The Snackdown with Ian Goldstein

A feature where I talk to interesting people about their favorite snacks.

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of The Snackdown, where I’ll be talking to interesting people about their favorite snacks!

In this edition, I had a snack-to-snack chat with Ian Goldstein. Ian is a writer and performer who lives in Brooklyn. He loves producing and hosting comedy shows in apartments or any intimate spaces, and he’s written for places like the New Yorker, McSweeeney’s, Vulture, Entertainment Weekly, and more. In addition to Ian and I both being writers (particularly humor writers), we both suffer from digestion problems!

Subsnax: What are your favorite snacks?
Ian: I love cookies. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies (made by my Canadian sister-in-law) are among my favorites. Also, almost any kind of cinnamon roll. My favorite savory snack is peanut-butter filled pretzels. My favorite sweet snacks include cereal, cinnamon rolls, and cookies. My favorite all-natural snack is bananas! It used to be cashews (but I can't eat them anymore). I make homemade cashew butter or almond butter with coconut oil. My favorite snack to eat while working is non-dairy yogurt and corn cakes with any kind of nut butter (it used to be Skittles until I started sweating while eating them).

Subsnax: Did you have a favorite snack as a kid and do you still like it as an adult? Ian: As a kid, I absolutely loved Moon Pies. I would still eat them now if they didn't give me terrible heartburn. I used to love gushers. Oh! And RITZ Bits Cheese Sandwich Crackers I used to have all the time!

Subsnax: Are there any snack or food categories you can't stand?
Ian: I found yogurt disgusting my whole life but I recently started loving it.

Subsnax: I know you have Crohn’s disease. How does your terrible digestion affect your snack selection?
Ian: Sadly, it affects it a lot. I cut out a lot of what I used to eat. NO more processed foods (Ritz bitz, Skittles, Moon Pies). I can't have many raw fruits or veggies as a snack either or I'll risk bowel obstruction. And chocolate gives me heartburn because of reflux!

Subsnax: If you had to be a snack, which snack would you be and why?
Ian: If I had to be a snack I think I'd probably be yogurt because I have culture and you don't have to bite down on me so it wouldn't hurt when I'm eaten. 

Subsnax: Is soup a meal? Is a hot dog a sandwich?
Ian: Soup can absolutely be a meal (depending on what's in it). By itself, just the broth, it's not much of a meal, but soup with meat and veggies, heck yeah. A hot dog is technically a sandwich (“two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between”), but the argument for it not being a sandwich is very possible.

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