Social media, the platform of fads, continues to be a tech guardian of Gen Z. From “what to wear” to “how to eat”, each year unwraps excitingly tempting trends, and you’re expected to walk as fast as your legs would carry you. So here’s all you need to know about rat snacking, the new food storm.
What is Rat Snacking?
Rat snacking is all about breaking the rules and swaying to your unconventional culinary desire. Raiding and crafting “unhinged” snacks out of whatever is left in your pantry or refrigerator. In other words, a DIY mash up with weird pairings of food to satisfy one’s hunger pangs.
Origin Of Rat Snacking
Last year, it was “Girl Dinner”, but this year “Rat Snacking” is hitting the Internet with more than 12 million views under #ratsnack hashtag. Though this Tik Tok fuelled fad was warned by experts for the presence of ultra processed food, they’re also encouraged because it makes a basic snack healthy when it’s weirdly combined with other healthy food.
Rat snacking breaks the traditional three meals a day rule and encourages replicating the rodent-behaviour of eating, where you are free to scavenge through whatever is left in your pantry. This bizarre snacking not only saves time but also your money.
Abbey Sharp, a dietician popular on Tiktok, posted a video of “rat snack” backed with apple, cinnamon, butter, brown sugar and cheese slices, along with the caption, “When your InstaCart Shopper throws in an unexpected pack of processed cheese, you turn it into a budget-friendly ‘rat snack’ with whatever else you have in the fridge”. Sharp’s rat snack attracts more attention, especially from Gen Z, and becomes a super hit.
According to Bustle, Abbey Sharp said, “Now people aren’t interested in hyper-stylized content, they want what’s genuine, they want relatability. These rat snacks are becoming more popular because people often don’t see themselves making the smoothie bowls that they see on Instagram, but they can pull together a piece of cheese and a pickle with a pinch , because they have it on hand too, you know”
Some of the popular rat snacking combos include topping Ritz crackers with chocolate, mixture of chocolate and hummus, combination of cauliflower, cheese and sauce, Ketchup over Pringles and pickles and Cheddar cheese.
