We Have Entered the 'LOLfood Era'

Looking around at restaurant menus and social media, Jaya Saxena at Eater declares that America has entered a new food era. More precisely, it has entered the "LOLfood era." Think comfort foods such as mozzarella sticks (which one upscale restaurant is serving as "shotzarellas" in a shot glass of marinara) and pizza rolls. America's food tastes tend to ping-pong back and forth between the complicated—homemade sourdough in the pandemic, for instance—and the simple, and Saxena argues that we have ponged our way back to the simple. She writes:

• "Americans have never not wanted things like mozzarella sticks and chicken tenders. But lately there has been an air of fervor around the simple, the lightly childish, the don't-make-me-think-too-hard foods. The reverence for craft, artisanal, personal foods has led to a certain exhaustion with fussiness, and an embrace of what is good and uncomplicated. We don't want to be challenged. We don't want to think. We just want to laugh at the sheer stupidity when we see the menu. This is LOLfood."

Some of it is practical, driven by the recession and the need for cheaper ingredients. But some of it is more abstract, a reaction to uncertainty in the world. "The ball will ping again—most people live in the middle anyway, craving both quotidian comforts and new-to-them culinary experiences," writes Saxena. "But for now, enjoy a few more of the cheese and the beef and the ever-so-clever (but very lol) gestures to the elementary school cafeteria menu. They'll be unavoidable." (Read the full piece.)