Snack Attack

Do you panic if your bag is not fully-loaded with snacks on stand-by to silence your child’s rumbling tummy? If so, read on.

- Jenna Sinclair

After years of limited options, the snack world is changing. Slowly, the packets of crisps, confectionery, and sweets that dominated the last decade through shameless eye-level marketing at children are being replaced by vegetable crisps, unsalted nuts, dried fruits, and other products boasting ‘no added sugar’ and ‘no artificial colours or preservatives’. We have turned a monumental corner and it seems all good. Some larger supermarkets now even place free fruit near their entrances for children to munch — hopefully avoiding a hunger fuelled tantrum around the cake aisle.

So, does this mean that children are always hungry? Perhaps not: just that supermarkets are aware of how placating snacks can be on children’s moods and, consequently, behaviour. We’re all aware of the fearful state of being tired and hungry, especially when we are doing the after-work food shop and familiar scenes unfold; we’re hungry after work, they're hungry after school, and chaos ensues.

In the western world, however, most of us are fortunate enough to not know real hunger. We probably know mild discomfort having not eaten for a few hours — whilst knowing that food is within a 30-minute radius thanks to the rise of a convenience culture and a got-to-have-it now mentality.

Empty energy