People Say These 20 Popular Food Trends Are Actually Really Awful, So I'm Curious If You Agree
by Meg Sullivan · BuzzFeedWe laugh at trendy foods from previous decades — meat in jello molds, fondue as a meal, cream-of-anything soups, etc. But will our future selves cringe at the current popular food trends? Reddit user u/itchy-picture-4282 wanted to find out, asking the r/cooking community about what modern food trend they see being laughed at in the future. These are people's predictions for what food trends are going to age badly, and we want to know if you agree with them:
1. "Everything being served on a wood plank even if it doesn't make sense to do so."
"I once had dessert with custard served on a plank. Messy."
2. "When there’s an entire charcuterie board hanging off my drink, there’s a problem."
"I once got a Cajun martini. It had an entire crawfish in it. I was not expecting that."
3. "Pumpkin Spice everything. I refuse to believe this will last forever!"
4. "I think the whole charcuterie board thing will die out. It's just messy and lazy. They may look 'artistic' when first served, but about ten minutes into any party, they look like a cured meat autopsy."
"Grazing tables and large charcuterie setups. They are built mostly for virtual effects. After sitting at room temp for several hours, most of the remaining food must be tossed. And then you need to account for germs from all the people hovering over it and touching everything."
5. "Having 'protein' versions of everything from coffee, to milk to snickers bars."
"'High protein 'treats' made with cottage cheese needs to stop. I was so excited to sneak extra protein and calcium while cutting calories... I made ice cream with cottage cheese. It was salty and not in a good way. It tasted awful."
6. "Giant desserts where the outside of the cup is covered in frosting, and it's a milkshake, cake, candy, and Bloody Mary all in one."
"One time, my husband ordered a shake to go from a place that does this, and they had the gall to cover the takeout cup in frosting and shit. My husband had to hold it while he drove home because it couldn't go in the cup holder. I told him he should have made them swap the cup, but he hadn't thought of that."
7. "Those menu items made just for Instagram, like a cheeseburger with a steak or lobster tail impaled on top. Those are the new version of the aspic thing because they do exist, and they are attention-grabbing, but they aren’t really representative of what type of food most people actually eat regularly."
8. "I recently watched a reel about 'my daughter's Stanley for today.' Her mother had this mini bento box that clicked into the top of the Stanley Cup. She filled the bottle with sweetened water and the box with candy and salty snacks. It's so gross and beyond terrible that she's feeding her kid this crap. This plastic nightmare that's Stanley and all the attachments needs to end. Just so much waste!"
9. "Serving meals on quarter sheet pans and butcher paper won't age well."
10. "Any food that has Hot Cheetos incorporated."
"There is a burrito joint near me and they have a breakfast burrito with Hot Cheetos. I hope that one exception stands the test of time."
"Hot Cheetos dust on Panko ruins so much sushi."
"Here in San Diego, Hot Cheeto burritos have been a drunk food for a long time. I don't see that becoming mockery-inducing, at least here. People love their Hot Cheetos and Takis."
11. "The amount of Fruity Pebbles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch-flavored things has just gone completely overboard."
12. "Paleo and carnivore diets. I don’t mean just meat eaters, of which I’m one; I mean, people on Instagram having a stick of butter and four steaks for lunch."
"I assume anyone on a carnivore diet is either lying about what they eat or hiding the symptoms of scurvy."
13. "'Deconstructed' dishes. If I wanted to put my meal together myself, I would have just cooked for myself and not paid like five times more for the same thing finished when it was served to me."
14. "Recreating 'fast food' with better ingredients. It's actually just cooking normal food, but because most 'fast food' is a dumbed-down, mass-producible version of the real stuff."
15. "I would say the absolutely ridiculous burgers and sandwiches that can only be eaten by disassembling them and using a knife and fork... I already laugh at them."
16. "I once tried making chocolate avocado ice cream... it tasted like... avocados, lol, and not in a good way."
17. "Maybe not laughed at, but having food overly packaged in plastic. Microplastics from food packaging will be like the new cigarette one day."
18. "Gold leaf needs to go."
19. "Hopefully, charcoal in things that don’t need or benefit from charcoal. Like grapefruit, and particularly like alcohol, having to avoid the food you normally enjoy because of the risk that it might interfere with your medication is so unnecessary."
20. "Truffle oil is an abomination and should be yeeted into the trash."
"Truffle oil french fries smell like someone's armpit flesh is rotting. Whyyyyy?"