Research
Kids’ Snacking and Seasonal Twists
Ask (Interviews)
1. Marissa: a classmate who recently began attending the U. I met up with Marissa because she has many younger siblings, experience nannying, and serves at a restaurant.
A. Questions Asked:
- What was the last snack you had?
- Tell me about the last time you prepared a snack with child.
- Do you prefer to make snacks with kids or already prepared?
- What was it you liked about preparing the snack?
- What are some problems with snacking?
- What are food trends at the restaurant?
- What do you think about seasonal snacking?
B. Summary: We discussed how as a college student, without your parents to guide eating habits, snacking throughout the day would replace meals. As a nanny however, Marissa would make sure the child had a mix of healthy and sweet (ex. granola, fruit and honey).
The social aspect was also important, whether it was making food with others or for others. Not only should a snack be healthy, satisfy hunger, but it can also be a meaningful way to connect with people.
C. Key Quotes:
On a childhood memory, preparing snacks:
“It gets the child involved in what they’re consuming. They feel like they have a hand in what they’re eating.
I remember in preschool my favorite part of the day was helping to prepare the snack. I would go over and help the teacher prepare the snack for all the students.
I like preparing things for groups of people. I think it’s really satisfying seeing them eat something I’ve prepared. And I think it was a way for me to connect with the teacher, because I was really shy and didn’t really connect with other kids as well.”
On kids and restaurants:
“We bring them some fruit to snack on, so they’re satiated while they’re waiting for their main meal to come out.”
On seasons and traditions:
“It’s fun, like Halloween candy. The packaging is different colors… Egg shaped Reese’s around Easter… There’s some novelty about it.”
“I really enjoy my grandma’s cookies at Christmas. She puts them on platter and makes them look all pretty.”
2. Hannah: a college student who always has a plan. I met her through the nordic ski club. I interviewed Hannah because she has experience nannying, working at target, her family eats gluten free, and she’s conscious of foods to eat on the go and that are good for (outdoor) activity.
A. Questions Asked:
- Tell me about the last time you had a snack.
- What’d you get at Jamba Juice?
- Do you notice snack trends at Target that people make?
- Do you notice snack patterns while nannying?
- What kinds of foods do you like for skiing?
- Are there any traditions or seasonal experiences that stand out to you?
- Tell me about gluten free meals your family has.
B. Summary: Similar to Marissa, Hannah found she substitutes snacking for meals, without parent supervision. One time, in preparation for a ski race, Hannah found she ate too much trail mix and felt sick. In regards to gluten free food, although it is relatively more expensive, it is similar to Annie’s in that it is more conscious of our diet.
Addressing seasonal food, it is exciting and festive, with a tendency towards eating warm foods as it gets colder.
C. Key Quotes:
On (college) kids’ buying habits, while working at Target:
“It’s a lot of college kids buying junk food. They usually have a midterm coming up and say, ‘I know this is bad. Don’t judge me!’”
On preparing food as a nanny:
“Her mom had me pack grapes, strawberries, pretzels. And the little girl would always try to eat mini Nutella snacks.”
On season change:
“I eat a lot of easy meals. But during ski season, I don’t know if it’s because I’m exercising more or because it’s cold, but I really like warm meals.”
“With each new season change, you get really excited about the next new season. It’s funny, I think the flavors of food sometimes go along with colors you wear. Like summer, you eat fruity things and wear bright clothes. Fall, you wear fall colors and eat pumpkins, haha!”
3. Fran: a working mom of three children, who loves to cook for her family. I interviewed Fran because she represents a large consumer base for brands like Annie’s. She wants to make sure her family is eating healthy.
A. Questions Asked:
- What was the last snack you had?
- Tell me about the last time you prepared a snack with a child.
- Do you prefer to make your snacks or have them ready to go?
- What is it you like about preparing the snack?
- What are some problems you see with snacking?
- Tell me more about how you balance cooking with work.
- Are there any specific seasons you get excited to shop for?
B. Summary: As Fran is balancing work and preparing meals for her family, it is important the food is delicious and healthy! Spices, preparing snacks with her daughters, and variety play key roles.
C. Key Quotes:
On preparing snacks:
“A good memory of preparing a snack… cutting up apples and having a little caramel dip with my daughters.”
“I prefer to make them, because I love to cook. It’s creative, and I think I can usually create a healthier, tastier snack than what you can buy at the store.”
On variety:
“Snacks, they’re just little bites to eat, where you can get tastes of multiple things.”
“I try to think ahead, what people might eat. I knew I was going to be out of town for two days, so I bought frozen meatballs to put on pasta. Then my family will have diversity from burritos they eat all the time.”
“I go to a couple different grocery stores a week. They all have something different.”
On her favorite season to shop for:
“In the fall, I absolutely love to snack on apples because they’re fresh!”
“Favorite holiday to cook for? Thanksgiving. Because I love turkey and I love all the vegetables. You get to focus on the food. You don’t have to focus on the presents. With Christmas, it can be too much. Thanksgiving, it’s just about food.”
Observation
Secretly, I observed shopping and eating habits of members which I went with on a camping trip, the weekend of October 9th.
Tim, who I met that Friday via a mutual friend, and I went grocery shopping for the trip. He gravitated toward colored snacks, “Harvest” m&ms and colored goldfish. We also agreed on an assortment of nuts and dried fruit for trail mix.
I noticed too, that in the packaged/processed, and relatively bland food, we decided that one of the cheese options should be jalapeno. Perhaps this, combined with Tim’s gravitation toward colored snacks, was a natural inclination to seek variety/flavor in products initially stripped of those characteristics.
Eating breakfast, folks started to put m&ms on the hot pancakes, resulting in melted chocolate… Mmm! We were camping and eating knock off crepes!
Within the theme of “Seasonal Twists” the “Harvest” m&ms reflect a fall feel, Even the colored goldfish, though more spring like with rainbow packaging, were gold, green, and red, i.e. the same as the fall colors (probably unintentional on the food designer’s part).
Experience
The colored prepackaged snack foods (specifically goldfish and m&ms) are not only fun, salty and sweet, but are relatively processed.
When hiking around and enjoying the beautiful fall colors, you think about how the packaged food is playful, colorful and fits the festive feel of the season change. But, do these fuels/foods reflect values that coincide with enjoying the outdoors?
How do they relate to/fit with Annie’s brand? What can we do to adapt these snack foods, so that they still embody “Seasonal Twits” and at the same time, know the production process, distribution, and components of the snack itself are environmentally and health conscious?
While the m&ms and goldfish were fun to buy and eat at first, I looked at their ingredients/nutrition relative to comparable Annie’s snacks.
Comparing Annie’s with Goldfish and m&ms:
Findings/Summary: It seems that Goldfish and Cheddar Bunnies are not too different when comparing main ingredients; I had expected there to be more preservatives and artificial coloring in Goldfish. (Perhaps it is not so much of a coincidence that they matched the fall colors, seeing as the food coloring is natural.) The m&ms, not surprisingly, did have artificial coloring and (even if less than %1) corn syrup.
Storyboard
Major Insights
- People gravitate toward color. Perhaps this is due to an association of color occurring in nature and its association with different nutrients/vitamins. (Observation: Tim chose colorful foods grocery shopping. Also, the whole trip was timed to see the fall colors.)
- Grocery lists are nice, but it’s good to be able to deviate from them. (Observation: We had trouble finding exactly what we wanted while shopping. // Experience: The list, though helpful, didn’t already have a calculate price, nutrition, or processing description that would allow us to quickly determine the most effective, healthy, and available items.)
- People like easily pack-able/portable snacks. This is great especially for hiking or carrying anything on trail. (Observation: All the food Tim and I got for snacking was relatively easy to carry.)
- Warm fluids are a great supplement to food/fuel on cold mornings. (Experience: Especially since it’s fall and mornings can be particularly chilly, warm fluids make getting the day started much better! // Interview: Hannah really likes warm food during cold/ski season.)
- It is comforting and inspiring to know your food is gown and packaged in an environmentally sustainable way. (Experience: For the “Experience” part of this assignment, I felt a lot better knowing that, though in a small way, snacks like Goldfish, and the dried fruit/nuts support the general system of sustainability through a focus on natural processing.)
- It is important to ensure there are nutrients, not just calories in your food/fuel! (Experience: While calories are important to fuel exercise/ hiking, nutrients and natural processing tend to be easier for your body to utilize and fuel itself, without feeling too sick.)
- People like to prepare food with/for others. (Interview: For both Marissa and Fran, it gave them a way to build relationships with people.)
- Most people like junk food as a guilty pleasure. (Interview: This came out in all three interviews, especially Hannah, who captured it, “Everybody knows that they shouldn’t, but they do. Because it tastes so good.”)
- Color and season change can indicate novelty. (Interview: Although season change reoccurs predictably, there is something exciting about ‘new’ weather, colors, smells, etc. This theme came out especially with Marissa and Hannah.)
- Variety, even within a seasonal theme is important. (Interview: This came out mostly with Fran, as she talked about providing different meals and produce for her family each week.)
Problem Statements
- Students shopping (for a weekend camping trip) need better preparation/ streamlined plans to purchase necessary food items because I think we ended up over-purchasing food.
- Students shopping (for weekend camping trip) need relatively non perishable, pack-able, and nutritious food because we have a low budget.
- Hungry snackers need (natural) color (ideally festive, seasonal) and sustainable processing in snack food because it is important to protect the environment we want to enjoy.
