The snack that has it all: People's associations with ideal snacks.

Many people nowadays have adopted the goal of eating healthily. However, they often fail to act upon this intention. Caroline Schlinkert and her colleagues propose that considering that many people want to eat more healthy foods, there is an urgent need for healthy snacks that make an appeal to taste, just as unhealthy snacks do, to support people in eating as they want. 

People want a healthy snack with sensory characteristics that fit their personal preferences. A perfect snack may therefore not be simple and straightforward, but should allow for different sensory experiences or individual tailoring.

Previous research has furthermore revealed that the ideas about healthy and unhealthy foods are strongly associated with notions of what is desirable to eat and what is not. The healthy food choice is often viewed as a wise choice that requires self-control rather than an indulgent choice. This phenomenon was therefore labelled as the ‘moralization of healthy food’. Moreover, unhealthy snacking has been related to the omnipresence of unhealthy foods in the so called “obesogenic” environment.

In this environment, food marketing suggests to consumers that food features such as sweet, salty, and fat (i.e., unhealthy foods) represent tastiness. Taste expectations are among the main drivers of food decisions. The marketing of unhealthy foods as tasty makes it therefore very difficult for people to follow up on their healthy eating goals. This eventually results in diets of poorer nutritional quality, higher consumption of energy dense foods, and lower fruit and vegetable intake. Considering that many people want to eat more healthy foods (whole grains, fruits and vegetables, low in fat, sugar, and salt), there is an urgent need for healthy snacks that make an appeal to taste, just as unhealthy snacks do, to support people in eating as they want. 

"Sometimes, it's just easier to say yes to that extra snack or dessert, because frankly, it is exhausting to keep saying no. It's exhausting to plead with our kids to eat just one more bite of vegetables"

Obesity and concurrent public health issues are a global problem, and snacking plays an important role in people's (un)healthy diets. Therefore, changing people's snack choices is a promising avenue for an improved diet. However, educating consumers has not led to significant improvements or fundamental changes in food choices. Improving the availability of snacks that are not just healthy, but are also in line with people's preferences and associations with ideal snacks is therefore needed. This study gives a first insight into what an ideal snack looks like to people without being biased by the loaded associations that come with labelling food as healthy or unhealthy. People want a healthy snack with sensory characteristics that fit their personal preferences. A perfect snack may therefore not be simple and straightforward, but should allow for different sensory experiences or individual tailoring. In other words, the utopian snack seems possible: healthy, yet tasty, and considered ideal by people looking for a snack.