“Is pumpkin spice overrated?”
This is the question that comes up every fall as the leaves start to change color and the weather gets cooler.
The season of flannels, pumpkins, cinnamon apple treats, and crunchy leaves is something people look forward to every year, unless they’re in Canada. Although many people love autumn, there are some who have a deep rooted hatred toward one of its main ingredients: pumpkin spice.
Is it really something to look forward to, or is just another annual flavor?
As posts flood social media feeds, more people are sharing their resentment toward the seasonal taste. To these select few, it gets to a point where it’s too much pumpkin and the hype must die down to where it truly belongs, which is towards the bottom of the food pyramid of fall flavors.
Imagine going to the grocery store on a typical day in fall and being bombarded with pumpkin spice Kool-Aid, Pringles, and gum out of all things. It’s as if the first day of fall meant pumpkin spice barfed everywhere across convenience stores nationwide.
But there isn’t even any pumpkin in the actual pumpkin spice seasoning, so what are we actually so obsessed with?
Pumpkin spice seasoning was first introduced in 1934 when McCormick, a popular seasoning company, introduced the flavor in stores as a response to pureed canned pumpkin.
The obsession made its way through to more modern times with the infamous pumpkin spice latte.
There isn’t a specific inventor of pumpkin spice, but if anything, it was probably some evil scientist trying to spread their love of pumpkins. Starbucks was the first to experiment with the flavor in lattes back in 2003. After these lattes hit a few stores across the U.S. and Canada, it became an instant hit.
In 2006, when social media arose, customers started to share their love for the pumpkin spice latte and the trend began to rise each year.
Once 2010 arrived, the outburst of pumpkin spice went to a whole new level. It’s as if costumers were waiting for the new iPhone to release when they camped out waiting for the pumpkin spice latte’s annual comeback day.
It became something greater than it really needed to be, as all the other fall flavors didn’t receive half the love as the beloved pumpkin spice. This mania has resulted in bizarre pumpkin spice-infused products that no one ever asked for.
Stores used the unique fall flavor to make everything from food treats to scented candles. Other brands began adopting a variation of the pumpkin spice lattes by incorporating the spice in soaps, donuts, cookies, and whatever else they could imagine. At this point why not make a whole shoe out of pumpkin spice? It would be sure to sell.
But somehow after each year, the obsession with pumpkin spice remains. “For You” pages on TikTok suddenly drown in pumpkin spice galore. These posts appear as early as August when the pumpkin spice lattes returns to Starbucks, with influencers reviewing the new drinks and other products.
This year, however, Starbucks came out with many other fall-themed drinks, such as the pumpkin cream chai latte, the apple crisp oat milk latte, and the pumpkin cream cold brew.
Even more hype around pumpkin spice grew after the release of these drinks, leaving the poor apple crisp latte in the dust.
As social media has the biggest impact on our collective psychotic addiction to the flavor, influencers buying these drinks fuels the takeover of a pumpkin spice epidemic. Most foods are being possessed by the pumpkin spice apocalypse.
Now, I’m all for celebrating the cozy season, and I’m not against pumpkin flavors. But this love-hate relationship needs to stop. Do we really need pumpkin spice everywhere? NO!
It’s time for a new rising star during the fall season. Bring on apple cinnamon.
