If You Grew Up In The '90s, You Definitely Ate This Afternoon Snack (It's So Easy To Make) - Tasting Table

Ants on a log is a snack made from sliced celery filled with peanut butter and topped with raisins. Raisins represent “ants” marching down a celery-and-peanut-butter “log.” The snack pairs a crisp, nutrient-rich vegetable base with peanut butter for energy until dinner. It was a regular after-school food in the United States during the 1990s, even as many highly processed, brightly colored children’s snacks dominated. The recipe’s origins are unclear, but it has existed since at least the mid-20th century. Modern tastes may require small adjustments to keep the flavor appealing.

"Ants on a log, for the few out there that may not have heard of it before, is a simple snack of sliced celery filled with peanut butter and topped with raisins. The raisins are, of course, the metaphorical ants, marching their way down a celery-and-peanut-butter log. Aside from being one of the vintage dishes with the weirdest names, ants on a log is also the perfect after-school snack for kiddos. The base is a crisp vegetable loaded with nutrients, the peanut butter has plenty of energy to refill the tanks and tide the little ones over until dinner, and the raisins are, well, fun."

"This creative way to eat celery didn't start in the '90s, but it was certainly a regular snack in kitchens around the U.S. during that period. The exact origins are actually quite mysterious, with no one able to lay claim to the first iteration of the recipe, but we do know that ants on a log have been around since at least the mid-20th century."

"Frankly, it's somewhat surprising that ants on a log managed to persist into the age of Gushers and the myriad other psychedelic-colored sugar-based snacks, but a '90s snack it was. In the age of the internet, however, food trends move a bit faster than they used to, and classics like this just don't stand up like they used to."

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