The food trends of 2020 that helped us cope

Even those of us who love to be in the kitchen were pushed to our limits this year, churning out meal after meal. When we felt drained of creativity, we turned to cookbooks and the internet to find inspiration to make it through another day of cooking. Some of us turned to baking as a respite, and it’s probably fair to say that more sourdough starters were brought to life in 2020 than in any other year (let’s not ask how many are still living). The amount of time spent in the kitchen spawned a number of food trends that millions of us tried, as The Washington Post explains.

The first one to hit (at least the first that I can recall) was the Dalgona coffee craze. One of our neighbors brought us some to try, and it prompted me to buy a jar of instant coffee for the first time. I don’t make Dalgona much any more, but I will occasionally sip on a cup of instant coffee because it reminds me of summers on my grandparents farm, where they started the day with a cup of Sanka before heading out to feed the cows and gather eggs.

Lockdowns and some shortages meant making do with what was available. To that end, many people found ways to reuse vegetable scraps, growing new celery, scallions, and more from parts we would normally discard. Speaking of discard, sourdough’s moment began after yeast evaporated from store shelves. Also in the spirit of resiliency, we turned to growing and canning vegetables, so much so that canning jars and lids became difficult to find. Will this trend continue for 2021? It seems likely, although I cannot say the same for some trends that seemingly came out of nowhere, like carrot bacon, pancake cereal, and frog bread (shaped like a frog, not made from frogs).