making a hard, crisp, or breaking sound when chewed or walked on; having a crisp texture.
From 'crunch' (onomatopoeic word for the sound of breaking) plus '-y' (forming adjectives). The word is imitative, designed to sound like the thing it describes.
The sound of crunchy food activates pleasure centers in your brain differently than soft food—loudness and texture together create a multi-sensory experience that manufacturers engineer into snacks to make them more addictive.
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