Fads or the future?

How do you know if something that's gone viral is a short term thing or here to stay?

There are so many recipes and food ideas that come at us from tik tok, instagram etc but how many of them last longer than a few days, weeks or maybe months?

For me it depends on a few things but the key has to be flavour. The idea needs to be easy and fun but if it also tastes great then it has some longevity. Dubai style chocolate went viral a few years ago and now we can't get enough of pistachio flavoured everything.

Biscoff became a household sensation during covid with home-baking recipes flooding online and now the biscuit brand, created in 1932, is worth over £1bn with recipe ideas still coming in thick and fast. One of the most recent is Japanese Cheesecake, nothing Japanese about it other then the first person to come up with the idea. It's simply 2 ingredients, a pot of natural yoghurt and Biscoff biscuits pushed into the yoghurt and left overnight. Tiramisu has also had a Biscoff makeover with Biscoff biscuits replacing the sponge fingers in many pop ups and restaurants.

Miso is a more recent flavour to enter the world of baking. Widely used throughout Japan in savoury dishes, the rich, umami flavour adds depth to Brownies and Cookies and works well paired with caramel, it can even be paired with Biscoff adding a depth which cuts through the sweetness of the Biscoff.

There is a current ongoing trend for nostalgia and going back to old recipes but with a modern twist or flavour added, such as Brown Butter Carrot Cake, (with butter being melted and browned before using, to deepen the flavour) and Lemon drizzle with yuzu to add a more lemony kick. A brilliant take on creating something new from a comforting traditional eat is the Jam and toast cookie that came from @lungisalwaysbaking this January. She created a cookie from jam and buttered toast and now has a whole range of cookies combining toast or croissants within the recipe, that all look and sound amazing.

A viral idea that may not hang around for long is chocolate pringles. Pour melted chocolate into a tub of pringles, let it set then slice and eat. A really fun idea but would you do it more than once??