Rainbow bagels, avocado toast, cronuts, sushi burritos and ramen burgers have all seen the limelight or, more fittingly, the backlight of many a person’s iPhone screen.
I don’t have a problem with these foods. I have a problem with the popularity of foodstuffs that spreads like a vehement wildfire.
It ruins the enjoyment of these novelties for those of us who are simply hungry. As soon as something becomes instagram famous, it is no longer accessible to the rest of us.
Until this summer, I didn’t think twice about trendy foods like over-the-top milkshakes or lobster rolls.
You see, I used to have a favorite ice cream place in New York called Morgenstern’s. Until #KanyeIceCreamWeek, a genuine, week long event, took over the place.
Back in 2014, I started interning on the Lower East Side, and I’d do the same commute every day. One morning I saw some workers painting a bright blue bench outside of a new shop.
I peered inside where a black and white sign saying “cash only” adorned a pristine white wall, and there was a wrap-around bar to the right that seated four.
The floor was covered in tiny black and white honeycomb tiles, the perfect backdrop for a decadent Instagram.
This was an OG ice cream parlor with flavors like Burnt Honey Vanilla, Vietnamese Coffee and Sweet Potato Mello.
Morgenstern’s is, for lack of a better word, a new breed of ice cream. It is made in small batches, and each recipe is different, depending on the flavor profile.
This information I received courtesy of the man sitting behind the counter with a friendly beard and soda jerk hat resting atop his head.
The ingenuity of this place is insane and I completely fell for it, as did the rest of New York City and its constant barrage of tourists, nearly two years later.
Combine the high quality of the ice cream with a commodified celebrity like Kanye West and boom: #KanyeIceCreamWeek is born. Need I say more?
The limited edition menu showcases items like “The Young Metro milkshake,” “Bound 2 banana split,” “I AM A GOD Croissant Ice Cream Sandwich,” and “Father Stracciatella My Hands Pt. 1.”
It’s smart, it’s savvy, it’s knee-jerkingly annoying and the line is three hours long.
You couldn’t pay me to wait in a line that long, surrounded by avid millennials trying to get their trendy food fix for the week.
It makes me sad. But then I thought about all of the Brooklyn locals who used to get their morning bagels and coffee at the rainbow bagel place, the Bagel Store.
It sucks, but they’re not about to wait in line at 5 a.m. every morning to get breakfast.
Once food becomes a trend, it’s no longer edible in the normal sense of the word.
It’s commodified, digitalized, liked and drooled over thousands of times. It just isn’t worth it.
It’s like liking a song before it gets famous — it doesn’t sound as good when it’s on the radio.
jlkarl@umail.iu.edu
@jkarl26
