A snack food is seen in Western culture as a type of food not meant to be eaten as a main meal of the day (breakfast, lunch, dinner) but one that is intended rather to assuage a person's hunger between these meals, providing a brief supply of energy for the body, or as a food item consumed between meals purely for the enjoyment of its taste.
Traditionally snacks were prepared simply from ingredients commonly available in the home, often leftovers,nuts, fruit, and the like.Snack foods are often subjectively classified as junk food: they have little or no nutritional value, and are not seen as contributing towards general health and nutrition.Some people make a conscious effort to eat more healthy, natural snacks such as fruit, vegetables, nuts and cereal grains while avoiding high-calorie, low-nutrient junk food.