1. Starbucks created the Unicorn Frappuccino, the first of many fraps that would capture the ~food trend of the moment~.
People went wild for the fruity creamsicle-flavored drink — and Starbucks followed up with a bunch of other IG-ready beverages, like the Midnight Mint Mocha Frappuccino, the Ombré Pink Drink, and most recently, the Christmas Tree Frap, all of which honestly never quite lived up to the hype of the first.
2. Nicole Kidman had some harsh words for Giada De Laurentiis.
It all started when Giada began cracking dirty jokes during a cooking segment on Ellen — and Nicole was not here for it. Giada proceeded to make the segment EVEN WEIRDER by addressing Nicole as "the woman who can't cook" prompting Nicole to provide some harsh criticism of Giada's flatbread, calling it, "a little tough." You can watch the entire cringe-worthy segment here.
3. An extra in a gay porno became an unexpected star when she blurted out the iconic line, "Right in front of my salad?!"
The scene took place in a kitchen where the woman was minding her own business eating a salad. Suddenly, two men began ~doing what they do in these types of videos~ when she blurted the poetic line, "Right in front of my salad?!" The breakout role became an instant meme and gained enough attention that they even produced a sequel. You can read the entire (incredibly NSFW) backstory here.
4. A bunch of rich people were served a sad-ass sandwich at Fyre Festival.
The dinner that @fyrefestival promised us was catered by Steven Starr is literally bread, cheese, and salad with dr… https://t.co/GjBxQygxV9
Just about everyone has read the story about the much anticipated (and utterly disastrous) Fyre Festival — but one visual that stood out was a tweet of a sad-looking "sandwich." The festival promised guests a catered dinner, and the sandwich became a visual representation of the mess that was actually served.
5. Hamburger emojis started a heated debate over the proper placement of cheese.
I think we need to have a discussion about how Google's burger emoji is placing the cheese underneath the burger, w… https://t.co/A6NR5aOjQT
A Twitterstorm started when someone pointed out that Google's burger placed the cheese on the bottom of the burger while Apple's placed it on top. The debate generated so many responses that Google's CEO tweeted, "Will drop everything else we are doing and address on Monday if folks can agree on the correct way to do this!"
6. Season two of Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner premiered.
When Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party premiered in 2016, nobody knew what would come of it — however, the show became an instant hit when it debuted with three million viewers. To no one's surprise (yet everyone's surprise), the show was confirmed for a second season in 2017 with a lineup of guest stars including Patti LaBelle, Usher, and Jamie Foxx.
7. Spaghetti donuts made their debut at Smorgasburg food market — and people were both disgusted and intrigued.
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Pop Pasta, the creators of the doughnut, say the Spaghetti Donut is the "perfect food to bring to picnics or to the beach, and it isn't messy like pizza!" Although innovative (and convenient?), the creation was greeted with mixed reactions.
8. Avocados were disrespected over and over again.
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In 2017, avocados were taken places they never needed to go. On top of the utterly confusing avolatte, avocado found its way into unorthodox toasts, sad "burgers", and strangely pixelated Instagram creations.
9. ...As was sushi.
Sushi doughuts, sushi pizza, sushi burritos — if you could imagine a medium other than traditional seaweed wrapping, chefs stuffed raw fish in it. The sushi-ruining trend peaked with sushi croissants, which basically ruined two iconic foreign foods in one go.
10. Someone invented clear pumpkin pie and people had ~opinions~.
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Alinea restaurant in Chicago is known for its creative interpretations of classics, but one creation that generated more buzz than usual was their clear pumpkin pie. The pie was made using a rotary evaporator which produced a liquid distillate (AKA a clear liquid) of the pie flavor — thus gifting 2017 with something we never knew we needed.
11. Master of None gave us all serious food envy.
Season two of the Netflix original series highlighted some serious heavy hitters of the food world. Dev, played by Aziz Ansari, was shown eating at renowned restaurants including Shuko — which has a tasting menu that will run you $175. If 2016 was the year of Netflix and chill, 2017 was all about Netflix and Chilean sea bass.
12. Rick and Morty's mention of McDonald's 1998 Szechuan sauce created enough buzz for them to bring it back for a limited time offer.
The sauce was originally offered at McDonalds in 1998 as a promotion for the movie Mulan, but after the Rick & Morty episode aired, they brought back the sauce for a limited time, prompting customers to freak the fuck out.
13. The internet fell in love with salt bae and his magical hands.
I know, I know. Doesn't this feel like ages ago? Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe went viral in the first meme of 2017 when a video of him seductively dressing his meat went viral. He became even more popular after his sprinkling technique reached the plates of Leonardo DiCaprio and Simone Biles. And if you were hoping for a little more something from Salt Bae, I probably won't be the first to tell you he has nine kids.
14. People slammed the New York Times for purporting to "discover" boba, and the outlet later apologized for it.
Earlier this August, the New York Times published an article with the headline, "The blobs in your tea? They're supposed to be there." Readers were quick to call out the publication for Christopher Columbus-ing a food item well-established both in and out of Asian communities, leading the newspaper to change the headline and publish an apology. This is why we need diversity in the newsroom, people.
15. Amazon acquired Whole Foods and the grocery giant cut prices on many of its items.
After the electronics and commerce company bought Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, the grocery chain cut costs on everything from tomatoes and avocados, to peanut butter and salmon fillets.
16. The Food Network gave us the worst food "hack" of 2017 (if not of all time).
The peanut butter "hack" essentially involves freezing slabs of peanut butter and laying the frozen squares onto your slices of bread. Once the squares have thawed, the peanut butter sandwiches are ready to be served. The whole process takes more than three hours, which is obviously way longer than it'd take you if you were to just spread room temperature peanut butter. *smh*
17. Edible Coookie Dough made its big debut at NYC's Dō.
The shop debuted with 12 raw, ready-to-eat dough flavors that're completely safe to eat without being baked. And if you can't get yourself to New York, you can also find tons of variations of it online.
18. Stranger Things made Eggos culturally relevant again. (Not that we've ever not been into waffles.)
In the Netflix show, a major character pretty much exclusively eats the breakfast food. While Eggo wasn't warned of its impending spotlight before the first season came out, the frozen waffle company capitalized on the anticipated second season this year with a Super Bowl spot and lots of merch. All of which basically established Eggos as the throwback breakfast food of 2017.
