A snack food (commonly called a snack) is seen in Western culture as a type of food not meant to be eaten as a main meal of the day – breakfast, lunch, or dinner – but one rather that is intended to assuage a person's hunger between these meals, providing a brief supply of energy for the body. The term may also refer to a food item consumed between meals purely for the enjoyment of its taste.

Traditionally snacks were prepared from ingredients commonly available in the home, often leftovers, sandwiches made from cold cuts, nuts, fruit, and the like. The Dagwood sandwich was originally the humorous result of a cartoon character's desire for large snacks.

With the multiplication of convenience stores, packaged snack foods are now a significant business. Snack foods are typically designed to be portable, quick and satisfying. Processed snack foods are designed to be less perishable, more durable, and/or more appealing than prepared foods. They often contain substantial amounts of sweeteners, preservatives, and appealing ingredients such as chocolate, peanuts, and specially designed flavors (such as flavored potato chips).

Nutritional concerns

Industry concerns

image:Lay's Stax.jpg The snack food industry in market-driven societies such as the United States generates billions of dollars in revenue each year. The market for processed snack foods is enormous, and a number of large corporations compete rigorously to capture larger shares of the snack food market. Consequently, heavy promotions are used to convince consumers to buy snack foods. Processed snack foods are advertised far more than regular nutritional foods (such as fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy products), and the flashiest TV commercials and advertising campaigns are often designed to sell these products.

However, realizing the potential market discovered by companies such as Hansen's Natural, companies like Frito-Lay, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola are now creating new alternatives for consumers.

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Chips

• cheese puffs/cheese curls
• corn chips
• potato chips
• pork rinds
• pretzels
• tortilla chips
• shrimp chips/crab chips

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Candy

• chocolate bars
• gumdrops
• hard candy
• jelly beans
• lollipop

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Other snack foods

• cheese
• crackers
• cookies/biscuits
• doughnuts
• fruits
• easy-to-eat vegetables (e.g., bell pepper, turnip, carrot)
• instant noodles
• jerky
• mixed nuts
• peanuts
• popcorn
• trail mix