Posted on 02/16/2021
2 min read
Among the trends that we had not seen coming, here is the one … slack. Yes, the flask takes its ease on our plate. If Asians love it for its taste, it has found its place in Europe among designers.
Since the craze for “Yummy” by Justin Bieber, let it be said, culinary slack has been on the rise. In the clip viewed more than 570 million times, we see the young man stuffing himself with trembling pancakes, flabby jelly and even pricking a piece of jelly cake from his neighbor’s plate. The Covid has made us somewhat limp, like our morale and, now, our food. This madness for the slack began on TikTok in January 2020. The “jelly fruits challenge” brought together tens of thousands of Internet users who were filmed biting dripping candies.
Filming yourself eating is not entirely new. Already in 2019, many YouTube channels relayed the culinary exploits of Koreans. The latter ingesting enormous amounts of food. These chains are called “Mukbank”. On Twitch, some have even made a career out of it, to the point of getting paid to eat sometimes surprising products, like live octopus. Sensitive souls refrain.
“And then she moves”
In France, the trend was spotted by Stylist. The magazine asked chef Alix Lacloche about this: “It’s not so much the taste, even if it can be very good, but rather the form that is put forward. jelly has this great advantage of being malleable, there is a childish and playful side that makes you feel like you’re having fun with plasticine. We can play on transparency, colors, sculpt it, but also lock other foods inside, in the form of letters and flowers. And then she moves, she is in motion, which is quite fascinating and mesmerizing, “enthuses the chef. In 2020, the 35-year-old young woman had developed” flamby “, small colorful and soft pastries.
The French chef is far from being the only one to have distinguished herself in the discipline of softness. In the United States, the “jelly cakes” trend was spotted by the avant-garde American culinary magazine Munchies. We discover the surprising works of Hong Kong artist Kiki Chuen halfway between grandmother’s cameo and cupcakes for tea. His latest creation? A heart surmounted by a cherub.
Food arty
Many food designers have tried the soft trend. Like the aptly named “Bad Test”. This American company offers soft or single-colored products for events or graphics on the plate, or sometimes both. Riding not only on the taste aspect of the food, but also on the styling. From there to making the link with art, there is only one step. Though…