Random reminder

Press, 31 March 1981, Page 25

Random reminder

SNACKS BE NIMBLE, SNACKS BE QUICK

There are certain times of the daj', or evening, or night, or early morning, when the prospects are equally appalling to the sensitive soul of either cooking a full meal or rummaging the cupboards like a mouse. It is at those times (says our Snack Expert, of Dallington) that the Snack is peculiarly appropriate. What is a Snack? It is easier to say what a Snack is not. A Snack is npt a leftover. There must be at least some preparation, A Snack is not a sandwich, either open or shut. There must have been at least some cooking, in a pan or under a grill. A Snack is never — Heaven preserve us — never available commercially. The so-called “Snack Bar” bears the same relationship to a Snack as television does to entertainment. A Snack does not travel, especially not tipped sideways into a paper bag.

A Snack is not sweet. It is an adult indulgence. A Snack cannot generally be eaten with the fingers. There is a risk of sauce, chopped parsley, and bits of mushroom slithering down the sleeve. As a working definition, then: a Snack is simple, homely, fresh, hot, knife-and-fork nourishment served on a small plate, usually on toast. It relies heavily on eggs, cheese, various meats and fishes, savoury sauces, and parsley. Vegetables, from asparagus to zucchini, are a colourful constituent. But a Snack is never served WITH vegetables. To take a large plate, to pile mashed potato on it, and boiled frozen beans, and chips, and then to push a Snack onto it (probably with the thumb) is irredeemably, irremediably barbarous. That — the third-rate hotels substitute for a proper meal — that is the kind of shoddy vulgarity that gave World War II a bad name.