A patisserie in New York is making a cheetos macaron; would you try one?

Cheetos macarons.

Yes, you read that right. For some reason people love odd combinations in the food world. Anything that pairs upscale culinary creations with something a little more mainstream is pretty much destined to go viral. Cronuts or bone luging anyone?

The cheetos macaron, which is filled with a white chocolate ganache infused with cheetos and dusted with bright orange food dust, hit the market last year, but now it’s back in time for Halloween. Um, thank you?

The patisserie is the brainchild of Macaron Parlour in New York City, who is no newbie to pairing odd flavors. But while macarons that come in Tiramisu and Matcha makes one salivate, the cheetos macaron is less inspiring. And the French would certainly not approve.

So why does the upscale macaron blog sell it? Because the internet demands it.

“My wife created the flavor for Halloween last year, he said, explaining that the flavor was expected to die out when the last of the batch was sold. But then a blog picked it up. And then a customer ordered it,” and the popularity kept growing from there, he said. “So they’re coming back for Halloween,” co-owner Simon Tung told the LA Times.

Lesson: maybe we stop re-tweeting weird food stuff that we should know better about eating? Because as much as you think you want a cheetos macaron, do you really want to be left with that processed orange dust on your fingers afterwards? No. Get the Candied Maple Bacon with Cream Cheese instead, silly.

You’re not convinced? You still want to try one but you don’t live in New York and are crying yourself to sleep at night because of a cheeto macaron deprivation? Then make them yourself. No really, the homemade cheeto macaron recipe is no joke.

But hey, there are worse food combinations out there. At least it’s better than a cheeto cupcake.

Related on EcoSalon:

10 Macarons to Die For

Foodie Underground: When Food Trends Go Wrong

Image: Stef Ferrari

The post A Cheetos Macaron: The Worst in Highbrow/Lowbrow? appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnCan a bowl of comfort food really be called a “craze?”

I was walking down the street with a friend in Brooklyn, ogling the multitude of good-looking restaurants and resisting the urge to take a photo of every single one of them.

“Do you guys have the ramen trend, too?” my friend asked.

I paused and thought for a second. Had I not just been invited to dinner at a ramen shop a few weeks ago? It was all coming back to me.

“Yeah,” I said, putting out of my mind for the time being the absurdity of the phrase “ramen trend.” At least I could appreciate the fact that Brooklyn wasn’t many steps in front of Portland; they were serving our coffee, after all.

And then a mere 24 hours later, after a cold winter walk, ramen seemed like just the thing we needed, which is how I found myself at Chuko ordering a bowl of miso with a poached egg, scallions and pork, feeding right into what has also been deemed “ramen fever” and the “ramen craze.”

“That is not ramen,” said my colleague when I texted her a photo of what I was eating along with the words, “Look, ramen is trendy now!”

“Would be better with some fennel,” responded another colleague, to which we both smirked.

For the record, the ramen was delicious, on par with a mean bowl of pho I once ate on the streets of Hanoi, sold of course at one tenth of the price and consumed while sitting on a pink plastic children’s chair. But was I really sitting at a corner restaurant in Brooklyn, watching young couples in well fitting, dark colored jeans and waxed canvas coats out for a walk on a Saturday afternoon eating a dish once reserved for cheap college students? A dish that was now deemed a “craze?” As much as I hate to admit it, yes. And I loved it.

As it turns out, the basics are back. Gussied up burgers are everywhere, upscale food markets sell syrups for homemade soda and even five star restaurants offer fries. But as a smart woman once indicated, even if you call a scarf “fabulous” it’s still a piece of fabric wrapped around your neck, just as a bowl of macaroni and cheese is still a bowl of macaroni and cheese, no matter how much imported aged cheddar and truffle oil you add.

If recent reports are true, even burgers are for rich people. And so are doughnuts – if they’re covered in a blood orange glaze, that is.

Comfort food will always be comfort food. Some of us just don’t want to talk about the fact that we actually like it. So we spruce it up to feel good about eating it. Call it a guilty food complex, but plenty of us refuse to admit to stooping to the levels of fast food – horrors! – yet we’re more than happy to eat a burger made with long-haired oxen meat and doused in a generous dollop of handmade mayonnaise. It’s artisanal, after all.

And when we’re feeling down, even the smartest, healthiest food lover might be tempted by a bowl of cookie dough.

The fact that people of all manner of socioeconomic status like the same foods is nothing extraordinary. A burger is still a burger, a quesadilla is still a quesadilla, a grilled cheese sandwich is still a grilled cheese sandwich and a fry is still a deep fried potato; they all hit a spot that a beet salad sprinkled with goat cheese just can’t.

So, when you’re feeling your winter funk, reach for that bowl of ramen and feel good about the fact that you’re helping to bring basics back. Just make sure to add fennel.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones, Nona Brooklyn, Anna Brones, Week of Menus

The post Foodie Underground: When Ramen Is Still Ramen appeared first on EcoSalon.

The fact that Twitter changed the food cart movement is no news; foodies consume deals and specials from dining entrepreneurs like they’re candy. But the micro-blogging site hasn’t just become a guerrilla marketing tool to get the word out about tacos and tempeh, it’s becoming a source of foodie inspiration.

I’ll admit that nothing beats sitting down to peruse a well crafted cookbook with decadent photos and well worded recipes – the kind of book that makes you recommit yourself to becoming a better cook – but there’s also time for the short and sweet.

Look at the success of Eat Tweet, probably the world’s first cookbook to be inspired by 140 characters or less. Eat Tweet‘s author, Maureen Evans, maintains her Twitter page where she posts condensed recipes. What can you do in the kitchen that you can’t do on Twitter? Nothing it turns out; with recipes for macaroons, fennel pie, pomegranate sashimi and beyond, Evans proves that you don’t need a culinary encyclopedia to keep things fresh.

As I write this, I hear my mother’s voice in the back of my head, “but why would people want to get their recipes from Twitter?” You’re right mom, there really isn’t a replacement for traditional food inspiration – I used to spend hours going through our bookshelf of cookbooks that featured food from around the world and I credit those moments to why I’m currently a food lover – and I still believe there’s no better tool for determining what you’re going to make for dinner than a trip to farmers’ market, but there’s something to be said for the online community of foodies that are using Twitter to not only get the word out about their own food blogs, but also find creative inspiration for new concoctions.

Just take a moment to look all of the tweets tagged with #foodie. Within three minutes of opening the search in a new browser tab, there were 10 new tweets.

There are the instructional tweets:

exceptionalfood: A smooth shiny egg shell is a sign of old age. Fresh eggs have a chalky rough shell. #chef #recipe #kitchen #foodie

The quirky:

TheAmateurChef: Is it wrong that I like peanut butter on bacon sandwiches…?#foodie

The insightful:

tarla80: After eating #chocolate you feel godlike, as though you can conquer enemies, lead armies, entice lovers. -Emily Luchetti #foodie #quote

And the humorous:

WarrenCaterson: “the perfect wine glass is one that has wine in…” quote from @whopaysthepiper #wine #foodie

Or if you’re dependent on visual stimulation, there’s always the #foodporn hashtag. Here’s to socially networked food inspiration.

Have any recipes that you’ve gotten via Twitter, or any foodies you follow who are particularly in the know? Share them in the comments below!

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground. Each week, Anna will be taking a look at something new and different that’s taking place in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to culinary avant garde.

Image: NineteenFortyOne

The post Foodie Underground: Give ‘Em Something to Tweet About appeared first on EcoSalon.

In a down economy, we’ve seen lots of underground food trends take off. Limited budgets have forced people to get creative, both with what they buy and what they make at home. Just look at the rise in DIY markets; people are clamoring for goods that support their neighbor instead of the supersized box store down the street. Spend a weekend at farmer’s market and you’ll quickly be saying to yourself, “what recession?”

But it’s not just underground movements that are reaping the benefits of an economy that forces us to be on the lookout for anything that falls under the category of “less is more.” An article in last week’s Wall Street Journal posits that New Yorkers’ obsession with cupcakes has become one of the drivers behind the city’s improved economy. Cupcakes, really?

“People still want a cupcake,” said Pam Nelson, owner of Butter Lane, to The Wall Street Journal. “I think it’s kind of an indulgence and the price point is still low. For three dollars people can buy something for themselves instead of spending 100 bucks on a dinner and still feel like they’re treating themselves.”

Cruise on over to the Butter Lane website, and you’ll get a dose of delightful French music and salivating shots of baked goods – it’s easy to see why people feel like they’re getting a treat. In fact cupcake stores are everywhere, there are entire blogs devoted to them, and DIYers know that the quick way to a food lover’s heart just might be with buttercream.

I for one am not a cupcake fan (sorry!), but the NYC cupcake phenomenon is interesting because it’s emblematic of a larger trend sweeping the nation: specialty food. Forget running a one stop shop, when it comes to the foodie movement, it’s all about playing to a niche market, as we learned last week looking at various bike delivery enterprises.

Chefs and even amateurs that know their stuff well are honing their skills on one or two products that can come in small, but well-worth-it doses, in everything from ice cream cookies to take and bake molten chocolate cakes. In an over consumptive society where our choices are often overwhelming, it’s nice to know that people still specialize, and that when they do, they do it well.

Have a local specialty food store – cupcakes or otherwise – that you love? Tell us about it! Either in the comments below or on Twitter, remember to use the #foodieunderground hashtag!

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground. Each week, Anna will be taking a look at something new and different that’s taking place in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to culinary avant garde.

Image: ginnerobot

The post Foodie Underground: Cupcake Revolution appeared first on EcoSalon.