Not every food trend deserves a recipe. Here’s what I consider before following any fad for a food brand.
Remember the butter boards that took over social media fall 2022? It was a trend that flared for a hot minute.
It started out simply enough when recipe developer Justine Doiron posted a short video of herself making a butter board, inspired by an idea from chef and cookbook author Josh McFadden.
She explains the concept as we watch her artfully smear heaps of soften fancy butter onto a wooden board shaped like a bread slice, then sprinkle it with sea salt, lots of herbs, and some edible flowers (this was years before Meaghan Markle put edible flowers onto everything in her Netflix show), and finish it with a drizzle of honey. She swipes crusty artisanal bread through the creation.
“I want to make them the next charcuterie board,” she says. Her caption notes, “I’m in a silly goofy butter mood.”
To Doiron’s surprise, the video went viral, racking up over a million views and thousands of comments and shares. Some people loved it (“so pretty!”); others (including me) hated it (“ick, what’s wrong with using a knife?”). National media picked it up.
In no time, there were butter boards and variations all over social media. Cream cheese boards? Sure, why not? Cake frosting dessert boards, yep. Don’t forget the nut cheese boards (for a vegan alternative), peanut butter boards (served with toasted frozen waffles), even guacamole boards (seriously, please, bowls serve a purpose).
Why Is There So Much Nasty Food In Social Media?
I even got a press release from someone suggesting a sour cream board.
Parodies quickly followed, sure sign of a trend that’s jumped the shark. A comedian offered a ketchup board; another “created” a “soup board.”
Despite the “controversy,” or maybe because of it, the butter board trend lasted months, and you still find the odd one cropping up here and there.
Why Food Trends Are Worth Paying Attention To
Despite the silly fun that followed, it’s easy to see why butter boards took off. You don’t need any skill to make one, just a wooden board, some good-quality butter, abundant garnishes, and decent bread. It’s aspirational and attainable, not always an easy combo to execute.
If you’re a brand manager or small-brand founder that kind of virality can give you a serious case of FOMO. But social media trends move fast, and it’s worth taking a quick minute to consider if the latest one is worth your time.
For all the jokes, butter boards did boost butter sales for a few weeks as the trend peaked. And there are plenty of trends with looonnng legs. Cottage cheese continues to ride high, with #proteinmaxxing giving it fresh appeal. Hot honey is going strong, thanks to the love of all things “swicy” (sweet + spicy).
Why I Think “Cabbagecore” Is a Trend With Legs →
I developed this hot honey-drizzled pizza for PARADE Magazine back in 2021, just as the trend was emerging. It still works today.
1 Question That Decides Yay or Nay on a Food Trend
So how do you determine whether to hop on a fad or skip it?
Most content creators aren’t selling a product but seeking likes, comments, and shares. Engagement is the payoff for them. A brand manager investing in content is doing so for awareness, sure. But at the end of the day, they really want shoppers adding their products to a cart.
So here’s the key question: Does this trend-focused content encourage them to carry their engagement into the real world?
Deep Freeze: Frozen Food Is Always Cool →
4 Signs a Food Trend Is Worth Your Time (and Budget)
1. It’s a natural fit for your product. Hot honey on a pepperoni pizza is happy match. It’s even intriguing drizzled over a scoop of chocolate or vanilla ice cream. If a trend makes sense for your product, you’ll be giving customers a potentially fun new way to use it. Keep it simple, and go for it!
2. The content will still make sense after the trend fades. Recipes take time and money to develop and shoot, so you want that content to appeal after the fad passes or it’ll look like the culinary equivalent of grey laminate wood flooring.
Trend-driven content that serves real value becomes evergreen. For example, desserts and drinks inspired by uber-viral Dubai chocolate will work in the long run because the elements of chocolate, pistachio, and crunchy phyllo will always be delicious. If (when) Dubai chocolate becomes truly passé, you can always tweak the recipe’s name.
3. You can join a conversation your audience is already having. Is your brand on Threads? If not, you’re missing out, because the food convos there are so fun. If you’re there, you may have encountered “cheesecake-gate,” when @theclairest posted about the crappy cheesecake for which her neighbor charged $50. Thousands liked and commented; hundreds save the post.
Then King Arthur Baking entered the conversation, sharing an easy-peasy cheesecake recipe to a warm reception from followers who got the joke. I’m was more interested in making a Basque cheesecake. Guess where I went looking for a recipe to make one? Yep, KA’s site. In this case, the trending conversation was the entry point, and solid content was the reason to stay.
A lively conversation on Threads ultimately led me to King Arthur Baking to try my hand making a trendy Basque cheesecake.
4. You can resurface existing content. A hot trend can be a good excuse to update, repurpose, or simply re-promote older content. King Arthur Baking’s Easy Cheesecake recipe was published in 2009 (with an updated image from 2025). One trend, zero recipe development cost, nice engagement.
And 4 Signs to Sit It Out
1. It feels like a “pick me!” effort. If it’s a weird stretch to make your brand fit the trend, it’s not for you.
2. The timing isn’t right for your audience. Just as every product isn’t for every consumer, every trend isn’t for every brand. If your target audience wouldn’t be interested anyway, skip that fad.
3. The trend’s visual isn’t on brand. Trendy or not, you want your content to look – and taste – like you. If your vibe is clean and contemporary, a rustic, maximalist visual will confuse your audience, even if it performs well.
4. Accommodating the trend makes your product difficult to use with complicated recipes and lots of ingredients. That last thing you want is to put barriers between your product and a potential customer seeing, buying, and using it.
A Practical Test Before You Commit
That seems like a lot to consider, but really it comes down to answering these five questions before you commit resources to producing a recipe and visuals. If you answer “no” to more than two, let that food fad scroll on bye-bye.
Download the free recipe brief template I use with every client →