As members of the snack and bakery industries, we understand the necessity of nibbling our way through the day, the art of grazing, the beauty of a quick bite. We are a mobile and snacking culture, and the consequence of six smaller meals has grown more common than three traditional squares. Nourishment has grown increasingly portable, and often, when we take the time to sit, our selections prove shareable. Consider our many quintessential trios: sliders, street tacos, spring rolls. Consumption is communal, and snacking binds us the world over.
The worldwide snack market is now valued at $374 billion, as noted in a recent Nielsen TV interview with James Russo (Nov. 17, “Satisfying the Snacker in All of Us”), senior vice president of consumer insights at the global information and measurement company. “We’re not just snacking between meals, we’re snacking in place of meals,” he observes, noting that 45 percent of global consumers are using snacks in place of meals. And this penchant for snacking neatly unifies our oft-dualistic relationship with food, with health and nutrition weighing one side of the proverbial scales and unbridled indulgence on the other (ideally with a nice ego-mediated balance between the two). Items as seemingly disparate as a nutritionally focused fruit-nut-grain bar for breakfast, midmorning maple-glazed doughnut, lunchtime Mediterranean veggie snack wraps, a couple of handfuls of sriracha popcorn in the afternoon, barbecue pineapple pork sliders at dinner, and a few quinoa chocolate chip cookies afterward can potentially work their way into our dietary path—everyday intersections of lighthearted, indulgent snacking and intentional, mindful nutrition.