Why are there holes in crackers?

To reduce air resistance so you can get them to your mouth more quickly.

They were originally to allow the heat of the oven to more quickly and evenly cook the crackers.

It allows for faster baking.

Alton Brown probably discussed this on an episode of Good Eats at one point. The holes allow the dough to crisp when baking. It has something to do with heat and releasing steam, but I don’t remember the details.

Gee, I just thought it was so the cheese wouldn’t fall off so easily. Silly me

The original crackers or hardtack that was fed to Union troops during the civil war was usually a 3” by 3” square half an inch thick. Troops were issued 6–8 of them as part of a 3 day ration.

Alton says (5:13) it prevents crackers from “puffing up” by water-to-steam conversion while baking. The process of poking holes in crackers is called docking.

They’re for looking through ;)

It keeps them flatter. They are made up of layers of flour and shortening which has water. When baked, the water makes steam and puffs between the flour layers. Having holes let’s the steam escape so the whole cracker doesn’t puff up. Ever noticed that the holes are where the crackers are thinnest?

Yes I often look through them. Fascinating, you can fit real tall buildings in those titsy teeny weeny wee holes, if you put the suckers close enough to your eye. Got my eye gouged by a seagull one time doing exactly that, greedy little bastards.