How snacks took over American life

[Alex]

Article in the Atlantic

 

Quote

There was a time, if you can believe it, when a respectable person could not have a little treat whenever she wanted. This time was, roughly, from the dawn of the republic to the middle of the 1980s. The American workday, menu, and social clock were oriented around meals, and eating between them was discouraged...

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Some 40 years later, we are not just eating between meals; we are abandoning them entirely. In the three decades leading up to 2008, the average American doubled their daily snack intake, and the percentage of adults snacking on any given day rose from 59 percent to 90 percent, according to a comprehensive government report. In the most recent iteration of the same study, which ended in 2020 before the pandemic, that number rose again, to 95 percent; more than half of respondents said they consumed at least three snacks a day.

 

[Darienne]

Fascinating.  Thanks.

[lindag]

13 minutes ago, Darienne said:

Fascinating.  Thanks.

@Darienne

I'm so happy to see you posting again1💕

[Maison Rustique]

That's how I was raised. We just didn't get snacks. We got nice hearty, healthy meals and didn't feel the need to eat in-between. I still don't snack--unless it is suddenly 3 pm and I realize I didn't eat all day and am ready to keel over. Happens m ore and more frequently as I get older. I just don't feel hungry and forget to eat.

[munchymom]

One cultural change not mentioned in the article was the massive reduction in the rate of smoking during the time period they're discussing. I don't know about you, but in the 80s and 90s I had a cigarette between classes or as a little break during work, and so did everybody else. I can't claim that I was healthier, but I definitely weighed less.