A snack food is seen in Western culture as a type of food not meant to be eaten as a main meal of the day (breakfast, lunch, supper). Rather, the food is intended as a snack: something to temporarily tide a person's hunger, provide a brief supply of energy for the body, or something to be eaten for enjoyment of the taste. For the coarsely ground flour, see flour. ... Breakfast is a meal preceding lunch or dinner and usually eaten in the morning. ... Lunch is a meal that is taken in the early afternoon. ... Supper is the evening meal - ordinarily the last meal of the day. ... For the 1983 horror film, see The Hunger. ...

Snack foods are designed to be less perishable, more durable, and more appealing than natural foods. They often contain substantial amounts of sweeteners, preservatives, and appealing ingredients such as chocolate, peanuts, and specially designed flavors (such as flavored potato chips). It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Sugar substitute. ... A preservative is a natural or synthetic chemical that is added to products such as foods, pharmaceuticals, paints, biological samples, etc. ... Chocolate most commonly comes in dark, milk, and white varieties, with cocoa solids contributing to the brown coloration. ... Binomial name Arachis hypogaea L. The peanut or groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) is a species in the pea family Fabaceae native to South America. ... It has been suggested that Crisps be merged into this article or section. ...

Foods manufactured primarily as snack foods are often classified as junk food: they have little or no nutritional value, and are not seen as contributing towards general health and nutrition. Junk food is a derogatory term, used for any food that is perceived to be unhealthy and has low or poor nutritional value. ...

The snack food industry in market-driven societies such as the United States generates billions of dollars in revenue each year. The market for snack foods is enormous, and a number of large corporations are constantly struggling to capture larger shares of the snack food market. Consequently, heavy promotions are used to convince consumers to buy snack foods. Snack foods are advertised far more than regular nutritional foods (such as fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy products), and the flashiest TV commercials and advertising campaigns are often designed to sell snack foods. From the earliest days of the medium, television has been used as a vehicle for advertising in some countries. ... Generally speaking, advertising is the promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas, usually by an identified sponsor. ...

With growing concerns for nutrition, diet, weight control and general health, some people are making a conscious effort to eat more healthy, natural snacks such as fruit (fresh or dried), vegetables (carrot sticks), nuts and cereal grains (granola, granola bars, rice cakes). The updated USDA food pyramid, published in 2005, is a general nutrition guide for recommended food consumption. ... In nutrition, the diet is the sum of the food consumed by an organism. ... Measuring body weight on a scale Dieting is the practice or habit of eating (and drinking) in a regulated fashion. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with List of fruits. ... Vegetables in a market Vegie garden Venn diagram representing the relationship between fruits and vegetables For other uses, see Vegetable (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Daucus carota L. The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange or white in color with a woody texture. ... Hazelnuts from the Common Hazel Chestnut // Botanical definition A nut in botany is a simple dry fruit with one seed (rarely two) in which the ovary wall becomes very hard (stony or woody) at maturity, and where the seed remains unattached or unfused with the ovary wall. ... Cereal crops are mostly grasses cultivated for their edible seeds (actually a fruit called a caryopsis). ... Granola is a snack food consisting of nuts and rolled oats mixed with honey, and baked until crispy. ... Species Oryza glaberrima Oryza sativa Rice refers to two species (Oryza sativa and Oryza glaberrima) of grass, native to tropical and subtropical southeastern Asia and to Africa, which together provide more than one fifth of the calories consumed by humans. ...

List of snack foods

Cereal

• Chex Mix

Chex Mix is a salty snack sold by General Mills, based on its Chex line of breakfast cereals. ...

Chips

• Cheese curls
• Cheetos
• Combos
• Pretzels
• Pringles
• Potato chips
• Pork rinds

Crunchy Cheetos with a sandwich An inflatable Chester Cheetah, Cheetos mascot Cheetos are a crunchy, cheese-flavored snack made from cornmeal introduced by Frito-Lay in 1948, and currently sell about one billion bags per year. ... Combos, officially called Combos Snacks, invented in the mid 1970s, are a snack food created and distributed by Mars Incorporated. ... A modern factory produced hard pretzel. ... Three Pringles cans Pringles is a brand of potato chip or crisps snack produced by Procter & Gamble. ... It has been suggested that Crisps be merged into this article or section. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Candy

• Big Ronnie
• Candy bars
• Cookies
• Fudge Rounds
• Hula Hoops
• Moon pies
• Snow Balls
• Swiss Cake Rolls
• Twinkies
• Zebra Cakes
• Gummy Candy
• Fruit snacks

The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ... Candy bar is the most popular term in the U.S. for confectionery usually packaged in a bar or log form, often coated with chocolate, and sized as a snack for one person. ... A chocolate chip cookie In the United States and Canada, a cookie is a small, flat baked cake. ... Fudge Rounds are small, round, fudge flavored cakes made by Little Debbie. ... Hula Hoops are a salted potato-based snack product, in the shape of short, hollow cylinders. ... A moon pie is a modern-day pastry food, invented during the first half of the 20th century. ... Twinkies A Twinkie is a Golden Sponge Cake with Creamy Filling created by Hostess, and baked by Continental Baking Co. ... Fruit snack is a processed snack food made from fruit, sugar, and/or other natural and artificial flavors and colors. ...

Broader Categories

• Boiled peanuts
• Crackers
• Doughnuts
• French Fries
• Ice cream
• Pirate's Booty
• Pizza
• Popcorn
• Smart Puffs
• Soft drinks
• Student food
• Tings
• Veggie Booty

Boiled peanuts are popular in many places where peanuts are common. ... A Cheez-It cracker. ... Doughnuts being glazed at a Krispy Kreme store in Sydney. ... French fried potatoes (North America; often shortened to French fries or fries) or chips (outside North America) are long, narrow pieces of potato that have been deep-fried. ... Missing image Ice cream is often served on a stick Boxes of ice cream are often found in stores in a display freezer. ... A Pizza Margherita made in Naples (Napoli), Italy. ... POPCORN is a telephone acronym for the number 767-2676, which, for all area codes in Northern California, serves as a telephone-based speaking clock service. ... A soft drink is a drink that contains no alcohol. ... Student food is a colloquial term for a snack consisting of a loose mixture of nuts (typically walnuts, cashew nuts, brazilnuts, hazelnuts and almonds) and raisins. ...

See also

• Canapés
• Hors d'oeuvre
• List of Japanese snack food

A canapé or canape is a small, prepared, and usually decorative hors doeuvres which is held in the fingers, and often eaten in one bite. ... Hors dœuvre (or alternatively appetizer or starter) refer to the food served before or outside of (French: hors) the main dishes of a meal (the œuvre). ... This is a list of Japanese snack foods (Japanese: お菓子, okashi). ...

External links

• Complete Recipes: Snacks
• Wikibooks Cookbook
• Taquitos.net (reviews of more than 2000 snacks)