Why do some foods become fashionable?

Quizzer

What is it with Mac’n’ cheese?? This is what we used to eat when we had no money. Now it’s become a delicacy ….really!

Absolutely. We have macaroni cheese about once a month when the cupboard is almost bare and I can’t be bothered to go to the shop. In days gone by we had it as it was a cheap meal when we were watching the pennies.

Same with fish finger sandwiches which appear on many menus now because they are considered trendy.

Avocados can make the basis of an excellent chocolate mousse.

Ingredients & Method (Coles Recipe):
Ingredients: 2 ripe avocados, 150g dark chocolate (melted), 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1/4 cup maple syrup (or sugar), 1 tsp vanilla bean paste, pinch of salt.
Method: Combine all ingredients in a blender, processing until very smooth. Spoon into glasses, chill for at least 2 hours.

Tips:
Ensure avocados are very ripe for a smooth, creamy texture.
For a deeper flavor, use high-quality dark chocolate and cocoa powder.
The avocado taste is hidden by the chocolate, making it a popular healthy dessert option.

This thread has reminded me of the Northern married couple on the Catherine Tate show. 🤣

They only enjoyed plain, British food and even people who ate garlic bread were “dirty, filthy b******s.”

For those who like avocados - and maybe those who don't - a drizzle of green tabasco over sliced avocados is delicious. My favourite way to eat them.

Today I had one of M&S's new chocolate and marscapone hot cross buns. Not particularly my cup of tea but decent enough for those of you who love chocolatey things.

They weren't a patch though on the marscapone panetonne which Waitrose had at Christmas. Hope they have it again this year.

I used to love my mum's bilberry pie. We used to go picking bilberries in a field near us until they built a housing estate on the land. Blueberries are just not the same!
I used to have a clump of rhubarb in the gsrden and cooked some evry year until my daughter decided to cook some with her friends . Instead of cutting some, she completely uprooted it and it was gone! I look forward to the season when a friend with an allotment brings his surplus to give away. As for gooseberries I haven;t seen them for sale for years.

Tenko

It was Nigella who made avocado on toast a thing . Waitrose used to have the nigella effect . If she mentioned something on her show , Waitrose would sell out of the item .

Same thing happened when St Delia started putting coriander in everything, like sucking my hiking socks but it flew out of the supermarkets!
I cringe when tomatoes are advertised as 'grown for flavour', why else would they be grown.

narrowboatnan

When did purple sprouting brocolli change its name to tenderstem brocolli? 🤷‍♀️

Maybe when Chinese gooseberries morphed into Kiwi fruit.

I always thought Chinese gooseberries were physalis which I love. I do a very 'chefy' desert of meringue nests filled with crystallised ginger mixed into thick cream topped with chocolate dipped physalis with the leaves extended upwards. looks fantastic and as if you've spent hours but takes very little time and is so delicious!

Geordiegirl1

I remember a time before broccoli !

You're older than the Roman Empire????

www.thespruceeats.com/broccoli-history-1807573

ROMILO makes a valid point food produced here is as good if not better than elsewhere. Blackcurrants and British strawberries are the best so are Scottish raspberries. Welsh lamb and Irish beef to name just a few from a vast variety are all available.

Regarding food trends everything has it's place from every continent on earth we are very fortunate. Advocados in a dip or dressing and dessert suit me but not sliced on toast. Beetroot can go in everything it's one of my favourites. Kimchi I eat most days and I eat every other pickled veg that's available. Tinned fish is high in omega oil and delicious all foods good for the gut. But in controlled portion because of the salt content.

We have delights from elsewhere that we can't grow or do so with elaborate techniques. We are fortunate to have the choice providing we don't mind the food miles. I know what is good for me without the need for trendy influencers who don't impress me.

I grow what I can on my veg plot some is hit and miss depending on the weather. I have grown sprouts but they are not from Brussels but my garden. I have gooseberry blackberry blackcurrant bushes I don't grow sloe berries I pick them in the woods. Whatever I grow my attitude is if the birds get more than me so be it that's gardening for you. What food I choose to grow buy or cook is my choice.

Frogs

LucyAnna5

To be fair - sometimes ‘trendy’ foods can be related to health research. So avocados are good for you, similarly wholewheat or sourdough bread, so these foods are promoted. Ditto blueberries and kiwi fruits ( good for constipation).

I’m not sure I trust health research anymore. At one time they told us not to eat too many eggs cause of the high cholesterol but that seems to have been discounted now. I’m sure there has been other things 🤔

As both science and technology changes, so does the social acceptance of their results. I remember Tomorrow's World in the mid-1980's being less than enthusiastic about what became the WorldWideWeb.

They wrote it off as something for "the superpowers" not for your everyday Jane or Joe.

And now, we have a device that Star Trek could barely comprehend in our pockets or handbags.. the sum of the majority of human knowledge a few clicks away.

dalrymple23

I cook everything from scratch, so am not of the "can't be bothered" brigade. We have gooseberries and blackcurrants in the garden but having to top and tail the fiddly little things, completely puts me off.

Oh my goodness, topping and tailing fruit for my mother and grandmother to make jam.. Loved getting to taste test the "is it set enough?" phase.

Hated cleaning up afterwards.

One time my husband had been gifted a shit-ton of strawberries and his mother decided that she ''really really" needed to visit us that weekend and was shocked I was making jam because she didn't know how to do it and therefore it was an esoteric rite forbidden to mortal souls.

Greyduster

It’s not only Mac’n’Cheese that has become “gentrified” but beef short ribs too. The butcher used to throw them at you when I was growing up and, braised slowly in the oven, they were a cheap midweek meal. Then some celebrity chef made them trendy and suddenly they cost a fortune. I bought four (very meaty) pieces recently and it cost me nearly eighteen pounds.

Add to that chicken wings.

dragonfly46

Pomegranate like grapefruit does not go well with certain medicines. I cannot eat either.

Yup. This is something that needs to be boosted. Check your meds against your favourite foods.
Sometimes they conflict badly.

When we went to NZ in 1990s everywhere we went we were given Kumara aka sweet potato. We hadn't tasted it before.
It was definitely a fashion but at least it grows there. Now it's on every supermarket shelf here in the UK but afaik it's imported.

An interesting video is doing the rounds about the 7 vegetables grown and eaten in medieval Britain, full of goodness and easy to grow but no longer eaten because they don't suit mass marketing.

I immediately tried to buy seeds of Good King Henry and Skirrets from heritage producers but they were sold out!
The influencer effect in action.

Primrose53

I enjoy food and like trying new things but smashed avocado on sour dough bread 🤮🤮🤮. It tastes of nothing.

I have just enjoyed a fresh dressed crab from a local fisherman. Alongside that I had a very tasty vine tomato and a supermarket tiger roll with butter. Plain, simple and delicious.

I don’t enjoy food that has been messed about with or stacked up in a pile because I can’t stop thinking about whether the chef had clean hands.

Yes, it was Lily of the Valley.

Beetroot seems to be the latest fad. It supposedly helps lower blood pressure. Our local cafe does a spectacular beetroot latte.

And I thought babies came from under a gooseberry bush 😂

You can visit the Rhubarb Triangle in Yorkshire and listen to the rhubarb growing .

Totally agree with Romilo. Bought some lovely rhubarb yesterday and going to stew it laced with honey.

mae13

Primrose53

I enjoy food and like trying new things but smashed avocado on sour dough bread 🤮🤮🤮. It tastes of nothing.

I have just enjoyed a fresh dressed crab from a local fisherman. Alongside that I had a very tasty vine tomato and a supermarket tiger roll with butter. Plain, simple and delicious.

I don’t enjoy food that has been messed about with or stacked up in a pile because I can’t stop thinking about whether the chef had clean hands.

Yes, it was Lily of the Valley.

What was Lily of the Valley? 🤔

We have heaps of avos but then they grow here so it is what you would expect. I just bought a big bagful for $5 as they are in season. Use in salads, guacamole etc. I don’t actually like them smashed on toast particularly. You can use them instead of butter in a sandwich.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Let’s try this one from Catherine Tate. Gazpacho

youtu.be/hfVYRHHSt0U?si=dR7AfGIEV4mILkTh