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Every time I set up my kitchen, the first cupboard that I allocate is that for snacks. Of course, for it to be selected as the coveted snacks cupboard, it has to meet certain criteria!
I have moved homes a total of seven times and every time I set up my kitchen, the first kitchen cupboard that I allocate is that for snacks. It has to meet certain criteria, of course, for it to be selected as the coveted snacks’ cupboard.
Firstly, it needs to be easily accessible by all members of my family. Secondly, it needs to be large enough for a variety of snacks. And finally, it needs to have at least one partition so that I am able to organize the snacks efficiently.
Organizing the snack cupboard is extremely important for my day-to-day existence in the kitchen. I am serious. I organize my snack cupboard based on three main categories: sweet, savoury and Indian.
The last section is rather special because it involves a trip to the local Indian store or contains goodies from India which have travelled safely with a relative or friend who was kind enough to carry them in their luggage.
I am very strict about not mixing up these categories, and my family knows that too well. A great way for me to tick off is — ‘accidentally on purpose’ shove a packet of biscuits in the Indian section.
The only exception is of course if the biscuits are Indian — read naankatai, khaari or milk rusks.
My affinity towards the snack cupboard has its roots in my childhood home. I still remember the layout of the kitchen very clearly, as if it were just yesterday that I was running around barefoot on the cool kitchen tiles on a hot summer’s day in Bombay.
The snack cupboard was located just next to the fridge, an ideal place, don’t you think? It was always heaving with a variety of snacks that my mother and grandmother ensured that we never ran out of.
Some snacks were store bought, but most were home-made. Biscuits, crisps, farsan sat beside the humbly homemade chivda, namakpada, puranpoli to mention but just a few. Now that summarizes the adult snack cupboard.
Oh, yes, we also have a snack cupboard exclusively for kids. Call me a victim of clever marketing, but hey ho! Kids and snacks always go hand-in-hand, and to recognize this is a practical parenting trip.
So what exactly does their cupboard contain? You will find everything from baby biscuits to rice crackers to oats bars and some biscuits that the kids absolutely adore like cream crackers and breadsticks!
This cupboard in my kitchen is at a lower level, so that it is easily accessed by my kids. Choosing and eating snacks is mostly a self-service endeavour for them.
I subconsciously am trying to follow the Montessori method of play, where toys are kept at such a level. Not sure how much of this would be appreciated by staunch followers of the Montessori method, but I’ve always been attracted to thinking outside the box!
As a child, I remember raiding the snack cupboard ravenously upon returning from school every afternoon. Packets of biscuits, crisps, banana wafers, kare, shankar para, and on and on and on.
And I also remember being so hungry that I would not even wait to transfer the contents of the snacks into a plate or a bowl, rather would attack the packets with almost animal-like frenzy. If anyone saw me, they would think I hadn’t had anything to eat for a long time.
I am happy to note that this habit of raiding the snack cupboard continued into adolescence and now to my adulthood as well. I automatically gravitate towards the snack cupboard in times of boredom and or stress.
As a new mother, I have very vivid memories of snacking more than actually eating a proper meal.
I would always open the snack cupboard at odd times and eat anything and everything, including the healthy protein bars and nuts to the questionable cheese puffs and jammie dodgers. The need to snack seemed to increase in direct correlation to how exhausted I was.
Exhaustion reminds me of cleaning the snack cupboard, and that is quite a task. I have found snacks at the back of the cupboard which I didn’t even know existed. To call them fossilized versions of some snack or the other may not be entirely false.
I generally end up cleaning my snacks’ cupboard in a fit of rage. A Black bin bag is summoned along with a good amount of anger and the poor cupboard is at my mercy.
I am quite heartless when it comes to throwing away snacks that have been there for too long, past their expiration date. Chuck chuck chuck in they go, for no fault of theirs. I thought I was good at this organizing business, but clearly not.
The fact remains that wherever and however stored, I love snacks because they are there to tide me over until the actual meal time. Their ability to immediately satisfy my hunger, which is the most basic need, is what makes me appreciate their existence even more.
To me, Snacks are the conversation fillers in the world of food. The only difference being that they are actually satisfying.
Image Source: Triloks via Getty Images Signatures, free on Canva Pro.
Snehal is a freelance writer and poet based in London with her husband and two young children. Her writing primarily reflects her motherhood journey, memories of her own childhood and the essence of everyday moments. read more...
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