Load up on your snacks

It's afternoon and you're rummaging around in your kitchen looking for food to stuff your face with like the garbage panda you are (we all are). You're ready to fight your hunger pangs with a fork and a knife—maybe a sword. If, like me, you're a toddler and need something to eat every 2-3 hours, you know this is when productivity is dropping and your inner zombie is springing to life. You start pacing around your house saying “grainnnsssss,” and your pets and/or loved ones back away in fear that today will be the day you become Hannibal Lector. (Fava beans and Chianti, anyone?)

Or maybe it's the weekend and you've downed one adult drink too many. Your inhibitions have evaporated and your deepest, darkest food desires have surfaced. They are ready to create some wonderfully depraved creations and combinations based solely on mood.

Enter the snack. The oh so glorious vessel with which wrongs can be righted and days/nights created. We're not talking the usual peanut butter and banana snack or yogurt parfait moments. Oh no. We're talking about super snacks. Those with bold flavors and a personality of their own. The world's furikake chex mixes, stuffed fried pickles and puppy chows.

Don't know where to start? The Spruce Eats is here for you. Whether it's sweet, savory, salty, sour and/or umami, we encourage, even implore, you to explore this food category and embrace it fully as the unsung hero of the day.

Snacking is the perfect food-centric journey. One that is completely personalized to you and where the only limits are your imagination and ingenuity. It's a great way to try a variety of new flavor combinations without committing to an entire meal. And we editors like to take this opportunity to spice up our snacks and embark on a bite-sized adventure. So come with us and fly your snack freak flag!

–Victoria Heydt, Editorial Project Manager

Everything you ever wanted to know about snacks and more

• How to make a snack: Ever wondered what it takes to start your own snack business? From food competitions to what greets you in the grocery store's snacks section, there's more than what you see.
• 10 Female-Led Snack Brands You Can Enjoy Right Now: In honor of Women's History Month, we're featuring 10 women-founded brands that continue to reinvigorate and challenge the way we eat snacks today.