Snack vs. Treat
October 19, 2007
I am sorry people, but I am on a roll here! In going with the same principles and guidelines of yesterday’s post, I would like to ask a question that has been burning at me for quite sometime. What constitutes a snack versus a treat? Now, I have already burdened some of you with this question already, but I feel it is one that needs constant revision. How do we classify what gets labeled a snack and what gets labeled a treat? Can a chocolate bar be a snack, or does the ingredient of chocolate automatically negate that? Or, on the flip side, can a bag of chips be a treat? What is the difference between the two? Is it ingredients, time, or something else? Please, help me out and leave a comment with your thoughts on this matter…
Snack certainly has a more healthly connotation…which for me would imply that its all about the ingredients. For instance, its ok to have a snack between meals, but not necessarily a treat. Similarly…we dont say “trick or snack” on halloween when we are clearly seeking a chocolate bar (dont you hate those people that give out granola bars).
Comment by Jim — October 19, 2007 @ 7:52 am
I think, much like Jim that a snack is basically a small meal between regular meal, sometimes healthy, sometimes not. But to further my point on your last post I think people are having treats so much now that they are basically snacks (and not usually healthy ones) and thus sucking all the essence and delight out of the “treat”.
Comment by Kev — October 19, 2007 @ 10:45 am
To me a snack (healthy or unhealthy) fills a hunger need. A treat satisfies a craving for a taste of something but clearly not designed (primarily) to fill you up. On this basis a chocolate bar could be a snack or treat depending on the situation.
Now I’m going to get on a math/logic rant. When we classify things in Western logic we assume that thing belongs only to one category (treat or snack, true or false). In Japan they employ fuzzy logic which says something can have a degree of both at the same time(or more than two) categories. Example: Tall vs. short. We all possess some degree of shortness and some degree of tallness.
Using fuzzy logic chips and chocolate bars might have a high degree of both snackness and treatness whereas a hard peppermint candy will possess a high degree of treatness and a low degree of snackness (some may suggest even zero degree of snackness which is definitely possible in fuzzy logic terms).
Damn I am hungry!
Comment by Dalong — October 20, 2007 @ 12:33 am