A Survey of Snack Blogs

Candy or chocolate, sweet, sour, or salty -- snacking comes naturally to me. I've read food and recipe blogs from time to time, but never needed much help when it came to choosing my in-between-meals items. I have always liked eating, writing, and taking pictures, which eventually led to the idea of combining the three.

A few months ago, when I began writing and photographing for this li'l weblog called Snackreligious, I had no idea what sort of company of snackers I was joining. Turns out there a lot of people out here on the internet hungry for small bites.

Though I remain a bit superstitious about reading too many other snack blogs regularly (because even if I'm only writing for a handful of readers, I want my content to stay fresh and I don't want my language and style to become derivative), I've checked out some of my compatriots and am happy to share links.


Because Snacking Apart is Snacking Together

Candy Blog - Cybele May is a playwright who loves candy with a passion that shows. I'm inspired here by what seems like the gold standard of candy reviews and snack photography. The site is thorough, comprehensive, well-organized, and - even better - updated regularly.

A Cheapskate's Guide to Sublime Snacking - I just discovered this blog and feel a certain kinship with its creator. Anita Sharp lives in Brooklyn (like me!) and has published recipes. She cooks, too, and supplies Phoebe's Cafe, which is right in my neighborhood. I appreciate how she incorporates non-snack-related items in her writing.

The Healthy Snacks Blog - This blog (by Chris Davis) has a good, clean look, but the posts are not boring or clinical. I like the "coming soon" box in the sidebar. You may not realize it, but I appreciate healthy snacks, too!

Heat, Eat, Review - "A team of dedicated non-profit employees, students, and associates" shares reviews of frozen foodstuffs. This site uses an easy-to-read 5-star rating system for visual clarity. Good, lengthy anecdotal reviews abound.

I Eat Yucky Stuff - Twinkie Chan eats gross-looking food. Some of it tastes good. Some of it does not. Funny, gross, smart, adorable. This is a favorite of mine. I'm fond of her videos.

Junk Food Blog - Cybele May (again) and Steve Johnson teamed up for this one. It's a nice site that attempts to cover a wider variety of "junk food" snacks. There are several years' worth of archives to wade through, if you're so inclined.

Junk Foodie dot Com - "LIFE IS BORING WITHOUT JUNKFOOD!" says Manolito L. Montala. I'd have to agree. I don't only like junk food as snacks, but I do like how not-boring it is! I could say the same about this website. Manolito reviews some decidedly non-boring snack foods to spice up the site. Ingredients are listed, too, for those consumers who wish to know just how junky an item is.

Nik Snacks - Nik blogs from North Carolina, in case you're looking for some Southern edge. Her photos have that cell phone camera flair (and no, I'm not making fun). I like personal-feeling snack blogs (esp. because that's what I'm trying to do with mine) like Nik's. They're not just snacks. They're the edible mortar reinforcing and gluing together the bricks of our lives!

Our Snack Blog - Several contributers (three listed at press time) review snacks on this blog. If you're looking to blog about snacks regularly on a blog like theirs, why not join up? I appreciate the good-sized photos and attention to unusual snacks.

Snack Attack - The team behind this site mix it up. There's a little something for everyone. Snack selections are diverse and the writing personable. But the site hasn't been updated recently, so it may not be active any longer.

The Snack Blog - Here's another tag-team snack blog with archives a few years old. But this site also hasn't been updated in months, so it could be defunct.

Snacking on Macon - Angel Collins is "enjoying Macon, one delectable bite at a time." I've never been to Macon, so I appreciate being able to live vicariously through this personal blog. Food, beverages, music, travel, and civic pride come together.

Taquitos - Less a blog (and more a website), Taquitos sprang from one contributor's love of ketchup flavored chips and Trader Joe's Taquitos. The site is notable for extensive reviews, especially of chips, crisps, and other nibbles. They've identified their six major food groups as "Potato Chips, Popcorn, Pretzels, Cheese Puffs, Tortilla Chips and Corn Chips." This site is funny in both senses of the word (but with no creepy connotations intended).


This is not a long list, but it represents the best of what I've found so far. Now it's your turn. Explore! Read! View! Snack! Spread this spirit of generous and adventurous snacking around the globe. And, if you're so inclined, return to Snackreligious and share your snacking reports.

By the way, if I missed your favorite snack-related blog or you stumble upon an upstart or ignored classic of the genre, leave me a comment so I can someday create Part II of this survey.

Because Sharing a Snack is Sharing a Dream.

Name that cookie!

Anyone recognize the cookies making up these Mystery Cookie Outbuildings (seen in the window of the Bedford Cheese Shop)?







Kate and I have ruled out ladyfingers...

"Adult" Snacking

I find the marketing angle for this non-dairy, non-soy wine sorbet a little off-putting (including that the above looks almost more like a flier for a "sophisticated" "adult" gentleman's [sic] club than for sorbet), but my free sample of Rosé wasn't bad. Why not try a different angle? Do we have to be sophisticated adults every time we eat wine? Just once, why can't the slogan be something like, "I Kin Taste the Alky-Hol!"?

Inside Out

Cadbury's Eclairs are penny-sized caramels with a bit of chocolate filling inside. They're a little harder and stickier than I like (I have to scrape that last hard and sticky bit off my teeth every time!) and the chocolate in the middle is only really evident if you suck on these instead of chewing, but I enjoyed the combination.

The caramel is sweet and rich, buttery without coming on too strong. Inside, the chocolate is smooth, milky tasting and just a bit thick. Though the two flavors complement each other, the caramel dominates.

I appreciate portability, so while having the caramels individually wrapped inside the outer tube of paper could be seen as wasteful packaging, it's handy when I'm carrying them around in my bag all day and it keeps them from melting together into a caramel lump.

Ultimately, I prefer the old chocolate-on-the-outside-caramel-in-the-middle candy standby, but I won't say no to these, especially if what I'm looking for is a snack that travels well.

Hey, Walkers! Yeah, you in the burgundy bag!

Lays is calling. They want their logo back. Oh, wait. You're doing that on purpose?

Anyway, Bacon is holding on the other line with a complaint. You're besmirching its good name.

And Salt sent a gift basket with a note: "Pleasure doing so much business with you. We planned to back off a tad, but if you're sure you want us to keep coming on overstrong, we're happy to oblige."

p.s. Perhaps I've gotten used to kettle chips, but why are your crisps so thin? It's like an initially crispy, paper thin potato slice that just rolls over and smooshes itself up in the mouth. Good smokiness, though.

Jenny and the Giant Peach

Our vacation to Portland and Seattle was an exercise in me not researching and over-preparing for every moment of a trip. Since we speak the language and had a place to stay in each city I figured I could relax about the details for once.

The one thing on my "must-see" list in Seattle was Pike Place Market. I knew it would be crowded and touristy (and that there might be cool places in Seattle that are more worth a trip), but I love greenmarkets and farmers' markets and covered markets, so I had to see it. I didn't consider there would also be a mixture of non-food stores (like a tiny magic shop and an art collective boutique) and souvenir shops. I did think it might be bigger, with more produce, but that isn't to say I was disappointed. The produce that was in evidence was plentiful and prettily displayed (though with some hand-lettered signs begging people not to touch the merchandise. I'm supposed to buy produce I'm not allowed to touch?).



My favorite store in the market was a spice and rub (and tea and sundries, etc.) shop near the entrance to the market (hang a left at the tourists crowded around the fish tossers). This is the spice cabinet of my dreams.



My least favorite experience in the market was being heckled by vendors. I don't get people selling things who single out and heckle their potential customers, but some customers probably find the vendors to be funny and charming. I was tiring of the patter of a guy at a pasta stand when he called to me (as I was standing against a pole to steady my camera while trying to get a good flash-less photo), saying something like, "Young lady, [note: he was younger than me] when you finish holding up that pole, you should try our chocolate pasta." I did not choose to sample the chocolate linguine. I was taking a picture, not lounging against a pole.

Heckling is one thing, but I don't mind barkers. Or free samples. That's why I gladly headed over to the man handing out slices of what he claimed was "Possibly the best peach you'll ever eat" in front of a display of the same peaches and a sign that said "Oh My God Peaches." It looked pretty enough:



I didn't eat it for several hours, though I was risking giving it an inadvertent bruising. I took that peach to the Space Needle park first, intending to eat it on our picnic there, but only photographed it near the fountain and didn't actually get around to eating it until I got back to the house. The anticipation of waiting (hoping it would be excellent) could have hurt the experience, but when the moment came it seemed only to make that peach sweeter.




Because although I did not say, "Oh my God," when I bit into it, that barker was right. It was probably the best peach I've ever eaten. I should mention that it was also the most expensive peach I've ever eaten ($2!) but, in the end, so, so worth it. I'm talking big, soft, tree-ripened, sweet, juicy, and meltingly tender (and not bruised much after hours of being carried around). It was so heart-rendingly delicious I even found myself somewhat reluctant to share a few bites with Dan and Eva (though I did). Just Uh-Mazing!

Sailing the Seas of Cheese

I believe I mentioned I'd say more about the cheese curds we consumed in Seattle. I've loved cheese curds since, as a kid, we would take family trips from our home near the Mississippi River in Iowa across the border to get some "real Wisconsin cheese" across the river. If you haven't had cheese curds, or if you haven't had superior cheese curds, you should know that it's true that the good ones squeak when you chew them.

I've had curds that squeak and curds that refuse to comment, but I'd never eaten flavored cheese curds until about 2 weeks ago. These, from Beecher's Handmade Cheese, an artisan shop near Pike Place Market (where you can watch the cheese being made on site, as pictured above), come as small curds soaking in a sort of marinade. We purchased two flavors - Chipotle Pepper and Market Herb. Both were good, if a little wet and messy (and squeakless). Regular, "dry" cheese curds can be eaten with the fingers. These were best on bread (or, potentially, crackers). My favorite of the two types we tried was the Market Herb, but I prefer fresh and unflavored. Next stop - fried!