Trendy Foods from the Last Two Decades

When the debut issue of Mytour magazine was published in 2001, Rachel Ray was making her debut on the Food Network, the Atkins Diet was becoming a major trend, and the Cronut was a complete unknown. So much has changed in the last 20 years, including the foods we love to consume (and post about online). From colorful rainbow pastries to outlandish fast food creations, here are some of the most unforgettable novelty food trends from the past two decades.

1. Fluffy Soufflé Pancakes

Soufflé pancakes have been a trendy treat in Japan since 2014, but they only gained popularity in the U.S. toward the end of the 2010s. The Flipper's pancake chain, hailing from Japan, opened its first U.S. location in 2019. Unlike traditional pancakes, soufflé pancakes are known for their height and airy texture, thanks to whipped egg whites that contribute to their fluffy and light composition.

2. Beanboozled Jelly Beans

Inspired by Harry Potter’s Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavored Beans, bizarre jelly bean flavors became a sensation in the 2000s. In 2007, the Jelly Belly Candy Company introduced the infamous Beanboozled line, which pairs classic jelly bean flavors with revolting ones. Varieties such as booger, dead fish, and dog food provided the ultimate challenge for brave taste-testers.

3. Maple Bacon Doughnuts

By the turn of the millennium, American food culture had transitioned from a focus on low-fat diets to a preference for high-protein options. This shift led to the rise of bacon in all its forms, and one particularly iconic creation from this bacon craze was the maple bacon doughnut. Voodoo Donuts, located in Portland, Oregon, made this combination of sweet and savory flavors famous nationwide when they introduced it in 2003. Despite bacon mania fading, this doughnut remains a fixture on their menu.

4. Matcha Kit Kat

Kit Kat made its debut in England in 1935, but it was during the 2000s that Japan truly embraced unique, flavored variations of the classic chocolate bar. One of the most beloved flavors, Matcha Kit Kat, arrived in 2004 and became a massive hit. Nestlé cleverly blended matcha green tea powder with their signature chocolate, creating a taste unlike anything before. Today, the green tea-flavored Kit Kat is the second-most popular in Japan, only trailing behind the original milk chocolate variety.

5. Cake Pops

Angie Dudley, the mastermind behind the Bakerella blog, is recognized for sparking the cake pop phenomenon in 2008. These delightful little desserts on a stick quickly gained traction, becoming a popular treat at weddings and even earning a spot on Starbucks' menu.

6. Sushiritos

Sushirito was not the only fast-casual burrito concept making waves in the 2010s, but it was arguably the most distinctive. Founded in San Francisco in 2011, this restaurant took traditional sushi components—such as rice, nori, and raw fish—and wrapped them into a convenient, oversized sushi burrito. The concept led to the creation of other sushi fusion dishes, like the sushi burger.

7. Doritos Locos Tacos

Taco Bell has long been known for pushing the boundaries of what can be created with basic ingredients like meat, tortillas, and cheese. Their most renowned innovation, the Doritos Locos Taco, made its debut in 2012. The concept of turning cheesy Doritos chips into taco shells was simple, yet it struck a chord with customers. At its height, Taco Bell was selling nearly 1 million Doritos Locos Tacos every day.

8. Cronuts

The Cronut made its debut in 2013, sparking the beginning of the viral food craze. This hybrid of a croissant and donut had people lining up for hours outside Dominique Ansel’s bakery in New York City when it was at the height of its fame. Today, the bakery still offers this popular treat, and you no longer need to wait all morning to grab one.

9. Ramen Burgers

Ramen comes in many forms, but few are as inventive as the ramen burger. Rather than serving the noodles in soup, Japanese-American chef Keizo Shimamoto transformed them into burger buns. His playful twist on the classic fast food burger became an instant hit when he introduced it at the Smorgasburg food market in Brooklyn, New York, in 2013.

10. KFC Double Down

Before ramen found its way onto burgers, KFC had an inventive idea: swap out sandwich bread for deep-fried chicken. The result was the Double Down, a sandwich that nestled bacon and cheese between two crispy pieces of chicken. Released nationwide in 2010, this daring creation became a surprise hit, with KFC declaring it 'arguably the most talked-about product in KFC history.'

11. Rainbow Bagels

The rainbow bagel is perhaps the perfect embodiment of food culture in the Instagram era. The Bagel Store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, began selling these vividly colored bagels in 2015, and soon customers from all over the country flocked to get one. The demand grew so intense that the original shop had to temporarily shut down in 2016. In 2019, however, The Bagel Store faced another blow as the government seized it over unpaid taxes.

12. 24k Pizza

In 2016, Industry Kitchen in New York City introduced a $2000 pizza topped with luxury ingredients like white Stilton cheese, foie gras, Osetra caviar, truffles, and edible gold leaves. A prime example of the rising trend of extravagant, golden foods, it became the most expensive pizza available for a time. Although the concept of overpriced, flashy dishes may seem new, the use of gold in culinary creations dates back centuries.

13. Over-the-Top Milkshakes

In the mid-2010s, restaurants began piling every imaginable sweet treat into milkshakes. While this trend is believed to have originated in Australia in 2015, New York City's Black Tap burger joint helped popularize it in 2016. The milkshakes on their menu come with wild toppings such as cookies, lollipops, caramel apples, and entire slices of cake. Although these extravagant shakes are a challenge to consume, they are certainly made for the perfect photo op.

14. Unicorn Frappuccinos

In 2017, the world went crazy for all things unicorn, and it wasn’t long before a major brand jumped on the bandwagon. That year, Starbucks introduced the Unicorn Frappuccino, a colorful concoction featuring mango syrup, sour blue drizzle, and a glittery pink-and-blue topping. The drink quickly went viral, though it left baristas with the challenging task of bringing this fantastical beverage to life.

15. Charcoal Ice Cream

For those who weren’t fans of the neon-colored unicorn foods, the charcoal food trend emerged. It all began in 2015 at Morgenstern's Finest Ice Cream in New York City, where they introduced their jet-black ice cream made with activated charcoal. While visually striking, consuming charcoal can hinder your body's ability to absorb nutrients and medication, making it potentially harmful. Though charcoal had been prohibited in food and drinks in New York, the city only started enforcing the ban more rigorously in 2018.

16. Cookie Shots

Just a year after introducing the Cronut, Dominique Ansel shook up the dessert world again with his Cookie Shot. Rather than merging two iconic baked goods, this innovative creation features a chocolate chip cookie shaped into an edible shot glass. The cookie vessel is filled with Madagascan vanilla milk, offering a fun, portable way to enjoy milk and cookies.

17. Raindrop Cake

Mizu shingen mochi, also known as 'water droplet cake,' is a unique Japanese dessert that gained attention in the last two decades. Originating in the mid-2010s, it’s crafted from water, sugar, and agar, a seaweed-based gelatin, shaped into a large, transparent droplet resembling morning dew. Typically served with toppings such as sweet syrup and roasted soybean flour, it became an iconic novelty dish.

18. Flamin' Hot Mac N' Cheetos

Though Flamin' Hot Cheetos made their debut in the 1990s, their cultural influence surged in the years that followed. In 2017, Burger King teamed up with Cheetos to introduce Flamin' Hot Mac n' Cheetos, a bold creation of macaroni and cheese sticks coated in fiery Cheetos dust. While Burger King also released a regular Mac n' Cheetos option that year, it was the spicy version that truly ignited the fast food scene.

19. Edible Cookie Dough

While people didn’t begin indulging in raw cookie dough during the late 2010s, this period marked a significant shift. It was then that cookie dough cafés emerged, serving safe-to-eat versions of the classic treat in bowls and cones. In 2019, Nestlé Toll House took it a step further, debuting their own edible cookie dough line made without raw eggs.

20. Pancake Cereal

As the 2020s began, TikTok became a driving force behind food trends, taking the place of Instagram's influence in previous years. One such viral trend saw users creating mini, spoon-sized pancakes reminiscent of cereal. This led to the inevitable rise of waffle cereal.