Food Trends Gone Too Far

Original Cup Noodles (@originalcupnoodles) shared a post.

Pumpkin spice became an American comfort food. It dominates as soon as leaves turn because of pie and lattes.Ramen.Japanese/Chinese comfort food dominates year-round. It dominates fall and winter because of hot soup and noodles.

Pumpkin spice and ramen work well together. They lend themselves to many food combinations and preparations.

Should they mix? Nissin (the company behind Cup Noodles) thought they should.Cup Noodles.People thought they should make Pumpkin Spice and Top Ramen. You can find the company's pumpkin spice cup noodles at select Walmarts.

Orion's Cookery (@orionscookery) shared a post.

Flamin' Hot Cheetos give a feeling of spicy orange dust staining your fingers and burning your throat. Rice Krispies Treats give a feeling of marshmallow and cereal glued together with butter hitting your teeth. Flamin' Hot Cheetos.Cheetos Rice Krispies Treats.This feels like "argh."

Rice Krispies Treats feel dull. They do not need to look reddish-orange or taste like a taco.

yimyums - Lil 👩🏻 (@yimyums) shared a post.

Macarons.Macarons feature French cookies made of almond flour and meringue.Almond flour and meringue.These macarons are hard to make. They usually come in many solid colors that look nice in photos. The name is...Chili sauce is pronounced mah-kuh-RONE, not mac-uh-ROON (a coconut cookie).The word is pronounced mah-kuh-RONE, not mac-uh-ROON (a coconut cookie).

Sriracha.Sriracha is a Thai hot sauce. It uses chili peppers, sugar, garlic, vinegar, and salt. It pours easily from a bottle with a green top and a white rooster printed on the container (if it is the Huy Fong brand popular in the US). It isSriracha is pronounced see-RAH-chah.The word is pronounced see-RAH-chah.

Macarons can have almost any flavor. However, Sriracha Macarons, with the hot sauce in the filling, might make French and Thai chefs look at it with disgust.Sriracha Macarons.Sriracha Macarons, with the hot sauce in the filling, might be a trend French and Thai chefs would both look at with disgust.

Every year, county and state fairs boast about the strange deep-fried foods they create. These foods seem to get weirder yearly—Oreos, PB&J, mac and cheese, pickles, hot sauce, guacamole, etc.Deep-fried foods.They have created bizarre foods that get weirder each year: Oreos, PB&J, mac and cheese, pickles, hot sauce, guacamole, etc.Mac and cheese.Pickles.Hot sauce.Guacamole, etc.

Meanwhile, on TikTok,some cooks, scared by high grocery prices and maybe wanting to make butter, are making their own version of a creamy, tasty staple: homemade butter.Some cooks on TikTok, scared by high grocery prices and maybe wanting to make butter, are creating their own version of a creamy and delicious dietary staple: homemade butter.

Consider basic definitions and some logic. A fried food is something cooked in hot fat or oil. Butter is a fat.

Deep-fried butter (a stick of fried butter) is just grease.

Protein in powder form.Protein powder used to be for athletes and bodybuilders. Now, with high-protein diets popular for weight loss, protein powder is a common ingredient in another health trend: smoothies.

Bone broth.Bone broth is a millennia-old liquid. Simmering animal bones and connective tissues created this mineral-rich drink for ancient hunter-gatherers. Now, people buy it in health food stores and supermarkets, claiming it is a nutrient-dense, low-calorie, low-carb food for those who skip hunting.

Bone broth protein powder in a can tries to give broth a beefier boost. But adding s'mores flavor ruins that muscular edge. Only the weak disguise their protein and broth with sugar and chocolate.

A post from Paige Agosta (@paiges_cakes_and_cookies).

Appetizers look better, stylish, and Instagram-ready when you spread them artfully on a wooden cutting board. The trend began with cheese boards. It moved to charcuterie boards, which include cold meats, cheese, fruit, and crackers. Then, it reached a culinary master's degree level to butter boards.butter boardsThe board uses butter spread as a base. Toppings get mixed in, and bread is used for scooping everything up.

The next level of board style swaps savory for sweet.buttercreamboardsThe board gets covered in frosting mixed with or topped with sugary treats like chocolate and candy. You use small pieces of cake to scoop it all up.

This is basically a pre-cut cupcake. You have to share it with others and their fingers.

A post from Tutus Pantry (@tutuspantry).

Nutrient-powered kaleKale, with vitamins A, K, and C galore, is the dark green leafy star in salads, soups, and slaws.Nutrient-powered avocadosAvocados, with vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats galore, are the light green silky stars in salads, smoothies, and toast toppings.

Kale plus avocado makes a nutrient-powered mix that is mostly green.

Kale guacamole is what you expect. You make a guacamole base, then add a good amount of kale.kale.

Enjoy those vitamins.

Longtime breakfast pairings are changing. Maple syrup is not just for pancakes anymore. Bacon is not just a side for eggs. Both flavors appear in new sweet and savory food items and recipes. For years, coffee options were limited to black or cream and sugar.

Bring them back together as a trio. Entermaple bacon coffee.

Some people find coffee smells better than it tastes. The coffee and bacon aromas combine nicely. Adding the sweet maple syrup brings the strong scent and taste of a breakfast special from a roadside diner.

Quinoa is aprotein-rich seedThis seed has existed for thousands of years. Recently, it entered mainstream cooking. People cook it and put it in dishes like rice, couscous, pasta, and other grains or seeds.

Nondairy milks (we're going with theWorldwide definition of “milk”versus theThe FDA definition., which limits it to cows) are another ancient drink that have become more mainstream. Vegans, vegetarians, allergy sufferers, or those who dislike cow's milk can now pick almond, oat, rice, coconut, hemp, or soy milk. Quinoa milk is an option now.

Quinoa milk sounds pretentious. Every other plant milk has been used fully, but quinoa milk needs vanilla to hide its blandness.

A post from Bayonne Apartments (@livingatharborpointe)

S'mores.S'mores moved up. They went from a simple campfire snack—chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers—to a fancier treat with coconut and berries.

Cheese balls might date back to the early 1800s.The early 1800s.Cheese balls appeared in the US then became popular in the 1950s. They shifted from mocked holiday appetizers to refined cheese spheres, thanks to more cheese types and efforts to improve them for vegan or vegetarian eaters.Vegan or vegetarian..

Adding chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers to the cheese ball does not boost its retro appeal. It does emphasize cream cheese for a dessert-like taste.

A post from Wicked Good Cupcakes ✨ (@wkdgoodcupcakes)

Cupcakes are smaller, more portable cakes.

Mason jars are clear food containers now.Mason jars hold everything.They hold preserves, salads, parfaits, or whole meals in one canister.

Combining items solves a problem. Corrugated paper or foil wrappers are old-school. Instead, cram cake and frosting into a jar.

Cupcakes in a jar supposedlyoffers a tidier eating experience. But they stop being ‘cup’cakes. They become ‘jar’cakes or ‘fork’cakes. Isn't making a crumbly, sticky mess the point of a cupcake?