Snack Foods

Snack foods—mostly used in the short form “snacks”—are defined, on the one hand, as specific types of food and, on the other, as eating events characterized by the absence of formal structure or the small amount of food eaten, as contrasted with main meals. According to D. Gregori and C. Maffeis (2007), the definition based on food categories uses the nutritional composition of the foods to classify snack foods in two main categories: high nutritional quality (e.g., an apple, a glass of milk) and low or no nutritional quality (e.g., ice cream, candy). However, many criticisms of this definition exist. In fact, we do not yet possess an exhaustive classification of snack foods, and food categories are very subjective. Scientists and specialists in the food ...