zebedee999 · 27/03/2023 14:38

AuntiePhoenixClaw · 27/03/2023 10:57

I am with you, we are a non snacking family it’s three meals a day and snacking is incredibly rare though as DS is an adult now he does occasionally, DH is white but also doesn’t snack. I was born and raised here but was raised with my families cultural attitude towards food.

Excellent approach to food. And I bet the meals you do eat are by and large on the healthy side. The UK's approach to food has deteriorated over the last 50 years.

IClaudine · 27/03/2023 14:40

CJsGoldfish · 27/03/2023 14:31

justasked my Sri Lankan friend
He said fuck off with you.we eat snacks and are food lovers. Usually called short eats
That's so funny. I got a veeeery similar response when I asked a Sri Lankan friend.
But I already know that because I adore her pan rolls and curry puffs. Delicious snacky snacks 😝

Oh, I am hungry now!

knitnerd90 · 27/03/2023 14:41

Cottagecheeseisnotcheese · 27/03/2023 12:43

Snacking is really not so much a thing even in other places in Western Europe, in France most people only eat three times a day but they don't tend to eat lunch at their desks
Children normally get a 3 course lunch at school, then a small meal at about 4pm called "goitre" to keep them going till dinner around 7pm I think but most adults won't snack, there is less of a culture of eating or drinking on the go too
of course crisps popcorn etc exist but it's just not an every day thing
part of the dietart control of type 2 diabetes is only eating 3 times a day and not eating at all for 12 hours say 8pm- 8am
When I was a child in 70's snacking was a treat not daily like getting icecreams mid afternoon on holiday or biscuits mid morning, lots of people went home for lunch from school lunch was over an hour it was quite common to have main meal at lunch time, if we were hungry after school or sport you would get bread and butter or jam but it wasn't a regular thing but we probably had more a meal times we normally had eggs as well as cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner would have a pudding or cake afterwards

This is not true, I have type 2 diabetes and if I fasted for 12hrs my blood sugar would crash. Part of the management of T2DM is regular snacks to keep your sugars steady. in fact it's quite important for many of us to have a snack before bed to prevent Somogyi effect or dawn phenomenon. We just can't have high carb snacks as it will cause glucose to spike.

coldmarchmorn · 27/03/2023 14:55

Chowtime · 27/03/2023 11:01

Do you mind if I ask what country you come from where snacks don't exist and you don't know what they are? Your english is very good by the way.

Same question. I've been all over the world and I've never met a people that don't snack. If such a culture exists I would love to know about it.

coldmarchmorn · 27/03/2023 14:57

Yellowdaffodila · 27/03/2023 11:33

So to explain myself further I am from Sri Lanka. We do feed at school of course. Children get milk and then they eat together at the lunch stop.
They come home and after chores we eat with my husband at 7pm. My children do eat but maybe different. We eat a rice or oat breakfast but not crisp or sweets.
I hope that explains. We would not eat if not our meal.

Oh , I missed this.

I've been to Sri Lanka. I have a good friend from there. They definitely snack! Murukku, jujubes, lemon puffs....there are a great many sweet and savory Sri Lankan snacks.

momtoboys · 27/03/2023 15:00

Iwantmyoldnameback · 27/03/2023 11:01

I don't eat snacks and I'm fat. Just wanted to get that out there.

😂😂😂

MrsRandom123 · 27/03/2023 15:01

premicrois · 27/03/2023 11:05

You don't understand snacks?

Me neither. I tried to have a chat with my olives the other day but they just talked gobbledygook.

Couldn't understand a thing.

🤣

I grew up without regular snacks & now it seems to be the norm but my kids do lots more after school & weekend activities & dinner can be later so a snack can tide them over where as my dinner was earlier as a child.

Some days i snack & some i don’t depending on how hungry i am & my kids eat load but none of us are over weight.

It’s not really something you need to understand

Cottagecheeseisnotcheese · 27/03/2023 15:02

@knitnerd90 I accept that, that is what works for you but my husband was told the opposite that he needed to lose weight, cut most carbs, stick to 3 meals a day as eating between meals caused insulin spikes. different things work for different people but doing that has got him from being diabetic back to normal HB1Ac values Roy Taylor one of the NHS's leading diabetic consultants is a huge advocate for this type of diet, it doesn't work for 100% of patients though

JustDanceAddict · 27/03/2023 15:03

It’s actually better for you system to not let blood sugars drop too low so healthy snacking is good - so mid-morn and mid-afternoon.

PleaseJustText · 27/03/2023 15:09

I grew up without snacks being the norm so it doesn't occur to me to eat anything in between meals. My DH on the otherhand... he probably eats more food in snacks than he does in meals. He's very slim so it clearly hasn't had a bad impact on his health.

potniatheron · 27/03/2023 15:11

Ah, Britain. The country where it's acceptable to send one's young children and elder relatives into institutions, but where eating a pear in the afternoon is a sign of decadence and boorishness.

never change UK, never change

Itstillgoeson · 27/03/2023 15:15

I just typed Sainsbury's + Snacks. Snacks & Treats are lumped together and it is absolute rubbish: https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/offers/snacks-treats

There does seem to have been a move away from a small portion of fresh food, to ultra-processed and highly packaged items.

begoneday · 27/03/2023 15:16

But how would companies make millions of pounds each year if we didn’t all feed our DC snacks ? Be reasonable OP. A lot of us have fallen for clever marketing…..

ilovemydogmore · 27/03/2023 15:17

IClaudine · 27/03/2023 14:30

If other countries in Europe don't snack, why do their supermarkets sell...snacks?

They do but the context for consuming them is very different.

E.g. not so easy to find a bag of indidvually portioned crisps in Spain (maybe carrefour) but not in a Tesco express or spar type of supermarket. Same with individual chocolate bars, I don't think I've ever seen them.
Snacks are communal and mostly enjoyed at home. Not snaffled on the bus or shoved in a packed lunch.

MysteryBelle · 27/03/2023 15:18

Unfortunately, I understand snacks too well.

Be glad that you don’t understand snacks. I had always been slim and could eat whatever whenever. So I never disciplined myself. Now the chickens are coming home to roost!

Help!

DarkShade · 27/03/2023 15:19

Snacks are good for small children with small tummies who need to eat more frequently as they can't eat as much to keep full at meals. I typically give 1 snack in between meals - so 1 at 10am and one at 3pm. Not crisps or biscuits necessarily, might be a yoghurt, fruit, rice cake, piece of toast, or a bit of cheese.