The most ridiculous food trends of 2016
The food scene of 2016 reflected a year of ups, downs and absurdity.
Playing with your food, taking out an extra line of credit to buy your food and physically cowering in fear of your food haven't been out of the realm of possibility this year.
2016, it's been weird and somewhat delicious.
1. The Fondoodler
This is literally a glue gun for cheese. You put cheese in it, it melts the stuff and then you can draw with it, cook with it or eat it straight from the gun. Fun? Sure. Ridiculous? Absolutely.
2. Foods bordering on the insane
This year brought us the pimple burger (yep, you actually pop it), the pumpkin spice latte with enough caffeine to carry a warning label and a chip so spicy this writer couldn't take more than two bites without gulping milk and praying for mercy.
Maybe next year will offer some relief for those not interested in bodily harm during food challenges.
3. Crazy Milkshakes
2016 was indeed the year of the freakshake. Though the thought of a milkshake laden with cake, ice cream, whipped cream, cookies, sprinkles and a partridge in a pear tree is appealing, the actuality is...overwhelming. And often pricey. Not to mention that it takes the term "food coma" to the next level.
4. Insanely expensive potato chips
These Swedish potato chips sold out immediately, despite each chip costing almost $12. Sure, they were made in conjunction with the Swedish National Culinary Team and ingredients include matsutake mushrooms, truffle seaweed and hand-picked Ammarnäs potatoes but that's still a steep price tag for something you usually eat next to a bologna sandwich at lunch.
5. People being jerks at restaurants
The date from hell isn't unique to 2016, but it should definitely have fizzled out long before grievous actions could be blasted on Twitter. If you're insulting your date, bragging about your sushi know-how and announcing you refuse to read menus, you deserve every bit of public scrutiny you get.
6. Fast food icons dying right and left
The inventor of the Big Mac. The chef who created General Tso's chicken. Michel Richard, known for his inventive and whimsical cuisine. Damn, 2016, you just have to take everyone good, don't you?
7. High-end Cheetos jewelry
Really, guys. This year, Cheetos sold 18k gold earrings and a matching ring complete with orange sapphires and black and white diamonds. The set cost $20,000 and of course someone bought it. You know they did. Because this is 2016, the year of ridiculous.
And here's betting 2017 only gets weirder and more over the top than this year was.
Sarah Spigelman Richter is a contributor to Mashable's Food channel. Sarah covers everything edible, from the food industry to D.I.Y. recipes. She was previously the community manager for Tastemade NYC and her writing has been seen on The Today Show's food blog, Refinery 29, the Food Network, and Gothamist. She has also developed recipes for Tabasco and other nationally recognized brands and has blogged for 5 years at "Fritos and Foie Gras." Sarah is obsessed with "Orphan Black" and chili-cheese Fritos and is still depressed that Loehmann's closed.
