# When and why did \[insert food trend\] become a thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [August 19, 2021, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177 "2021-08-19T21:50:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/41 "2021-08-20T19:20:10Z")
The whole “bacon in everything” trend started because the pork industry promoted it: > **[You Like Bacon Because They Told You To](https://deadspin.com/you-like-bacon-because-they-told-you-to-1642981536)** > > You are a North American, and probably a male, and so you like bacon. Bacon good, you say, making that Tim Allen caveman face: Me like bacon. Me not want to eat unbacon food. Bacon make food better. Me put bacon on burger, in chocolate, around... ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/42 "2021-08-20T19:35:54Z")
I remember reading an article years ago that pork bellies were only traded on the commodity exchange in the summers, because that’s when demand spiked for BLT sandwiches. (Unlike today, when bacon is in everything.) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/43 "2021-08-20T19:40:59Z")
BTW, if you’re wondering why many once exotic fruit or vegetable were suddenly widely available in American supermarkets, the answer is often [Frieda Caplan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frieda_Rapoport_Caplan). She operated a produce company in Southern California and introduced Americans to kiwifruit, starfruit, mushrooms, new varieties of potatoes, and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/44 "2021-08-20T19:50:06Z")
You bite, I’ll barf. Cilantro is vile and tastes like stinkbugs smell. That’s the nicest thing I can say about it. I used to think I didn’t like avocado since I hated guac. Turns out it’s the cilantro in it that ruins it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/45 "2021-08-20T19:54:18Z")
I assume you heard of the genetic basis for that? Some people taste soapiness when tasting cilantro. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/46 "2021-08-20T19:58:24Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Has the pumpkin spice insanity gone away yet? I guess we’ll find out real soon as the air turns crisp. You mean next week? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/47 "2021-08-20T20:20:00Z")
And some, like me, taste the soapiness, but get used to it and eventually it just becomes an acceptable and even desirable flavor (as in my case.) There is definitely a genetic marker that has to do with the perceived flavor interpretation of cilantro, but it’s also something many people get used to (after all, it is one of the most popular herbs in the world.) So it is a mix of genetics and environment (like many things.) ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/48 "2021-08-20T20:26:06Z")
Why would I try to get used to it? That’s just Stockholm Syndrome for the taste buds and olfactory receptors. At least chicken thighs and leg quarters haven’t become trendy, sending up the prices! Thighs are the prime rib of the chicken! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/49 "2021-08-20T20:35:55Z")
I first had cilantro eating Georgian\* bean salad. I couldn’t pin down what it was, but I knew I liked the flavor. I remember Szechuan cuisine becoming trendy in the late '70s. Of course, this was in Minnesota, where Chinese food was traditionally ground pork stewed in a green mush that was mostly celery. \*The country, not the state. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/50 "2021-08-20T21:20:58Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Correct me if I’m wrong – late '80s saw an explosion of **Orange Roughy**. Never heard of it before, trend seemed to have died down within a half decade, or so. Did it come from another planet, then return to its home world? I know the price exploded rapidly. Name change. Prior to that time period it was known as “red roughy”, “deep sea perch”, and “slimehead”. Good marketing decision. They are vulnerable to overfishing and some people have stopped buying them because of that. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/51 "2021-08-20T22:29:39Z")
^ “Hey, Mom, it’s Friday, could we have some Slimehead for supper?” Yes, good marketing decision. Definitely. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/52 "2021-08-20T23:02:41Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Has the pumpkin spice insanity gone away yet? I guess we’ll find out real soon as the air turns crisp > > mmm Nope. Spotted pumpkin spice something-or-other at Kroger two days ago. ---
**Author:** ![Somethingwitty1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/somethingwitty1/32/8899_2.png) [@Somethingwitty1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Somethingwitty1)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/53 "2021-08-20T23:11:13Z")
Mentions of Orange Roughy reminded me of Patagonian Toothfish > **[The Invention of the Chilean Sea Bass - Priceonomics](https://priceonomics.com/the-invention-of-the-chilean-sea-bass/)** > > What do you get when you mix overfishing and foodie culture? An exercise in rebranding. I was just joking about Big Sweet Potato making sweet potato fries a thing. But the bacon reference and chilean sea bass things make me wonder. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2021, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/54 "2021-08-21T00:04:23Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I’m trying to think when I started seeing sushi in grocery stores and I’m drawing a blank. I can pretty well narrow it down to somewhere about 1997-9. A coworker/friend was seeing a guy who worked in the South Loop of Chicago and reported that a grocery store near there had sushi, right there in a cooler at the Dominick’s (large area grocer at the time). We couldn’t believe it so we piled into a car (or maybe 2, there was a group of us) and got some. I can also remember that the guy was obsessed with the [Honda S2000](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_S2000) which was either about or had just been released into the US market. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah 80s it was become popular as “yuppie food” from what I remember, by the 90s when I was in college, it was fairly mainstream. We had a Weird Al tape in the minivan that us kids listened to time & again. Looking it up now, I see it was his [self titled debut album “Weird Al” Yankovic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Weird_Al%22_Yankovic_(album)) which came out in 1983 but we were listening probably five years later. In the song _I’ll Be Mellow When I’m Dead,_ Al notes that “You won’t catch me sipping Perrier down in some sushi bar” after saying he hates organic and health food. He goes on to remark that he isn’t interested in designer jeans, incense, self-awareness, redwood hot tubs or the vegetarian scene. Some time later, I had a lightbulb moment when digging around the soft drink cooler during a family party a few states away. I held up a bottle and asked what it was. “Oh, that’s Perrier, mineral water. You wouldn’t like it.” Of course, tweenaged me wouldn’t have know how Parry-yay was spelled or meant but that part of the song suddenly made sense. I don’t think I had sushi until some years later. Our household wasn’t much for Perrier or sushi. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2021, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/55 "2021-08-21T00:22:33Z")
> [@Happytree](#): > > Hows about putting all kinds of toppings/fillings in pancakes and waffles? Used to be a rare novelty. Now even crappy diners have a big pancake/waffle menu. > Nothing is better than butter and syrup! My wife takes chocolate chips and bananas in her pancakes, and smears so much peanut butter on the top, it would stick to the ceiling indefinitely if you tossed it up there (and don’t think I haven’t considered it). Save yourselves. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2021, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/56 "2021-08-21T00:28:19Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > The spread of Thai restaurants in the US and around the world can be traced to a program of gastrodiplomacy instituted by the Thai government. Maybe if there were some prototypes before that programme started in 2001. In the UK Thai food, often, weirdly, connected to pubs which had never previously sold any food other than crisps and pork scratchings, became common in the late 80s/early 90s. And I mean really common, after being virtually unknown beforehand. The pub versions died out about fifteen years ago; there are still lots of Thai restaurants (and a few in pubs), but no more than most cuisines. Same as the US timeframe ChockFullofHeadyGoodness mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2021, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/57 "2021-08-21T00:31:53Z")
When I was growing up, my dad took me and my brother to IHOP quite a bit. Still, I don’t remember ever hearing about Belgian waffles until I had one at the New York World’s Fair in 1964. After that, it seemed they were everywhere! ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2021, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/58 "2021-08-21T00:33:33Z")
> [@Somethingwitty1](#): > > I was just joking about Big Sweet Potato making sweet potato fries a thing. But the bacon reference and chilean sea bass things make me wonder. I’d have to search for a cite, but I recall reading somewhere that sweet potato fries were created as way to use “ugly” sweet potatoes that aren’t likely to sell in a grocery store produce section. So you might actually be right. I actually suspect a lot of food trends we assume happened organically were actually the result of some food industry working to market a specific food. I’ve mentioned before that Brussels sprouts have become more popular because a couple of decades ago they had their bitterness bred out of them. But in order to convince people to start eating them, the people who worked on breeding them had to get chefs to start using them, which of course involved a lot of marketing. > [@jnglmassiv](#): > > I can pretty well narrow it down to somewhere about 1997-9. A coworker/friend was seeing a guy who worked in the South Loop of Chicago and reported that a grocery store near there had sushi, right there in a cooler That squares with my observations. I worked at a grocery store the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college. On my first day of new employee training one of the other trainees bought a tray of sushi from the store to eat during our break. That would have been in 1999. My first time trying it was my freshman year of college, when the RA took some of the people from the dorm out for sushi, so that would have been fall 1998. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2021, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/59 "2021-08-21T01:00:53Z")
I’ll sea(ha!) you your orange roughies and chilean sea bass and raise you “the poor man’s lobster”, the [monkfish](https://multifiles.pressherald.com/uploads/sites/4/2018/03/monkfish-1-1.jpg). Did anyone ordering monkfish know what they looked like? ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2021, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177/60 "2021-08-21T01:14:44Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Has the pumpkin spice insanity gone away yet? Not according to my Facebook feed. Some people are positively hopping up & down in anticipation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-insert-food-trend-become-a-thing/949177.md?page=4)