Food Trends From 2017 No One Will Remember In 2018

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The year 2017 certainly kept things interesting when it came to food. From sushi burgers to fancy matcha lattes, Instagram had us incessantly double-tapping on countless innovative culinary creations, turning each and every one of us into bonafide food critics, going ham with descriptors like #droolworthy and #instafoody. But as much as there were food trends that excited us in 2017 — I'm looking at you turmeric — there were others whose fame was short-lived. 

Here are just a few 2017 food trends people probably won't remember by the time we wrap up 2018.

With activated charcoal gaining popularity in 2017, an array of black foods began appearing all over social media, possibly in protest to the overabundance of rainbow foods flooding our feeds. There was black bread, black juice and yes, black ice cream. Besides looking kind of creepy, this trendy food contained activated charcoal, which some say, has certain health benefits. According to WebMD, "[Activated charcoal] is used to reduce bloating and gas, lower cholesterol and even prevent hangovers." The downside: turns out activated charcoal will stain your mouth and skin black, which means it's great for photographing, but selfies are out once you eat it. See ya later, scary ice cream.

With more and more people embracing the paleo lifestyle, it seems natural that a slew of bun-less burger options started popping up on restaurant menus everywhere in 2017. Enter the avocado bun. 

Let it be known that I like avocado as much as the next girl. But replacing a burger bun with an entire halved avocado is a bit of an overkill. Not only would that be really hard to eat, but we have to imagine you'd get pretty messy. This is the kind of food people order just to photograph once, then never think of again.

2017 seemed to be the year we took beloved flavors and went completely overboard — and nothing proves this better than the pickle-flavored food trend. We know a lot of people love pickles, and adding that flavor to your chips might be a good idea, but it went too far when the flavor showed up in freeze pops, mints, candy canes, and even baked goods. Eventually, people realized it didn't taste nearly as fun as it sounded, and the trend started to fade — which came as a shock to absolutely no one.

After the Unicorn Frappuccino frenzy, Starbucks followed up with a Dragon Frappuccino that, though not as popular, still generated a lot of buzz. Still, this bright purple and green beverage didn't seem to take off quite like Starbucks probably expected — more than likely because it tasted even worse than their first attempt. Hopefully Starbucks will spend the new year focusing more on taste and less on pretty colors. 

A waffle iron that's only for making waffles? Now that's just crazy. The year 2017 had foodies making anything but traditional breakfast waffles in their irons, and you can thank social media (again) for this trend. Hashtag #willitwaffle generated many Instagram posts, inspiring everything from waffled spaghetti to waffled sausage and rice, and even waffled mac and cheese. So now that we all know it's possible to waffle all sorts of things, we can stop. The cleanup alone probably isn't worth it.