Cooking and Kitchen Trends That Need to Stop - Right Now!

Today I woke up, put on my bitchy pants, and decided I could no longer hold in my frustration (often bordering on utter disgust) for some content online related to food and cooking. Yes, I’m about to get very judgey.

I’m not a chef. I don’t claim to be. But I have common sense and live in the real world.

If you check out any social media related to food, cooking, or kitchen organization, you’ve seen some things. There’s glorious food porn. Gorgeous. Mouthwatering. Inspiring. Hunger-inducing. Then there’s the flip side – things I can’t unsee and I’m downright sick of seeing. You know, the trends that won’t go away. Cooking methods that make my stomach turn, mash-ups that should never (EVER) be recreated. The use of certain phrases over and over as clickbait.

STOP IT! Enough is enough. So, I’m going to get it all out here (and there is a lot I need to get off my chest) and then move on to focus on the positive.

You can’t trust cooking videos if you see any of these:

Dirty fingernails: You don’t need to have a perfect manicure, but if you have dirty fingernails, I’m not trusting you to be clean in the kitchen. Food safety involves cleanliness. If you can’t get the basics right, there is little to no credibility to your content. I’m supposed to be thinking of how delicious your recipe is, not how unsanitary you’re being. Maybe use gloves.
Bad knife skills: There are videos where I literally cringe when the creator is awkwardly chopping an onion or slicing something, because I fear they are about to lose a digit. Look, you don’t need to be a pro with a knife, but jeez, I want to focus on the food, not wonder if you’re going to need stitches.
Bad cookware: Many of my pots and pans are clearly very well-worn and have seen a lot of use. However, if a food content creator is using a Teflon pot or skillet and it’s scraped up and the non-stick coating is peeling off on the inside, I can’t take them seriously. That is a health hazard.
Mixing in the cooking vessel: Stop dumping everything into a baking pan or muffin tin, or aluminum container, and then mixing it together. Why are you doing this? Get a BOWL. That’s what normal people do when they need to combine ingredients.
Awkward at the basics: Have you ever seen those videos where people are so weird about the way they whisk or stir? They are so tentative. It’s like they are unclear on how mixing works. If you don’t work with confidence, I have no confidence in your creation.
Mishandling food: If you made a casserole recipe video and put in two (yes, two) red peppers that still had the store stickers on them, I will never think you are an authority on how to cook anything. First, it probably means you didn’t wash your produce. Second, you have no attention to detail.
Cooking everything at the same time: I get the concept of one-pan (or sheet-pan) dinners, for convenience. But either cut everything into the same-sized pieces so they cook evenly, or add items that take less time last. I don’t want undercooked potatoes, and I don’t want overcooked whole chicken breasts. Do better.

Just wrong

Turning processed foods into other foods: What is with the trend of using a bag of perfectly delightful potato chips and then making mashed potatoes out of them? Why waste $4 on a bag of chips when three potatoes cost about $1.50? And whole spuds are better for you than processed chips. Or using premade cookies, crumbling them, adding additional ingredients (like more sugar!), and then making a cake or another cookie out of them. Wrong on so many levels. Unhealthy, expensive, wasteful, stupid!
Cooking food in cans: Food in a can is meant to be removed from its can. The can is not a cooking or eating vessel. Okay, maybe if you’re on a camping trip. Otherwise, remove the food item, put it in a bowl (I do love bowls), and then add the additional ingredients. Do not cook your canned concoction in the can. I have never been so riled up about tin cans.
Kitchen sink cooking: This turns my stomach. So unsanitary. Kitchen sinks are for washing dishes and rinsing off produce. It is not for making spaghetti, mac & cheese, or anything else. I don't care how much you clean that sink. Nope.
Extra Long food videos: I get trying to be thorough. But there is no need for a 10-minute video on deviled eggs. Once you’ve boiled, peeled, separated yolks and whites, and made whatever filling, I don’t need to see you stuffing two dozen eggs one by one. I got the gist after two eggs. Get to the money shot faster.

Glomming on to viral recipe names

Millionaire or Million Dollar anything: Do I love the dish called Millionaire's Bacon? Indeed, I do. But not everything tastes like a million bucks. Not that I know what that kind of money tastes like (I’m guessing caviar and wagyu), but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t involve marshmallow fluff, spaghetti, pickles, or cream cheese.
Marry Me recipes: I believe Marry Me Chicken was ground zero for this viral trend. Cute backstory about how this dish resulted in a proposal. Love that. Then came the onslaught of every dish with Marry Me in the name – pasta, lasagna, salmon, steak, dips, and various baked goods. I’ve got irreconcilable differences about this and am divorcing myself from the Marry Me recipe trend.

So unrealistic

Perfect white kitchens: These people look like they never cook. Their kitchens look like they came out of a designer magazine. Every square inch of kitchen space is white, clean, and clear of all clutter. Nothing on the counters. Where do they hide the air fryer, the microwave, the toaster oven, and the salt and pepper? Give me a realistic-looking kitchen I can relate to with easy access to things I use daily.
Stepford accessories: Everyone lights a candle while cooking. Every glass is in the shape of a soda can. Everyone has high-end SMEG appliances (a stovetop tea kettle is $180, a toaster is a whopping $280). Yikes. A set of white pots and pans is a must-have. How the heck do you keep those clean? This all looks so generic and sterile. Give me some personality.
Hyper-organized fridges: I am a bit OCD, so I’m down for needing a few fridge bins to get organized. However, way too many videos show fridges where every millimeter of space is filled with specialty bins and storage containers. Where do they put leftovers? And is it really necessary to have a bin that holds only two peppers or to decant every liquid?
Excessive beverage choices: Along the same lines, when did people start stocking their fridges with nine different types of beverages that have to be all lined up (and front-facing) perfectly? I’m going into the fridge to get something to drink, not purusing the beverage display at 7-Eleven.

Oh, the clickbait

Unappetizing mashups: The cronut (like a donut and a croissant had a baby) was a massive success with lines down the block at the New York City bakery that invented it. More often than not, whatever two items are genuinely delicious on their own, and combining them doesn't elevate them; it actually diminishes each component. Think mac & cheese pancakes, ramen burgers, clam chowder ice cream, cotton candy burritos, and many other disgusting combos. There is nothing wrong with experimentation, but often the most straightforward, simple approach is the best.
The only (insert food item) recipe you’ll ever need: Not true. I like variety, as do most people. Dishes stop being special when you eat them on the regular.
Revolutionary (insert food item) cooking tip: The exaggeration is over the top. It is not revolutionary to bread pickles and air fry them. Is not mindblowing to spatchcock a chicken. It’s not life-changing to make a no-bake cheesecake or a single-serve chocolate cake in a mug in the microwave.
The recipe my neighbors, family, and coworkers beg me to make: Really? Perhaps these folks said they liked a dish you made and requested you bring it to the next potluck. But begging? I seriously doubt it.

Phew. I feel better getting that all out.

Clearly, I might need a little less social media time, or at least start pruning my all feeds. However, now I can focus on a new post about all the things I love about cooking and being in the kitchen. Stay tuned.