Ah, fancy foods are just so desirable these days, aren’t they? Having gold foil pizza is a (very annoying and price-inflating) mark of status. But isn’t it strange that about 100 years ago people really really didn’t like this type of foods?Â
Some of the fancy foods we have on our list were only eaten by poor people, while the aristocracy would find them inedible. Some of them were fed to animals or prisoners. But food trends are interesting that way. Because of a variety of reasons, the wheel just keeps turning and all kinds of items that were believed to suck are now fancy foods, some touted as miracles.
Let’s see what they are, shall we?
4 fancy foods people used to hate and now love
1. Caviar
Ahhh, caviar used to be basically poor people’s food. But there’s a simple explanation of why that is. There used to be so much of it 100 years ago, that it was cheap to get. Caviar comes from sturgeon and after this fish population “tanked” (pardon the pun, it was completely voluntary) because of overfishing, the fish eggs became way harder to find. And because of the scarcity, rich people wanted it more! So it became a sign of luxury.
2. Oysters
The oyster phenomenon happened in very much the same vein as the one with caviar. Oysters used to be so abundant that people would pave streets with them. They were a cheap source of protein so everyone could indulge daily. Think of all the films with castaways: this is a good meal to have on a deserted island. But they became overfished so here we are with them as one of the fancy foods.
3. Lobsters
Another mark of status food that has had a powerful rebranding in the past century, the lobster used to be so hated by everybody, that only prisoners would eat it. Because they had to. And the law even thought that it would be cruel and unusual punishment for them to have it every day, that’s how much this food was maligned. And this is another food that has become scarce (thanks, man-made climate change!), so it became way more valuable.
4. Kale
Is kale one of the fancy foods? I would say it is because you have to have some kind of budget to do the type of menu that would include kale. Mostly, at least. It’s considered to be an incredibly nutritious food (part of the cruciferous veggie group). This one is a bit more interesting than others on the list. It has not become more scarce, but we have different kitchen tools right now to make it taste not horrible.
