when a snack becomes a meal...
at what point does the switch occur from snack to meal?
does it depend on calories, types of food, physical size of the dish, way of eating...?
hmm... serious eaters? any ideas?
what qualifies as a snack? what's worthy of the "meal" title?
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18 Comments:
imho a snack would consist of one item ie sandwich, crackers, chips, fruit etc., while a meal would include several items, usually ye olde protein-starch-veg combo.
sailordave at 9:12PM on 07/10/08
That is an easy one for me. If I declare it's a meal, then it is a meal. Tonight it was popcorn.
izatryt at 9:18PM on 07/10/08
I think it's the level of fullness for me regardless of price or type of food. A snack is something that I don't get sated on, but cures a craving whatever it may be, be it calming the jitters I get a couple hours before meals to a hankering for basil.
A 2 oz serving of steak with 3 pieces of asparagus and 2-3 tablespoons of mashed potatoes is a snack, but a bowl of my usual Myojo Chukazanmai ramen with shrimp, spinach, Spam, menma, enoki mushrooms, bean sprouts with a raw yolk on top is a meal and then some.
Cassaendra at 9:46PM on 07/10/08
Amount. One of my favorite pseudo-snacks is fresh italian bread from a good bakery with some butter and a sidecar of pepperoncini.
The reason it qualifies as a pseudo-snack is that I usually pick these items up at the Italian import market to snack on as I make the real dinner, but end up eating a half loaf of bread with a half stick of butter and a half jar of pepperoncini. So the bolognese ends up being the next day's meal.
Pseudo-snack in this case = meal.
Also: when preparing a holiday dinner, like Thanksgiving or Christmas, the tasting during preparation trumps the actual meal. My family thinks I eat like a bird. Suckers!
Kerosena at 10:25PM on 07/10/08
To me a snack is one flavor that only takes a few bites to eat. Something like fruit, slices of cheese, crackers, or a hard boiled egg.
Carosone at 10:52PM on 07/10/08
izatryt, I'm with you. Popcorn is always a favorite snackmeal. I would add that it depends on who's home. If hubby is home, that's a no go. My mom has the same dilemma. If dad was home, she'd never dream of serving popcorn for dinner. But he's regularly out of town on business, so there were ample snackmeal opportunities. I love snacking for dinner. Mmmm.
blackolive at 11:06PM on 07/10/08
Anything that needs a knife and fork = meal
Snacks you eat with fingers, or in a bowl with a spoon
PeanutButter at 11:27PM on 07/10/08
A snack is something I eat after I've already had a meal. So if I have dinner and then eat a couple of pickles and some cheese after that (maybe an hour or so) it is a snack. I guess it goes by times of the day too. Breakfast time=meal, lunch time= meal, dinner time= meal... anywhere in between is a snack.
smile at 2:10AM on 07/11/08
@sailordave - thank you! now I feel better about serving cheesecake and salad for dinner! (crust - starch, filling - protein, dairy, salad - veggies) And with sangria to drink, I'm getting some fuit in there too!
It's just too hot to cook, nothing in the market caught our eye...
cowprintrabbit at 4:35AM on 07/11/08
thats a harder question than i thought at first. i'm not much for a formal meal to be honest, i guess most of my meals are really snacks, breakfast is usually a protein shake and coffee, solid food is just to hard to face in the morning, and my lunches and dinners if i'm alone are usually things like crackers and olives or crackers with butter and salt, or in very warm weather a handful of cherrytomatoes dipped in salt and pepper mix. :-S guess i'm a snacker.
huneybumper at 7:36AM on 07/11/08
If I had to choose one word to describe a snack, it would be interim. A snack is something I'd consume to trick the gaping hole in my stomach into thinking it's going to get filled. I might snack because I am going to a great place for dinner and don't want to spoil it. I might snack because I'm on the run and have hours before my next official "meal."
A snack for me is almost always something relatively healthy. I don't consider a candy bar a snack. A handful of pretzels or an apple will do.
chiff0nade at 8:09AM on 07/11/08
Amount of food, I think. Yesterday evening I wasn't hungry so instead of dinner I had a snack: Blanched local peas dipped in sesame ginger dressing. This could have been the appetizer to a meal.
I tend to eat smaller meals anyway, but generally not that small.
CanadianFoodieGirl at 11:37AM on 07/11/08
When does a snack become a meal? Whenever I want it to! Fresh fruit or berries with cheese and a glass of wine is what I declare it is - it may be a snack one day, and a meal another. And so is --yes izatryt! -- a bowl of popcorn or an open-face sandwich or a bowl of cold soba noodles.
But seriously, I reckon a proper meal is more substantial than a snack, however, in my universe, a snack can easily become a meal (but not necessarily vice versa).
brooke29 at 12:09PM on 07/11/08
I agree with Sailordave - sometimes I'll bring a few snacks for lunch, that add up to a meal! (cucumber slices, cashews, rice cakes, etc. alone would be snacks, together are my lunch)
embolini9 at 1:55PM on 07/11/08
I can contort my brain into any delusion I want when it comes to eating.
If I'm standing the whole time, it's a snack.
If I take the trouble to sit down, it's a meal.
Which is why I am not a size 2.
moibec at 9:37PM on 07/11/08
I am a grazer and eat a little something about every three hours. I try to keep a balance of meat/dairy/veggie/fuit as I go. I guess some would call me an all day snacker!
Michigander at 11:41PM on 07/11/08
A snack is something I eat because I didn't eat lunch and it's two hours until dinner, and I'm about to start gnawing on my arm. So I eat some fruit or whatever there is handy.
Or a snack is what I eat when I'm not technically hungry, but I want a little something, Maybe a bit of chocolate or some nuts or a couple of breadsticks. It's a little treat just because something tastes good.
Meals have names. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are meals. If someone asked what I had for lunch, it might have been leftovers, or a sandwich, or fruit or a salad, but it's what I ate at approximately that time, and it was a meal that was intended to satisfy me until the next meal.
Snacks are the little bites in between the named meals. They aren't meant to satisfy me, but are just there to keep me going for the next little while, when an actual meal might magically appear.
Some days, I might snack a lot, with no breakfast or lunch. Other days, I might have breakfast and lunch. Some days, it's just coffee until dinner time arrives. Yes, I am inconsistent.
I seldom skip dinner, unless lunch was some sort of extravaganza, and that doesn't happen often. And then I'll probably snack in the evening. Maybe something like popcorn or maybe a big bowl of ice cream.
Mmmmm...snackies!
dbcurrie at 1:37AM on 07/12/08
I like Peanut Butter's answer, but I also think that I associate hot dishes with meals, and non-perishable pantry items with snacks. I'm not a snacker, when I'm even just a bit hungry, I always crave something hot and filling.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 11:06AM on 07/15/08