Just when I thought I knew everything there was to know about snacking, I discovered that THIS (ie. make-shifting a tasty morsel from french bread and a chocolate bar)…it’s actually a thing!
Admittedly, more in France than the UK, where they officially call it ‘baguette au carré de chocolat.’
It is, by all accounts, a classic example of ‘le goûter.’
In other words, an afternoon snack… mainly enjoyed by children to bridge the hunger gap between lunch, and their comparably later dinner time.
In France, this 4pm re-fuel is a cultural tradition dating back to the 19th Century, and I have to say, it’s one I could EASILY see myself getting on board with, and not least because I’m a firm believer in the virtues of snacking between meals (Le grignotage!)
Historically, and in many of the so-called healthy-eating corners of this platform, such a blatant two fingers to the three-square institution might be considered sacrilege at worst… eyebrow-raising at best!
To those of the ‘little and often’ school of thought, however… the concept is intriguing.
Intriguing for the reason that - on the face of it - affording myself a mindfully-eaten and proportioned ‘treat’ is actually probably much ‘healthier’ (from a holistic stance) than my current ‘goûter’ of leftover kid’s mac n’ cheese… demolished straight from the pan with stomach-rumbling abandon!
This isn’t to say there aren’t caveats to the suggested ‘benefits’ of this #snackhack…
BUT…
In the context of a balanced, moderate, active lifestyle, what I’ve found is that this rather luxe little loophole (the one where a choccie-sarnie finds unprecedented acceptance) - it more than makes up for in satiety in serotonin, what it blatantly lacks in nutrition!