Chewy describes food that requires some work to bite through and break down with your teeth. A fresh bagel is chewy: you can sink your teeth into it, but you need to really chew before swallowing. Caramels, gummy bears, and taffy are all chewy candies that you can't just crunch up quickly.

The opposite of chewy might be crunchy (like potato chips that shatter immediately) or soft (like mashed potatoes that require almost no chewing). Some foods can be both: a chocolate chip cookie might have a crispy edge but a chewy center.

Whether chewy is good depends on the food. A chewy chocolate brownie? Delicious. Chewy steak? Usually a sign it's overcooked or low quality. Pizza crust is often praised for being perfectly chewy, and many people love chewy cookies more than crispy ones. The word chewiness describes this quality as a noun, like when a recipe promises “maximum chewiness.”

The texture comes from things like gluten in bread, gelatin in candy, or how long something is cooked. Bakers and candy makers carefully control chewiness to create the exact texture they want.