Nostalgia Snack Menu for SLM’s Tenth Anniversary Celebration
We hope you are joining us for our big-anniversary/tiny-work reading! Tiny stories, poems, and memoirs require LOTS OF SNACKS.
So make sure to get yours ready for SLM’s virtual Tenth Anniversary Party! Tuesday, November 15, at 8pm ET/5pm PT.
We’ve been interviewing contributors and staff all year about their fave snacks from childhood, for writing, or for take-out. Here are ten recommendations from the FAM. Yep, that’s TEN snacks for TEN years:
1. Hot Cheetos
K-Ming Chang, SLM contributor, says of the Hot Cheeto: “My favorite childhood snack is Hot Cheetos, always and forever—I could wax poetic about Hot Cheetos, and I always manage to find a way to insert it into my writing (most recently, there was an entire section of a short story in my collection that I subtitled Hot Cheetos, and I got to highlight the phenomenon of Hot Cheeto Fingers, which was a purely selfish way for me to insert my obsessions into the narrative).”
2. McDonald’s Dollar Snacks
Tammy Heejae Lee, Contributor/Assistant Flash Editor, reveals her go-to takeout order: “McDonald’s, forever! I prefer ordering several things off their dollar menu over getting a complete meal. I feel like it prolongs the excitement and experience of unwrapping something new before you’re about to eat it. Is that just me?”
3. Panda Cookies
Amanda Schroeder, Web Editor, says of the Panda cookie: “I love Hello Panda cookies. I really love how all the pandas are printed on the cookies themselves, doing different activities. Genuinely cheers me up, ha!”
4. Lay’s Potato Chips
Fiction Editor Anna Cabe explains the Lay Potato chip: “Lay’s potato chips remain one of my great culinary loves. I prefer salty snacks to sweet and love potatoes, quite simply. I rarely got them growing up because my parents are doctors as well as being cheap. When they did, my three siblings and I would squabble over any of the best snacks, especially the name-brand ones, so Lay’s chips never lasted long. One of the greatest parts of adulthood is buying Lay’s potato chips whenever I want and not having to share them!”
5. Water! Friends, please do not forget this important hydration tool!
Star Su, Flash Reader, says her go-to writing snack is…drumroll: “Water—which inevitably gives me the excuse to go to the bathroom often. I don’t really snack while I write because then I would snack and simply not write.”
6. Cashews
Emily Woodward, Memoir Reader, suggests: “Cashews. Because they’re cashews! Delicious, filling, crunchy goodness. I’m getting hungry…”
7. Tea and Bread
Fiction Reader/Contributor Vincent Anioke says: “When I have tea and bread for breakfast, I often soak the bread in the tea until it’s all soggy before eating it. It’s something I used to mock my younger sister for in childhood (‘you’re a bush girl!’). But I get it now. So, I’m sorry, Chioma. You were absolutely right. There, I said it.”
8. Salt and Pepper Ridged Potato Chips
Lori Sambol Brody, Contributor/Former Assistant Flash Editor, loves: “Salt and pepper ridged potato chips! The perfect mixture of crunchy texture, salt and oil, and a little heat from the pepper.”
9. Goldfish, String Cheese, Grapes, and Kirkland Signature Nut Bars
Denise Weber, Art Director, on several key snacks: “According to my mom, toddler me always had Goldfish crackers or string cheese and grapes in hand. YA me was all about barely-ripe bananas, because they have a tangy-floral/tropical flavor and a firmer bite that doesn’t immediately turn into mush in your mouth. Mid-30s me is embarrassed to admit that Kirkland Signature Nut Bars (Costco’s version of a KIND bar) are my snack of choice. I carry a small/growing amount of guilt about this because I hate the waste of single-serve packaging, plus almonds are a prevalent ingredient and almond farming is problematic … but I’m constantly reaching for them because they’re tasty and chewy and filling and convenient and really the perfect three bites. I take big bites, don’t judge.”
10. Cherry Tomatoes with Dipping Sauces
CD Eskilson, Assistant Poetry Editor, has a dipping suggestion that will blow your mind: “Cherry tomatoes—always cherry tomatoes. They’re the perfect snack size and versatile when it comes to dipping options, or simply eating them like grapes. Personally, I recommend barbecue sauce. They don’t mess up your hands either for when you’re writing!”