Bar (food)

Historical precedents

For centuries, people have made dense, portable energy bars for travel and storage. Ancient Greek soldiers carried pastelli, a bar of honey and sesame. India’s chikki is a sweet concentrate of sugar and nuts. The Aztecs made seed cakes from amaranth and honey, still eaten in Mexico as alegría.

Types of bar

Most food bars are sweet, not savory. Some are designed for specific uses, such as standing in for breakfast or boosting protein intake, while others target particular groups like women. Certain bars also comply with diets such as paleo or gluten-free. The first chocolate bars came about after Joseph Fry, John Cadbury, and Benjamin Cadbury figured out how to make solid chocolate.

Bars with extras like nuts or dried fruit appeared in the 1910s, with the Clark Bar, launched in 1917, becoming a major hit. Chocolate bars gained traction in the 1900s as tasty, cheap, high-energy snacks. In the UK, Kendal Mint Cake became a staple among climbers and mountaineers.

Military forces use food ration bars as field rations because they are handier and more nutritious than canned food; these bars range from cereal-based to candy-like and can include freeze-dried or dehydrated meat, fruit, vegetables, and grains. Fruit bars consist of compressed dried fruit, often with vegetable oil, sweeteners, and binders like wheat or oat flour. Granola bars, made from granola, muesli, or cereal with oat flakes, vegetable fats, and sweetener, took off in the 1960s alongside the Hippie counterculture.

Athletes eat protein bars for their dense nutrition and high protein content, which offers quick energy and helps repair connective tissue. Bob Hoffman sold Hi-Proteen Honey Fudge bars in the 1950s, and Pillsbury introduced Space Food Sticks in 1969, modeled after astronaut rations. The PowerBar, released in 1986, made protein bars popular among casual fitness enthusiasts. In the late 1900s and early 2000s, a distinct high-protein food culture emerged, driving widespread marketing of low-calorie, high-protein bars.