The Social Power of the Snack

To some people, food is just fuel for the body. For others, it’s a disorder. And it’s one that’s very complicated and emotional; and difficult to deal with, because it’s always there.

Most people aren’t hungry for those brownies or that fresh bread, just because they are. The smells triggered something deeper within them. It’s hunger, no doubt about that, but not a hunger for the food exactly; it’s deeper.

To some people, food’s a friend. It never lets you down, always there, always watching over you.

Is it only you who feels this way? Why is it every time you go by an ice cream shop, you’re immediately flung into the past, traveling with your parent(s), where you always stopped for ice cream after seeing some touristy, magnificent new site! 

Is this why so many people’s relations with food (particularly snacking) are so complex?

Let’s find out!

The Proustian Bite – Taste, Smell, and Time Travel

A specific smell – in this case, from food – can trigger specific memories.

If you think about it, it’s almost like the Pavlov’s dog experiment.

This memory usually connects you to something in your past that is comforting and emotional. (e.g., Gramma’s lemon tarts, tiger paw ice cream, or bacon and eggs frying on a campfire).

When you are at the fair or country market, you will see loads of people lifting up products, inhaling deeply, and saying, ‘Ohh, this reminds me of xxx’. It is actually a fun thing to do, listening to how the foods, textiles, or crafts remind them of something special in their life.

Close your eyes and think of a happy favorite memory you can time-travel to through food.

The Neurochemistry of It All

Comfort food, everyone has something (well, most people anyway). 

We often grew up soothing ourselves with food. It might come from being left alone with a bottle to cry things out when we were babies, but it’s no secret that when we are sad or stressed, the body craves carbs/fat/sugary foods because these release dopamine and serotonin into the body. 

These neurotransmitters (‘happy hormones’) are associated with feelings of happiness, pleasure, motivation, and calming. They can be increased with exercise as well, but you recognize them more with the association of food or scent.

So it’s not unnatural to crave that pint of ice cream after a break-up or wallow in a tray of brownies; these were socially reinforced for emotional well-being from a very young age.

Defining Your Tribes’ Snack Preferences

So what do the snack choices you make say about you and your ‘tribe’? How would society define you if they saw what you snack on? Does it matter? 

How often do you offer someone a snack, or are offered a snack, and instead of a simple ‘no thank you’, you also add, ‘I’m vegan’, ‘Oh, I’m keto these days’, ‘I don’t eat carbs after 8 pm’, that sort of thing?  It’s almost as if you were trying to justify something.

We label ourselves, and this becomes a badge of honor for some. These choices aren’t always dietary; they’re subtle ways of communicating our values, beliefs, and social groups we align with (or distance ourselves from).

People sometimes say, “Oh, no thanks, I’m on a diet”, opening themselves to judgment from others. So naturally, they start saying, “No, thank you.” instead. 

This way, you aren’t giving people so much insight into who you are, who you were, or who you’re becoming. 

Funny how this became something you started thinking about, over a snack!

Clean Eating in a Processed World

Your world became about food. What were you thinking? You were smart, educated, and didn’t really know why you were so lost. 

Then, everyone was suddenly talking about ‘clean’ eating. 

This movement of going back to basics, eating raw foods that came naturally from the earth, no processing, no chemicals. There was much being written about the chemicals in our foods and what to avoid. This led people to start eating with social responsibility; it led them to grow their own food, eat microgreens and not sugar-infused snack clusters, and regain/maintain their health.

Sometimes you can be like, ‘Can I just eat the carrot already?!’, and that anxiety can quickly turn into another level of control and OCD, and ADHD.

All of this is very confusing and tiring; it’s no wonder you’re exhausted all the time. It’s not just your body that’s fighting; it’s also your mind that’s fighting its own battles.

This is when people become aware of the disease of obesity and start their long journey to recover from all the bad advice over the years given by the diet culture, doctors, and pseudoscience. You perhaps even learned the farce behind the food pyramid.

In many cases, it takes gastric sleeve surgery, re-education, and losing the joy of food away from the individual to really learn how much stock they had in food.

The Stigmas and Acceptance of the Stigma Behind Obesity

Racism, bias, and discrimination were the attitudes an obese person faced on a daily basis. For instance, Marilyn Monroe was a healthy size 16 (and to look at her close in person, the definition of size 16 back then was more like a 12), but she was considered overweight. 

It’s time to refocus society on being healthy and not so judgmental. This hiding behind the anonymity of the internet seems to have given people the right to be mean and judge people based on two minutes observed on their TikTok. Let us start talking about gut health, happiness, simplifying our lives, and getting away from ‘cancel culture’ and fake information. 

No more stigmas, and more acceptance of what is, as it is.

Conclusion

With the development of AI, more and more of what you see may not be real, so be wise, learn things for yourself, and always, always be open to a changing world, and know that nothing is written in stone and taken as gospel truth when it comes to diet and your well-being. 

Learn and try to help grow with each other and appreciate innovation and ‘outside of the box’ thinking.  Make it okay to enjoy the memories behind the food that gave you joy and makes you feel good, but not every day, try to focus more on the scent of the perfume someone wore, or the silk scarf your grandma wore, or the smell of the pipe your grandad smoked. 

Let’s try to let go of having a relationship with food, positive or negative, and refocus our minds on other things that can bring joy and sweetness into our lives. 

Everyone needs love, so come from there in everything you do and become the person your dog thinks you are.