I do not understand snacks

[Yellowdaffodila]

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?

Now I want a snack...

I don't snack. I have breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, supper and dinner.

I understand snacks a little too well, unfortunately...

I didn’t eat snacks growing up back in the 70s (remember the Milky Way ad, ‘The sweet you can eat between meals’). I eat far too many snacks between meals now though :( (or maybe I eat meals between snacks).

Some further info, if you're interested OP:

Some posters on this thread are saying that 'snacks' are a recent phenomemon. This is of course untrue. In Europe from the high mediaeval period until the early Stuart time, 'snacks' were common as a way to tide workers over between dinner (big meal eaten at 11am) and supper (light meal in the evening). Street vendors selling hot pies and puddings were the main source of these 'snacks' in cities, although these did sometimes lead to mass outbreaks of food poisoning.

If you ever visit the sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy, your guide will point out the remains of 'snack' vendors' stalls - they probably sold puddings and fish cakes.

the ancient Greeks likewise were very fond of fishcakes as street 'snacks'.

In the UK, a 'snack' if often differentiated from a meal in that it requires minimal preparation, and no cooking. This is why fruit is a popular 'snack'. This is of course not the case in countries such as India, Japan and Thailand, where hot 'snacks' from street vendors are very popular amongst commuters.

You responded to her comment, attempting to refute things she didn’t actually say, implied that she was sock puppeting (but haven’t reported) and have been rude and goady while she’s been considerably more civil than you deserve.

@BrightYellowDaffodil isn’t the one being a dick.

So it's like having an apple or a small bag of crisps. Although for me its a whole pack of biscuits depending on my mood but its different for everyone.

Same, we were always up the sweet shop buying sweets, chocolate and crisps. We even had a tuck shop at school selling junk at playtime.

The only difference from nowadays is that we were out on our bikes from dawn til dusk burning it all off.

God leave the woman alone! I've been living in a European country (not UK) for 10+ years and this makes total sense - people don't really buy pre-packed things here. Crisps don't really come individually, you buy a bag to share at home. Fruit is a dessert after a meal, nobody eats 'on the go', it's meals at home prepared fresh. You might pack your teenager a baguette with something inside, but that's considered a 'meal' not a snack in the same way as Brits would consider a snack (there are 4 or 5 meals here a day).
UK supermarkets are just FULL of pre-packed, pre-cooked/pre-prepared snacks which seem totally unnecessary to a foreigner for day to day life.

Kids aren't always hungry on an exact schedule depending on what they have been doing, how much they ate at the last meal, how much they are growing, how much exertion they have done etc.

I have travelled the world and never seen a place that didn't have snacks. Many south asian countries have tons of biscuits or crisp packets or sweets, or dried beans / peas or crunchy mixtures or nuts or baked / friend pastries etc. They have a snack with tea or after school etc.

Goitre 🤣 According to my French MIL a chocolate bar put inside a baguette to make a sandwich is a normal every day snack for kids. There’s also a lot more sugar in stuff- most of the snack things in the baby aisle, of which there are loads so someone must be buying them, are full of added sugar in a way you’d never get in British equivalents. My French niece is avoiding processed food for medical reasons and school can’t cater to that (because none of it is fresh!) so has take her own lunch. And fun titbit- France is actually McDonald’s largest European market and they’re making a bomb there and I’m sure it’s not just from American tourists. So please stop it. I love France, love French food, I’m married to a Frenchman but it is not some kind of saintly healthy eating utopia.

I do not understand snacks

What are you struggling with?

Another '70s child here.

We often had 'elevenses' - a cup of tea & a biscuit mid-morning.

At school during morning break we had milk, buns or biscuits or fruit.

After school we had 'tea' - toast & jam or a crumpet or home-made cake, with a cuppa.

We also had sweets, but they were different - they were not snacks. I got 5p or 10p to spend, and they were weighed out at the corner shop from big jars -sherbert lemons, or shrimps, or you could get penny chews or a gobstopper. We weren't allowed to eat sweets before meals, only after. And never before lunchtime.

crying at this!

I grew up in a non snacking family. I rarely go more than two hours between eating something now. I have a fast metabolism and this is what works best for me. I can wait but I’d rather not! It might only be a small snack like a bit of hummus and carrot or a rice cake or it be a meal but by 10am I’m hungry again and I’m not waiting until the official lunchtime to eat again. It’s nothing to do with the bad habits taught by my parents allowing snacking or anything like that!

As for breakfast:

France - croissant with jam & butter and hot chocolate (not going to keep you full for very long)
Italy - sweet biscuits and hot chocolate (even worse!)

My GS (6) is as skinny and wiry as they come - he’ll eat 3 eggs and goodness knows what else for breakfast, and then on the way to school (a 15 minute walk) say he’s hungry again and will eat 2 bananas.

Some children are hungrier or have a higher metabolism than others.

Oh Emma, you do make me laugh hen 😂 Forever preaching to us all about how you’re going to breastfeed your little boobie monster until he’s 45, then in the next breath yelling at us all with a mouth like a docker 😂 It’s always more entertaining with you around I’ll give you that!

As has probably already been pointed out, snacks are little bites to eat enjoyed between larger meals, and are commonplace in nearly every culture on this particular planet.

‘Bring a snack’ is the English way of making clear there will be no food served and free loaders need not attend.

Again - consider speaking with people who aren't British. My friends/family from a particular European country cannot for the life of them understand the way brits drink coffee - huge mugs of watery brown water. And I've seen many many brits online question why the coffee mugs they've ordered are SO small, and even complain that their nespresso machines only give them a TINY coffee as if there is some sort of error. That's normal here.

I do think snacks have a specific cultural relevance for Brits, though. You know how we are often thought of as a nation of tea drinkers? I know lots of people who don't enjoy their tea without a biscuit to dunk in it.

I also feel that snacks for kids out on a trip have a specific meaning and cultural relevance. They are the chance for kids to bond and eat together on a relatively short trip between meals. So although in theory I am opposed to snacks for nutrition and weight issues, in the case of schoolkids I feel it is important for kids to share snacks if the parents can afford it - and in the current economic crisis, for parents, kids and schools to be sensitive to the fact that some parents WON'T be able to afford snacks, so that maybe those in a better financial position could take an extra apple, small bag of crisps or whatever to give to share with a kid they see hasn't got anything. (Possibly difficult, without seeming patronising. But to me this enhances the value of snacks as it's the basis for so many life lessons and lessons in kindness.)

I have the same - have to bring snacks out on school run etc. Blood sugar monitor said my blood sugar crashed to 2 mmol/l and apparently below 3 is dangerously low. I have PCOS but didn't realise it could be caused by low weight.

Completely agree. It drives me mad that at DC's junior school the school rule is to bring a piece of fruit for mid morning snack but noone abides by it and the kids get sent in with crisps, biscuits etc and the school don't enforce it. I won't budge on it so now DS won't take a snack at all rather than be the only one with fruit. Why do parents send in stuff that's not fruit? I asked one Mum and she said "I agree, it's awful that kids are coming in with crisps and chocolate. I don't send fruit but at least I send one of those nature valley oat bars so its a bit healthy." Those are packed full of sugar! Over the course of their time at junior school, that's 190 days a year for 4 years - about 760 unhealthy snacks rather than having a piece of fruit. It adds up and so easily could be a simple step to a healthier life for all these kids if parents and school would just stick by the rules.