By Christina Vazquez–Fall in America brings promises of apple orchards, Halloween, and of course, pumpkin spice.
The first mention of pumpkin spice in modern day America traces back to a cook book published by Amelia Simmons in the late seventeen-hundreds. Christine Amario, from the Portland Press Herald, explains that “in it, she includes a recipe for ‘pompkin pudding,’ a pie made with stewed pumpkin and spiced with ginger and nutmeg.”
The American affinity for pumpkin spice didn’t stop there; the real craze began twelve years ago. Pumpkin spice is in everything American these days, from baked goods to candles.
However, it is by far best known in the form of coffee, specifically lattes. Pumpkin spice lattes, most famously promoted by the Starbucks restaurant chain, have taken the country by storm. “Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte, which the company has called its ‘most popular seasonal beverage of all time,’ was created 12 years ago,” reports ABC.
Ever since then, the pumpkin spice craze has only grown ever stronger, but not everyone is excited about the growing trend in the flavor. Fox News’ Stephanie Green, for one, does not welcome the “Great Pumpkin Spice Season.” She thinks the pumpkin spice craze has gone too far, making otherwise clever and tasteful citizens into “cultural cretins.”
In fact, she goes on to make a point that Americans in general “just don’t know when and where to stop,” and implies that the pumpkin spice obsession is a symptom of the much greater disease of excess in American culture. More evidence of the artificiality of American culture is the ironic fact that despite the growth in the pumpkin spice flavor, actual pumpkin sales are going down.
Mary Beth Quirk, from Consumerist, cites data from Nielsen: “The data shows that the pumpkin flavor trend is nowhere near stopping, and has become a staple of the autumn season …[However] fresh pumpkins are being left out of the fad fun, with sales declining every year in 2011, 2013 and 2014.” Overall, over eight million fewer pumpkins have been sold as compared to previous years.
Still, the skeptics and critics may yet be appeased, at least in regard to the artificiality of this aspect of American pop culture. Starbucks is bringing back pumpkin spice in its most traditional sense.
ABC’s Susanna Kim reports that the “Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte will be made with actual pumpkin this year.” This use of genuine pumpkin in such a widely heralded representation of pumpkin spice as the Pumpkin Spice Latte might be the result of a concentrated effort to turn American artificiality on its head.
Or maybe it’s just because it tastes good.
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