What are you seeking in a snack food these days? Between-meal sustenance? A little mindless noshing? Something to stand in for that full-on meal you’re going to forgo a little later on tonight?

These functions—“tide-me-over,” idle munching, and meal replacement—are why we snack, and they’re potent purchasing drivers. The American Dietetic Association has reported that 75 percent of men and women snack at least once a day, while some years ago, Information Resources Inc. noted that Americans derive approximately 25 percent of their total daily calorie intake from snacks.

Having spent the past two decades developing new packaged snacks and, occasionally, entire snack categories for international food and beverage manufacturers, I have discerned or confirmed several unmistakable patterns in Americans’ snack tastes and consumption patterns, many or all of which hold significant implications for the quick-serve restaurant world.

While virtually everyone knows by now that portability, convenience, healthfulness, and other factors unquestionably influence snack choices, it is also true that taste trumps most or all of these considerations most of the time. Though Americans tell pollsters and pundits that they want healthy choices, potato chips remain our nation’s most popular snack food by a hefty margin. That’s the power of taste.

So if taste is such a powerful motivator, the question becomes, What makes for great taste? And time after time, the answer is authenticity. Nowadays, whenever we present product prototypes to consumer taste panels, we find that individuals respond viscerally and enthusiastically to snacks that effectively incorporate (or replicate) the taste of real fruit, real potatoes, real cheese, real butter, or real ethnic or regional spice combinations.

This penchant for true flavors has led us to develop snacks whose primary appeal is their successful approximation of the original inspirations. A recent collaboration with Frito-Lay’s international division resulted in a line of potato chips featuring such varieties as authentic Italian pesto and a basil/garlic/chile formulation based on an actual Thai noodle dish. Dole developed a line of dried fruit snacks for the U.S. market, including a tropical fruit mix flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, and other piquant flavors.

So, how might the quest for snack choices distinguished by authentic tastes play out in the quick-serve world? Consider these possibilities:

For Idle Munching

Some time ago, I suggested in this space that quick-serve restaurant chains haven’t yet warmed to the idea of offering prepackaged, take-away snacks near the counter that speak to the impulse buyer in all of us, as Starbucks has done so effectively. I continue to believe that such a strategy could prove effective as a check-booster, particularly if the snacks in question are high quality, proprietary, true to the brand’s image and strengths, and at least somewhat innovative.

Taco Bell, for instance, might consider offering bags of chile-lime-flavored peanuts. Hamburger or chicken chains could sell bags of hot flavored popcorn as an alternative to deep-fried sides. And why wouldn’t McDonald’s, with its enormous equity in fried potatoes, begin wrapping up a line of gourmet chips spiked, perhaps, with terrific, provocative flavor blends? Subway could conceivably score with a line of high-quality, low-fat jerky treats or novel snack crackers that trade on the chain’s strength in the bread arena.

For Between-Meal Bites

For those inclined to pass up a meal in favor of a lighter bite, or those who are struggling to make it from a 2 p.m. hunger pang to a 7 p.m. dinner, it’s unlikely that a mere bag of chips or a handful of popcorn or peanuts will fill the bill. But that’s not to say that quick-serves couldn’t devise a few new creative items sized to satisfy without stuffing. McDonald’s already tapped into this urge with its astoundingly successful Snack Wraps, but there remains a wealth of opportunities in this emerging menu category.

Some enterprising chain could look toward those scrumptious, petite, steamed Chinese rolls known as bao buns, which often team with pork and other spiced meats and vegetables, but could also be filled with sweet fruit preserves or cheeses. Others might consider variations on the popular Mexican taquito, an Asian variety, say, packed with chicken, bok choy, and some sort of garlic-chile infused sauce. KFC could parlay its mashed potato expertise into a line of Indian-style samosas containing peas and some sort of spiced, seasoned mashers. And still others—Panera, perhaps—might consider taking creative liberties with fresh spring rolls, or even lumpia, the popular, tubular fried and filled pastry from the Philippines.

In each of the above cases, the key to success would entail effectively balancing the familiar with the exotic. A product that strikes quick-service consumers as overly foreign, esoteric, or just plain weird would be doomed one week into a test-market trial. But provided the new entry is based on a simple, familiar concept—the fried mashed potato that makes up a samosa, for instance, or the crispy fried shell that surrounds a taquito—chains could introduce the novel twists that can make for truly destination-worthy menu additions.

All things considered, with Americans’ culinary frontiers expanding at a healthy pace and a world of untapped delicacies in front of us, now is an auspicious time to be looking to exotic locales for new and authentic snack inspirations.