In Mean Girls, the cult high school comedy written by Tina Fey, the villain Regina George is fooled into eating Swedish nutrition bars to lose weight because they “just burn up all your carbs”. She takes some time to realise that her supposedly healthy snack is having the opposite effect.
The film was ahead of its time in 2004, for appetites are now insatiable for snacks that do you good. Supermarkets are filled with protein and fruit bars, rice cakes and gluten-free tortilla chips, many made by small brands. “Guilt-free and delicious,” promises one fruit bar. “Ingredients you can see and pronounce,” says another from Kind Snacks, the “healthy snacking leader” in which Mars has a stake.
Mondelez, the confectionery and snack group spun off from Kraft Foods, which owns Cadbury chocolate and Oreo cookies, is a convert to the trend. It said this week that it intends to create and acquire more healthy snack brands, reinvesting some of the $10bn investment it currently holds in coffee companies. Mondelez bought Perfect Snacks, a US maker of refrigerated protein bars, last year.