Jaya Saxena and Zach Stafford discuss the biggest, strangest, and most surprising food stories of 2023, including peak maximalist dining, martini glasses, olive oil coffee, Grimace as a queer icon, the Grimace Shake, angel hair pasta, and favorite food stories of the year.
The podcast discusses the rise of foodie bros and the trend of performative dining and visually captivating food experiences.
The hosts highlight the intriguing story of McDonald's olive oil coffee campaign and how Grimace became an unexpected queer icon.
Deep dives
Walmart's Black and Unlimited platform celebrates Black-owned brands
Walmart's Black and Unlimited platform provides a convenient way to support Black-owned brands. By visiting Walmart.com/BlackandUnlimited, customers can access products from various Black-owned brands and learn about founders like Janelle Stevens of Camille Rose, which specializes in natural hair products. The platform aims to celebrate and promote these brands, offering a diverse range of products for customers to discover.
A year-end edition of The Spork Full podcast focuses on food trends
The Spork Full podcast presents a year-end episode that features a rapid-fire roundtable discussion on the biggest, strangest, and most surprising food stories of the past year. The hosts, Dan Pashman, Jaya Saxena, and Zach Stafford, delve into the trend of maximalist dining, where restaurants offer absurd and visually captivating presentations with numerous ingredients. They also discuss the intriguing story of the controversial Los Angeles restaurant, Horses, known for its scandalous divorce and allegations of animal cruelty. The episode highlights the intersection of food, culture, and trends in the culinary world.
The emergence of foodie bros and the rise of specific food trends
The hosts of The Spork Full podcast explore the emergence of a new breed of individuals known as foodie bros. These individuals exhibit a trendy, refined foodie obsession with visually captivating and intense food experiences. The hosts discuss the trend of heavily marketed food experiences and the notion of performative dining, where patrons are enticed to document and share their gastronomic adventures on social media. The conversation also touches on the recent preference for long-stemmed glassware in cocktails, illustrating how trends in the food world reflect cultural shifts and influences.
McDonald's olive oil coffee and memorable food stories of the year
The podcast highlights two intriguing food stories. First, McDonald's olive oil coffee campaign, centered around the Grimace's birthday celebration, garnered attention on TikTok as users created horror film-inspired shorts featuring the Grimace shake. The story takes an unexpected twist as Grimace becomes a surprising queer icon. The hosts also discuss an amusing and surreal article about rediscovering the appeal of angel hair pasta and its textures. The podcast concludes with a lightning round, including discussions on biggest food stories, favorite meals, and new year's food resolutions.
We are back with another Salad Spinner, and this time it’s our year end edition! Remember when Starbucks debuted olive oil coffee? Or when Grimace, the McDonald’s mascot that looks like a purple blob, became a queer icon? This rapid-fire roundtable discussion covers all the biggest, strangest, and most surprising food stories of 2023, with our panelists: Jaya Saxena, correspondent at Eater, and Zach Stafford, co-host of the podcast Vibe Check.
Have you sent us your New Year's food resolution yet? We want to hear it! Email us at hello@sporkful.com with your first name, your location, and tell us the food you resolve to eat more of in the new year and why.
The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, Jared O'Connell, and Julia Russo.