From cronuts to kale chips to gluten-free, a look at food crazes and the people who create them.
You may think you’re immune to food trends, but odds are you’re not. Compare your diet today to ten years ago. If there’s not some new Greek yogurt or blueberries or different greens or dishes in there, you’re tough. And then there are the blazing meteors of kale and chia seed, Korean tacos and cronuts and the mad fad of cupcakes everywhere. Who launches food trends? Who whips them up and rolls them out and shapes the way we eat, the cravings we embrace, the shopping list we carry? This hour On Point: the tastemakers and the boiling world of food trends.
— Tom Ashbrook
Guests
David Sax, food writer. Author of the new book “The Tastemakers: Why We’re Crazy For Cupcakes But Fed Up With Fondue.” Also author of “Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen.” (@saxdavid)
Dominique Ansel, owner of Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York City. Creator of the Cronut. (@DominiqueAnsel)
From Tom’s Reading List
LA Weekly: The Tastemakers by David Sax: On Cupcakes, Fondue and “Trendologists” – “‘The Tastemakers’ delves into food trends from various angles, like the importance of money, food politics and marketing. Says Sax, ‘I wanted to find out what drove these trends and made them such a potent force in our daily lives.'”
New Republic: Why some foods become trendy, and others never take off – “The cronut is an edible fashion accessory. Editors from Vogue and Vanity Fair were sending their interns to wait in line for cronuts; it was the thing to eat last summer. A lot of food trends are very much fashion-based.”
Huffpost Taste: We’re Just Going To Declare That 2014 Is The Year Of The Sheet Cake – “You guys, we’ve been noticing something lately… a trend in food that we can’t and absolutely don’t want to keep to ourselves: SHEET CAKES.”
Read An Excerpt Of “The Tastemakers” By David Sax
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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