How The Perception Of Midnight Snacking Has Changed Over The Years

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This reporter shares a microscopic apartment with two other adults, one of whom works the night shift. Upon waking and padding to the bathroom to start writing in the mornings, we often cross paths in the kitchen — where a tired roomie is bent over in front of the refrigerator, shoveling handfuls of (my) food into their mouth, moments before retiring to bed as their day ends and mine begins.

Time is a flat circle, and yet, the entity of the "midnight snack" has endured across its relentless wheel-spin. Over the years, the friendly, familiar midnight snack has known many faces, and not all of them have been positively-received by the public eye. One of the earliest recorded mentions of the midnight snack appears in an 1875 article published in the Louisville Courier-Journal, which reads, "The life of a journalist has its sweets (in the cake which accompanies their midnight snacks), but its bitters are far bitterer than Cincinnati beer," (via Snack Stack). Here, the midnight snack is a wry symbol of exhausted, occupationally-exploited foodies chowing down on a sweet treat during the witching hour.

The midnight snack's position in the modern age might have first taken root during the Industrial Revolution. Workers of the mid-1700s found themselves working well into the night, and the structured regiment of daily mealtimes (or lack thereof) changed, favoring a more personalized, individual fluidity to suit different schedules. Still, the epicurean ritual's "flavor" remained lonely and depressing, a liturgy of the overworked. However, during the 1940s, cultural perception of the midnight snack saw a transition from morose to fashionable.

College students are famous trend-setters for what's cool — and as early as the late-1800s, the idea of a midnight snack as a fashionable social event was forming in the collegiate sphere. Late-night, after classes, students of New England's burgeoning academic-bohemian scene were frequenting diners and cafes with a table full of hip metropolitan friends. This social movement eventually conceived the after-hours coffeehouse art scene of New York City in the 1940s and '50s.

Indeed, the '40s seem to be the turning point for midnight-snacking's fashionable facelift. The December 1943 issue of "Popular Mechanics" includes detailed instructions for building one's own "midnight snack tray," designed for serving morsels of cheese by candlelight. Soon thereafter, the 1950s saw the birth of frozen pizza and craveable sandwiches like frosted loaf and Welsh rarebit, all of which happen to make killer midnight munchies.

This shift in the midnight snack's cultural perception as a fun, playful, desirable event might have also coincided with the rising popularity of the television, as foodies began snacking at home while watching their favorite shows well into the evening as both a social and solo activity. Furthering this pleasure-centric doctrine, 1982 saw the publication of Chris Hibbard's "The Midnight Snack Cookbook."

Zooming further back, there's a scientific explanation behind these famed and ongoing nocturnal cravings. Midnight snacking carries a non-conscious biological linkage to the human body's natural circadian rhythm. A study by the Oregon Health & Science University published in Science Daily concluded that nighttime appetite peaks can be traced to ancestors of centuries past, who might have eaten larger meals at night in order to more efficiently store calories in the body. Today, high-fat, calorie-dense foods like ice cream sundaes, grilled cheese sandos, and cold spaghetti with meatballs (Alex Guarnaschelli's preferred midnight snack) deliver that quickly-bioavailable energy during sleep's natural fasting period. Old habits die hard, even centuries later. A 2014 data release by Jawbone, which runs a fitness app, tracked users' daily dietary habits and found that cravings for fatty, sugary foods was highest between the hours of midnight and 4:00 a.m (via The Atlantic).

In his book "At Day's Close — Night in Times Past," historian Roger Ekrich analyzes nocturnal biphasic theory (in which a person regularly sleeps in two distinct segments throughout the day). According to Ekrich, this might have been culturally dominant in Western Europe pre-Industrial Revolution. "Nighttime in the early modern age embodied a distinct culture," writes Ekrich, explaining that nocturnal activity used to be commonplace around the world, with "two major intervals of sleep bridged by up to an hour or more of quiet wakefulness." During this interval, ostensibly, is when the ancestral tradition of the midnight snack perpetuated.

In some cultures around the world, late-night eating remains a social activity with inherent sacredness. The Japanese show "Midnight Diner," for instance, centers around a small 12-seat eatery in Shinjuku, Tokyo that's only open from midnight to 7:00 a.m. The diner attracts foodies with non-traditional lifestyles, and the show (which first aired in 2009) highlights the closeness and built-in intimacy of sharing these seldom-shared hours with others and breaking bread during an unconventional meal time. The vibe is as warm as it is steeped in quiet ennui — not wildly unlike Edward Hopper's 1942 masterpiece painting "Nighthawks," which depicts a late-night diner scene doused in bone-chilling isolationism. 

Today, the American midnight snack is a solidly solo experience, but one steeped in hedonistic pleasure rather than Industrial loneliness or gloom. It's all about giving the soft animal of your body what it wants, whether that's a full slice of chocolate cake or a bite off the side of a block of cheese (never mind the teeth marks).