Snack

Snack time began at 10:15 AM at St. Cecilia’s elementary school. Only the first, second and third graders partook in the brief reprieve from schoolwork. Apparently, the nuns thought the fourth- through eighth-grade students were old enough to survive until lunch on the sustenance from their breakfasts. When the little hand of the clock met the ten, the anticipation began, and in fifteen minutes, boys and girls scrambled to the long closet at the back of the classroom to dig for brown paper bags from their backpacks. We always went outside to the parking lot for the 15-minute recess unless it was raining. As soon as we felt the fresh air on our faces, we tore open our bags which held cheese and crackers, apples, granola bars, Devil Dogs, Twinkies, and bags of Fritos, Doritos and Cheese Doodles. The boys wolfed down their snacks and raced up the lot where there were rarely cars—except for Sunday mass—so they could play a quick game of football. We girls sat on curved cement benches that enclosed a huge oak tree. Unlike the boys, we’d carefully peel our bananas and munch on crackers before standing on the benches to begin our trek around and around the tree until we were dizzy.

When I became a mother, I was warned about lack of sleep, but never the countless times children need to be fed long after the newborn stage ended. I constantly sliced grapes in half and placed them in little plastic bowls. Lunch was barely cleaned up before graham crackers were broken along the dotted lines and yogurt spooned out. Ice pops and cubed watermelon were devoured in the summer, and my homemade chocolate chip cookies were a special treat after school. Even my car held the remnants of endless snacks from Cherrios to cheese sticks to apple slices. When the teenage years arrived, snacks were consumed faster than I could bring them into the house. A big bowl of clementines disappeared in an afternoon, and a large cheese pizza was no longer a meal, but a snack.

A snack is the bridge between breakfast and lunch and lunch and dinner. Who doesn’t relish a late afternoon snack enjoyed with a cocktail after a day at the beach or on the slopes? The little first grader skipping around an oak tree realized that conversation flows seamlessly and eagerly when having a snack with friends because the time for it was brief. 

I try to dispense a variety of healthy snacks, but keep preparation to a minimum. The above dish does not need a formal recipe. Sliced cantaloupe, peppery arugula and burrata drizzled with olive oil and topped with freshly ground pepper complement freshly sliced prosciutto and salami. Grab a loaf of crusty bread, and it’s snack time.