Chocolate, fruit are top snack choices worldwide, but Pinoys prefer pandesal

We Filipinos take this merienda business seriously.

We eat merienda once or twice a day. We do it to keep our strength up, but also because Pinoy favorites like pancit, bananacue, turon, barbecue, and mami are too delicious to pass up.

However, the Filipino's top choice for merienda is bread, according to Nielsen's Global Survey on Snacking. In second and third place are fruit and chocolate.



Our snacking preference runs counter to the general result, which finds chocolate the number one snack choice worldwide (64 percent), followed by fruit (62 percent).

The survey also shows that worldwide, merienda is a big deal, with sales for snacks raking in some $374 billion annually.

Merienda good for metabolism

It also turns out that having snacks in between the three important meals of the day could be good for you, the Balitanghali report said.

Merienda, which Filipinos usually have in the morning and in the afternoon, helps in maintaining a fast metabolism, nutritionist Maria Lourdes Caudal said.

She added that it prevents people from binge-eating, which does not sit well with Filipinos.

"The Filipino does not like that, lalo na 'yung iba, kapag maraming kinakain, sumasakit 'yung batok. 'Yung iba naman kapag maraming nakain, nahihilo," she said.

Half a normal meal

Experts said that people should snack on something that's half a portion of a normal meal, while also avoiding highly-processed food that are high in transfats, the Balitanghali report said.

It added that instead of sweets, people are also advised to go for filling food choices like sandwiches. For Filipinos, pancit and kakanin are recommended. — Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/BM, GMA News