30% Of People Think This Food Trend Needs To Die Once And For All
When you think of food trends, what comes to mind? There's almost too many to count from the last decade: bone broth, food mashups like cronuts and cake pops, rainbow-colored Frappuccinos, that chicken sandwich, truffle everything, bulletproof coffee... we could go on. And when it comes to food fads that don't stand the test of time – otherwise known as trends – they tend to fall into one of a few camps: do it for the 'gram, or do it for "wellness." Some even effectively combine the two (see: golden milk lattes).
We decided to find out which of a small sample of food fads irked Americans most. Mashed conducted a survey of 555 people around the United States and asked them what food trend needed to die, once and for all. There were a few choices: "Foam" (think 90s "molecular gastronomy" and Michelin-starred restaurants you probably didn't frequent), "Ghost Peppers," "Truffle Oil," "Celebrity Fast Food Endorsements," "Pumpkin Spice Everything," and "Other." It's called science, people. The survey may not have hit all of the greats of the last decade, but its results delivered a resounding NOPE to one food trend that just will not let go. Hold on to your holiday spirit because this is one you may have thought a lot of people were into.
The worst of the worst food trends might surprise you
People are done, and we mean done, with pumpkin spice everything. A whopping 30.09 percent of respondents said they wished to see this trendy trope die once and for all. In what amounts to a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg that spiraled out of control, the pumpkin spice marketing craze came to symbolize a highly divisive autumn ideal, (via Refinery29), posing as the essence of crisp October air, Ugg boots, fuzzy scarves, and fall foliage. And boy, did the backlash come on strong and hard – especially to the OG of pumpkin spice: Starbucks' PSL.
As Vox's Rebecca Jennings writes, "Since its inception in 2003, the pumpkin spice latte has become something of a straw man for discussions about capitalism, seasonal creep, and the meaning of 'basic,'" resulting in widespread hatred for an otherwise innocuous beverage." Well said. It's not just the flavor, folks. It's the erosion of society that the pumpkin spice represents. And speaking of late-stage capitalism, people hate celebrity endorsements almost as much. We see you, Charli D'Amelio and Dunkin', Travis Scott and McDonald's, and 27.21 percent of us – to be exact – are not here for it. The third least popular trend? Ghost peppers. It's unclear if a plant that's been around for generations can really be considered a "trend," but 20 percent of survey takers are still not feeling it.