The phrases "farm fresh" and "farm to table" are enough to elicit a Liz Lemon-style eye roll. But, truth be told, there are so many other food trends that have become both ubiquitous and unbearable! From donuts to cupcakes, macarons, cronuts and back to donuts, the foodie crowd is both fickle and fanatical, settling on an "it" food or trend, boosting its popularity, and then unceremoniously abandoning the craze once it becomes a bit too ubiquitous. But, by then, the damage has been done, and we're left to moan and grown about the obnoxious food trends left behind. Here, you'll find a list of seven such fads that we desperately hope will dissipate.
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- Putting a fried egg on top of everything
For many seasons now, whenever a contestant on Top Chef presented a plate with a fried egg atop it, the judges would swoon–even if it seemed like the most unnecessary, random addition to the dish. Soon enough, restaurants started getting in on the yolk-y fun and now, it's almost unusual to find an eatery that doesn't plop a fried egg atop its burger patties, soft-shell crabs, grilled fish, seared scallops, braised leeks, fried rice, polenta, potato hash. Enough already, you eggheads!
- Bacon as dessert
It might clog your arteries, but fried bacon is delicious. No argument there. Unfortunately, swine-loving foodies decided it would be oh-so-clever to experiment with sweet and savory flavor profiles by incorporating bacon into desserts. Now, you can't glimpse at Pinterest without stumbling upon a dozen recipes for bacon chocolate chip cookies, bacon-covered caramel apples, chocolate and bacon cupcakes, peanut butter bacon cookies, maple bacon caramel corn, and bacon peanut brittle. Is it me or do none of these desserts sound appetizing?
- #Foodporn hashtags
It's bad enough that Instagram users insist on snapping photos of their meals instead of simply living in the moment and enjoying these culinary delights. But adding the #foodporn hashtag just magnifies the hipster douchery of it all.
- Kids' cooking competition shows
Yes, MasterChef Junior was a clever Master Chef spin-off and, yes, it was astounding to watch a 9-year-old in a Hawaiian shirt present a mouth-watering filet mignon and sautéed shrimp dish accompanied with a potato puff, glazed carrots and a mushroom cream sauce. But watching young children wielding machete-sized knives, jumping up and down while attempting to reach porcelain dishes stacked on a too-high shelf, standing atop stepstools to operate pasta machines and food processors, and hovering over skillets that sometimes burst into flames isn't just nerve-wracking–it's irresponsible. Also, casting experts must go out of their way to find a large percentage of obnoxious children and turn them into contestants. Sure, some are lovable and adorable, but most are pretentious and unbearable. If MasterChef Junior Season 1 winner Alexander wasn't enough of an arrogant foodie elitist, Season 2 brings us Samuel, a 12-year-old kid who wishes to "change the minds of the culinary thinkers in our world." Seriously, that's a direct quote. And now The Food Network has its own kids' competition? Make it stop!
- Pumpkin everything
I can appreciate a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte or a pumpkin muffin, but this holiday season, it seems the orange fruit (yes, it's a fruit) is the new black. Walk through a supermarket and you'll find Pumpkin Spice Oreo cookies, Edy's Pumpkin ice cream, Eggo Pumpkin Spice waffles, Hershey's Kisses Pumpkin Spice candies, Pillsbury Pumpkin cookie mix, Coffee-Mate and Bailey's pumpkin spice-flavored coffee creamers, and even Pumpkin Pie Pop-Tarts. Pumpkin has become the new annoying orange.
- Gluten-free insanity
While Celiac disease is a rather serious autoimmune disorder that requires a gluten-free diet, only about 1% of the population in the United States suffers from this ailment. Others may have a mild gluten intolerance, but the numbers still don't explain the abundance of gluten-free foods sold at supermarkets (muffins, dumplings, cookies, doughnuts, pizza, pretzels, and so forth) or, for that matter, the emergence of new gluten-free menus at restaurants and fast food chains. What does explain the gluten-free craze is our society's insistence on hopping aboard any food-related trend bandwagon. I mean, there's now a gluten-free menu at Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell, for goodness sake!
- Kale overload
Once upon a time, kale was just a humble leafy green, full of nutrients like vitamin A and C. But over the course of 12 or so months, kale was reinvented as an "it" food and was chopped and tossed to make salads, sautéed and pan-fried, baked into chips, liquefied and transformed into soup, blended into green smoothies, stuffed into turnovers, and tossed atop pasta dishes. By now, the very mention of the word "kale" makes many of us moan and groan as if we'd heard an idiotic slang term like "YOLO," "twerk" and "turnt." Yes, kale is healthy, but so are collard greens, spinach, watercress, artichokes, and romaine lettuce. Perhaps we can give some of those a whirl?
Image Via Corbis
