Whether you're aware of it or not, the economy influences trends in everything — from the movies that get made to the fashions that show up in stores.
Take, for example, the escapist comedies of the 1930s that were made to lighten people's spirits during the Great Depression, or the current recession-core fashion moment on TikTok.
What we eat can also change during tough economic times — whether due to how we're feeling about our financial prospects or down to what we're able to afford.
Think: this Great Depression-era chocolate cake recipe or my 2008 Great Recession peanut butter sandwich era.
Well, recently, 50-year-old Nisa Ahmad has been stirring up a lot of conversation on TikTok with a series of videos pointing out how current trends in food are giving off major recession vibes, and I think it's really fascinating.
In a video that's been viewed 1.4 million times, Nisa shared how as she saw 2020's decadent charcuterie boards give way to 2022's butter board trend, she started to ponder what these popular foods said about the economy. "Things started getting a little rough around the butter board, because the butter board was a step down... But we have now stepped down from, like, a $40 situation to, like, a solid $4 situation with some accoutrements. It's not quite giving poverty, but it's definitely poverty-adjacent."
However, Nisa realized she had to sound the alarm when she saw that the latest food trend on TikTok is apparently just ice cubes with flowers in them. She said, "When I knew that we were down bad as a people, as a population, as a gang, and as a crew was when we got into designer ice cubes. This is water. We have gone from butter to water... So if that didn't signify an impending recession, I don't know what could."
And in the comments, people were quick to point out other food trends with big recession energy, citing everything from foraging and growing vegetables to cottage cheese and ramen. One commenter wrote, "Tinned fish date nights really showed me how downhill we're going."
Another commenter chimed in, "I was thinking about how the hot vegetable right now is cabbage. That's povertyyy."
And people seem to generally agree with Nisa's premise that these cheaper food trends point toward economic hardship. One commenter wrote, "Honestly, I'm gonna start looking up Great Depression recipes so I can just fully acclimate."
