One Pan Annie on Snacks

By Jan Jackson for One Pan Annie

I got to thinking about snacks and what the word snacks mean? The thought turned out to be interesting.

First of all, I looked the word up in the dictionary and here is what I found:

snack | snak | noun1 a small amount of food eaten between meals: not many people make it through to the evening meal without a snack. • a light meal that is eaten in a hurry or in a casual manner: bar snacks are served at lunchtime. 2 informal a sexually attractive person: it’s clear from the pics that her new husband is a total snack. verb [no object] eat a snack: she likes to snack on yogurt. ORIGIN Middle English (originally in the sense ‘snap, bite’): from Middle Dutch snac(k), from snacken ‘to bite’, variant of snappen. Senses relating to food date from the late 17th century.

Ha ha – didn’t know about the sexually attractive person option – probably won’t be using the word in that context anyway, but I did get a kick out of it.

So then, I began to wonder when and where the stuff on this list of 12 Greatest Snacks entered our lives. Probably about the time as the obesity epidemic. Here is the list:

Potato chips – I love them but I’m allergic to them – I break out in fat.
Oreos – I love them, but I’m allergic to them – I break out in fat.
Cookies – I love them, but I’m allergic to them – I break out in fat.
Pop Tarts – I love them, but I’m allergic to them – I break out in fat.
Cheese Crackers – I love them, but I’m allergic to them – I break out in fat.
Popcorn – I love popcorn and I pop popcorn at home and eat it for a snack.
Tortilla Chips – I love them but I’m allergic to them – I break out in fat.
Fruit Snacks – I love them but I’m allergic to them – I break out in fat.
Mixed Fruit – I love fresh fruit and I’m not allergic – I don’t break out in fat.
Pretzels – I love them but I’m allergic to them – I break out in fat.
Prepared Cereal – I love bowlfuls of it but I’m allergic to it – I break out in fat.
Chocolate Bars – I love them, but I break out in fat.