On Chees-ITs

Oh my dear orange squares,
How you delight me with your fair according share,
Away from you I can not myself tear,
Cheese-It my dear: you are not being fair.

That was 'Ode to a Grecian Cheese-It' by Me.

I am sitting here, thinking... what makes a snack food? and what makes a good snack food excellent?

I've come up with a list of criteria.

First, the food must be accessible. This means it can be eaten anywhere at anytime with the ability to do anything else at the same time. A snack food that does not fulfill this criterion are cheet-o's. One simply is limited by the mess of cheet-o's: it sticks on your fingers and somehow propagates on everything within a six meter radius. Cheese-Its on the other hand allow for anything - even typing a ToK blog.

Second, the food must have a distinct taste. Let's face it, you are going to be eating this snack for at least 10 minutes. You can not have a taste that is so bland as to not maintain interest, nor can you be so utterly spoiled by it as to wish for no more. Unfortunately, some believe taste overtakes accessibility and therefore still eat cheet-o's - I say grow up. Cheese-Its have a taste that is simply life long. Doretos are another good example. Mike and Ikes are good... but not great as eating too many causes the tongue to lose all sense of taste for the next 24 hours.

Third, the food must be light. Food that is actually filling does not count as a snack... you can not eat it for long enough. Snack foods fill time as well as stomach, and the ratio is important. Unfortunately, too light can be a bad thing. For example: eat a rice cake. They taste delicious, but there is absolutely no sense of actual digestion. Another counter-example is cotton candy - under no circumstances should spun sugar be relied on as a snack. It must remain under the category of candy (another blog post entirely).

So there you have it. It speaks a lot to my own psyche as I see this distinction as something simply everyone must know.

I really would like to comment on...

My bowl of Cheese-Its is empty. This blog entry is done.