the GoodEater Collaborative

Author: Joshua Levin (33 Articles)

Joshua Levin is a consultant to non-profits and their corporate partners in sustainable agriculture business development and sustainable food markets. Joshua holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business, where he was a Catherine B. Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship, and a BA from Harvard University. He lives with his wife in Brooklyn, NY.

Courtesy Andrew Kim Sashimi

Since when did we start craving fresh mozzarella, sushi, or Power Bars? It’s my pet-hobby to identify the decade when an American food item became mainstream. Like clothing, food has its fads, fashions, and permanent additions. As we near the end of the decade, here is my attempt to categorize the 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s in terms of food. Thirty years of food alone reveals trends in how Americans perceive class and health.

So 90's: Angel Hair Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

I stereotype the 1980’s as the “Rise of the VIP”. Just as luxury retail hit its peak, high-priced luxury foods were popularized: lobster, champagne, caviar, and sushi. Sushi’s rise reflected not only Japan’s economic boom, but the eating habits of high-flying American stock-brokers taking their Japanese investors out to lunch.

In the 1990’s, I refer to the food zeitgeist as “Mass VIP Culture”, or “Mass Gourmet”. Balsamic vinegar, portabello mushrooms, shitake mushrooms, and sundried tomatoes seemingly randomly vaulted from the dusty backshelves of gourmet stores to every supermarket and Olive Garden in the country. “Wraps” exploded. Goat cheese was everywhere. With signals from Starbucks, and the addition of a few caramelized onions, the American sandwich magically inflated from $3.75 to $8.50.

Of course, there were diet trends as well. The 80’s was all about low-cal (Tab), the 90’s low-fat (Snackwells), and the 00’s low-carb (low-carb wine!). Fortunately, the seemingly indomitable carb-craze has since faded. But perhaps today’s foodie obsession with hamburgers, bacon, and other basic meats was partially awakened by the buzz around the all-meat diet?

“Functional Foods” followed closely on Atkins’ heels. The food companies discovered that they could add random amounts of vitamins, omega-3’s, etc. to packaged foods, and then advertise the overall nutritional value of the product, to the delight of consumers. Vitamin Water is this trend’s greatest success, and Tropicana orange juice infused with fish-oil its bastard child.

Despite Dr. Atkins and cod-oil Kashi, I think of the 00’s as a decade of “green” food – a time in which sustainable, local, and seasonal foods blossomed. Organic hit mainstream, with Walmart now arguably the world’s largest organic retailer. Whole Foods became the most profitable grocery chain on the planet, and the Omnivores Dilemma was a cultural phenomenon. Among foodies, Nouveau American is slowly piecing together an American food culture and identity, rather than depending on Tuscany or Provence.

So where will food go in the 10’s? Will the locavore movement fade? Will organic become saturated and a dirty-word among foodies? Will burgers, pizza, and fried chicken remain on a pedestal despite an economic recovery? Will cosmeceutical foods (e.g. Coke’s “Lumae” project with L’Oreal) be the next packaged food group?