Salt caramel’s rise as the flavor of the year illuminates the fast flow of food trends in a country that can grab hold of a relatively unknown ingredient like chipotle and move it through a cultural sluice box that ends at McDonald’s.
Like grief, American food trends go through five stages
many dishes or ingredients that eventually make it big first appear in either small ethnic restaurants or fine dining establishments
made its way into high-end food magazines and specialty food shows
shows up on menus at more-inventive chain restaurants, like the Cheesecake Factory, or at large cookware chains like Williams-Sonoma
appearance in a mainstream women’s magazine, a larger chain restaurant or even in supermarkets, as a premium item
Getting picked up by Starbucks is what Ms. Nielsen calls “high Stage 4.”
Stage 5: complete integration in the American mass market
Wal-Mart rolled out the flavor in a box of truffles
Dulce de leche is what brought caramel back
clipped from: www.nytimes.com 