A snack is a small portion of food generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home. Traditionally, snacks are prepared from ingredients commonly available at home without a great deal of preparation. Often cold cuts,

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

s, leftovers, nuts,

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

es, and sweets are used as snacks. With the spread of convenience stores, packaged snack foods became a significant business. Snack foods are typically designed to be portable, quick, and satisfying. Processed snack foods, as one form of

convenience food Convenience food, also called tertiary processed food, is food that is commercially prepared (often through processing) to optimise ease of consumption. Such food is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily p ...

, are designed to be less perishable, more durable, and more portable than prepared foods. They often contain substantial amounts of sweeteners,

preservative A preservative is a substance or a chemical that is added to products such as food products, beverages, pharmaceutical drugs, paints, biological samples, cosmetics, wood, and many other products to prevent decomposition by microbial growth or b ...

s, and appealing ingredients such as

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec ci ...

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small an ...

s, and specially-designed flavors (such as flavored potato chips). A snack eaten shortly before going to bed or during the night may be called a "bedtime snack", "late night snack", or "midnight snack".

In the United States

In the United States, a popular snack food is the

. Peanuts first arrived from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

via slave ships and became incorporated into African-inspired cooking on southern

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

s. After the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

, the taste for peanuts spread north, where they were incorporated into the culture of baseball games and vaudeville theaters. Along with popcorn (also of South American origin), snacks bore the stigma of being sold by unhygienic street vendors. The middle-class etiquette of the Victorian era (1837–1901) categorized any food that did not require proper usage of utensils as lower-class. Pretzels were introduced to North America by the Dutch, via New Amsterdam in the 17th century. In the 1860s, the snack was still associated with immigrants, unhygienic street vendors, and saloons. Due to loss of business during the Prohibition era (1920-1933), pretzels underwent rebranding to make them more appealing to the public. As packaging revolutionized snack foods, allowing sellers to reduce contamination risk, while making it easy to advertise brands with a

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...

, pretzels boomed in popularity, bringing many other types of snack foods with it. By the 1950s, snacking had become an all-American pastime, becoming an internationally recognized emblem of middle American life.

In Asia

Indonesia

Kue

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

has a rich collection of snacks called '' kue'' (cakes and pastry), both savoury and sweet. Traditional kue is usually made from rice flour, coconut milk, and coconut sugar, and is mostly steamed or fried rather than baked. Traditional kue are popularly known as ''kue basah'' ("wet kue") that has a moist, soft texture because of rich coconut milk. ''Kue kering'' (dried kue) is the local name for cookies. Indonesia has several variations of kue, both native and foreign-influenced.

Traditional crackers

Traditional crackers are called '' krupuk'', made from bits of shrimp, fish, vegetables or nuts, which are usually consumed as a crunchy snack or an accompaniment to meals. These crispy snacks are sometimes added to main dishes for their crunchy texture; several Indonesian dishes such as gado-gado, karedok, ketoprak, lontong sayur, nasi uduk, asinan and bubur ayam are known to require specific types of krupuk as toppings. There are wide variations of ''krupuk'' available across Indonesia. The most popular ones would be ''krupuk udang'' (

prawn cracker Prawn crackers ( id, krupuk udang) are a deep fried snack made from starch and prawn. They are a common snack food in Southeast Asian cuisine, but they are most closely associated with Indonesia.They have also been adapted into East Asian cu ...

s) and ''krupuk kampung'' or ''krupuk putih'' (cassava crackers). Other popular types include ''krupuk kulit'' (dried buffalo-skin crackers), '' emping melinjo'' ( gnetum gnemon crackers), and '' kripik'' (chips/crisps), such as ''kripik pisang'' ( banana chips) and ''keripik singkong'' (

Cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated ...

chips). '' Rempeyek'' is a flour-based cracker with brittle of peanuts, anchovies or shrimp bound by a crispy flour cracker. '' Rengginang'' or ''intip'' ( Javanese) is a rice cracker made from sun-dried and deep fried leftover rice.

Japan

Japan has a very wide range of snack foods, some of which that are internationally popular, ranging from onigiri to Melon pan.

Malaysia

* Cincin - a deep fried dough pastry-based snack popular with East Malaysia's Muslim communities. * Roti john - a spiced meat omelette sandwich, popularly eaten for breakfast or as a snack. * Bakkwa (Chinese : 肉干) - literally "dried meat", bakkwa is better understood as barbecued meat jerky. While this delicacy is especially popular during the

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly referred to as the Spring Festival () a ...

celebration period, it is available everywhere and eaten year round as a popular snack. * Idli - made from a mashed mixture of skinned black lentils and rice formed into patties using a mould and steamed, idlis are eaten at breakfast or as a snack. Idlis are usually served in pairs with

vadai Vada is a category of savoury fried snacks native to South India. Vadas can be described variously as fritters, cutlets, or dumplings. Alternative names for this food include vadai, vade, and bada. Vadas are sometimes stuffed with vegetables and ...

, small donut-shaped fritters made from mashed lentils and spices,

chutney A chutney is a spread in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent. Chutneys are made in a wide variety of forms, such as a tomato relish, a ground peanut garnish, yogurt or curd, cucumber, spicy coconut, spicy onion or mint dipping sauce ...

, and a thick stew of lentils and vegetables called sambar. * Murukku - a savoury snack of spiced crunchy twists made from rice and urad dal flour, traditionally eaten for Deepavali in South India. *

Vadai Vada is a category of savoury fried snacks native to South India. Vadas can be described variously as fritters, cutlets, or dumplings. Alternative names for this food include vadai, vade, and bada. Vadas are sometimes stuffed with vegetables and ...

, vada or vades - is a common term for many different types of savoury fritter-type snacks originated from South India with a set of common ingredients. The most common ingredients are lentils, chillis, onions and curry leaves. * Tebaloi - is a sago biscuit snack which is traditionally associated with the Melanau people of Sarawak. *

Pisang goreng A banana fritter is a fritter made by deep frying battered banana or plantain in hot oil. It is a common dish across Southeast Asia and South India,Kerala. Varieties Brunei Banana fritters are a traditional snack in Brunei, where they are cal ...

- a common snack sold by street vendors, battered fried bananas are also served in a more elaborate manner at some cafes and restaurants as a dessert. Cempedak and various tuber vegetables are also battered and fried in the same manner as variations.

Taiwan

* ''

Taro ball Taro ball () is a traditional Taiwanese cuisine dessert made of taro. It can be found in almost every part of Taiwan and other parts of the world selling Taiwanese desserts, among which Jiufen's taro ball is said to be the most famous. The taro ...

'' - a traditional Taiwanese cuisine dessert made of

taro Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Afri ...

. * ''

Suncake (Taiwan) A suncake, or ''taiyang bing'', is a popular Taiwanese dessert originally from the city of Taichung, in central Taiwan. The typical fillings consist of maltose (condensed malt sugar), and they are usually sold in special gift boxes as souveni ...

'' - is a popular Taiwanese dessert originally from the city of

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of T ...

, Taiwan. * ''

Aiyu jelly Aiyu jelly (; or ; or simply ), known in Amoy Hokkien as ''ogio'' (), and as ice jelly in Singapore (), is a jelly made from the gel from the seeds of the awkeotsang creeping fig found in Taiwan and East Asian countries of the same climates an ...

'' - is a jelly made from the gel from the seeds of the awkeotsang creeping fig found in Taiwan. * '' Pineapple cake'' - is a sweet traditional Taiwanese pastry containing butter, flour, egg, milk powder, sugar, and pineapple paste or slices.

Thailand

* '' Miang kham'' – dried shrimp and other ingredients wrapped in '' cha plu'' leaves; often eaten as a snack or a starter. * ''

Sai ua ''Sai ua'' ( th, ไส้อั่ว, ) or northern Thai sausage or Chiang Mai sausage is a grilled pork sausage from northern Thailand and northeastern Burma. In Thailand, it is a standard food of the northern provinces and it has become very ...

'' – a grilled sausage of ground pork mixed with spices and herbs; it is often served with chopped fresh ginger and chilies at a meal. It is sold at markets in Chiang Mai as a snack.

In the Middle East

In the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, one of the most important snacks that contains a huge amount of proteins is Lupin or lupini beans. Lupin contains around 33-40% protein. Another common snack in the Middle East is hummus made of chickpeas.

Nutrition

Government bodies, such as Health Canada, recommend that people make a conscious effort to eat more healthy, natural snacks, such as

, vegetables, nuts, and

cereal grains A cereal is any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. Cereal grain crops are grown in greater quantities and provide more food ene ...

while avoiding high-calorie, low-nutrient

junk food "Junk food" is a term used to describe food that is high in calories from sugar and/or fat, and possibly also sodium, but with little dietary fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, or other important forms of nutritional value. It is also known ...

. A 2010 study showed that children in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

snacked on average six times per day, approximately twice as often as American children in the 1970s. This represents consumption of roughly 570 calories more per day than U.S. children consumed in the 1970s.

Types

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...

slices *

Bagel A bagel ( yi, בײגל, translit=beygl; pl, bajgiel; also spelled beigel) is a bread roll originating in the Jewish communities of Poland. It is traditionally shaped by hand into a roughly hand-sized ring from yeasted wheat dough that is fi ...

with cream cheese * Bitterballen *

Candy bar A candy bar is a type of candy that is in the shape of a bar. The most common type of candy bar is the chocolate bar, including both bars made of solid chocolate and combination candy bars, which are candy bars that combine chocolate with othe ...

* Carrot Chips * Chaat * Cheese, a larger cold prepared snack * Cheese puffs/cheese curls * Chocolate-coated marshmallow treats *

Corn chip Corn chips are a snack food made from cornmeal fried in oil or baked, usually in the shape of a small noodle or scoop. Corn chips are thick, rigid and very crunchy. Corn chips have the strong aroma and flavor of roasted corn, and are often heavi ...

s and

Tortilla chip A tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortillas, which are cut into triangles and then fried or baked (alternatively they may be discs pressed out of corn masa then fried or baked). Corn tortillas are made of nixtamalized corn, vege ...

s *

Cocktail sausage A saveloy is a type of highly seasoned sausage, usually bright red, normally boiled and available in most fish and chip shops around England. It is occasionally also available fried in batter. Etymology The word is believed to be derived fro ...

* Cookies * Crackers * Deviled eggs * Doughnuts * Dried fruits * Drinkable yogurt *

Edamame is a preparation of immature soybeans in the pod, found in cuisines with origins in East Asia. The pods are boiled or steamed and may be served with salt or other condiments. In Japan, they are usually blanched in 4% salt water for 5 minu ...

, fresh or dried * Granola bars *

Falafel Falafel (; ar, فلافل, ) is a deep-fried ball or patty-shaped fritter in Middle Eastern cuisine (especially in Levantine and Egyptian cuisines) made from ground chickpeas, broad beans, or both. Nowadays, falafel is often served ...

* Flour tortilla with a filling * Frozen berries *

Fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

, whole, sliced, Fruit salad,

Fruit cocktail Fruit salad is a dish consisting of various kinds of fruit, sometimes served in a liquid, either their juices or a syrup. In different forms, fruit salad can be served as an appetizer or a side salad. When served as an appetizer, a fruit sala ...

Ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

Jell-O Jell-O is an American brand offering a variety of powdered gelatin dessert (fruit-flavored gels/jellies), pudding, and no-bake cream pie mixes. The original gelatin dessert ( genericized as jello) is the signature of the brand. "Jell-O" is ...

* Jerky * Kaassoufflé * Lunchables * Milkshake * Muffins * Nuts * Pound cake * Papadum *

Peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small an ...

s * Pita bread * Popcorn * Pork rinds * Potato chips * Pakoda * Pretzels * Raisins * Ratatouille * Rice cake * Rice crackers, distinguished from the above * Samosa *

Seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosper ...

s * Shortbread * Smoked salmon * Smoothie * Teacake * Trail mix * Vegetables (e.g.,

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', na ...

s, celery, cherry tomatoes) *

Yogurt Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bac ...

Image gallery

File:Irachikkaya.jpg, Irachikkaya File:SnackfoodRackDF.JPG, A rack of snack foods File:Popcorn02.jpg, Popcorn File:Planters-Trail-Mix.jpg, Trail mix File:Cheez-It-Crackers.jpg, Cheez-It, a popular cheese-flavored

cracker Cracker, crackers or The Crackers may refer to: Animals * ''Hamadryas'' (butterfly), or crackers, a genus of brush-footed butterflies * '' Sparodon'', a monotypic genus whose species is sometimes known as "Cracker" Arts and entertainment Films ...

File:Lots_of_Candies.jpg,

Candy Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, i ...

File:Snickers-broken.JPG, Snickers, a popular chocolate bar File:Pepperidge-Farm-Nantucket-Cookie.jpg, Chocolate chip cookie File:Fruit Stall in Barcelona Market.jpg,

File:Polskie pączki.jpg, Pączki File:Potato-Chips.jpg, Potato chips File:Absolute bretzel 01.jpg, Pretzels File:Salzstangen_Workshop.jpg, Pretzel sticks File:J.CO_Donuts_aren%27t_photography_materials.jpg, Doughnuts File:Muffin_NIH.jpg, A blueberry muffin File:Antsonalogb.jpg,

Ants on a log Ants on a log is a snack made by spreading peanut butter, cream cheese, ricotta cheese, or another spread on celery, pretzels or bananas and placing raisins (diced olives, chocolate chips, etc.) on top. The snack and its name is presumed t ...

File:Bitterballen mosterd mayo.jpg, Dutch bitterballen File:16-09-17-WikiLovesCocktails-Zutaten-Img0161.jpg,

s File:Taro_Balls_at_Jiufen,_New_Taipei_City,_Sept_2011.jpg,

File:Aiyu jelly by abon in Taiwan.jpg,

File:Pineapple_Pastry.JPG, Pineapple cake

References

{{Authority control Meals Convenience foods