Food Trends From 2017 No One Will Remember In 2018

The year 2017 certainly kept things interesting when it came to food. From sushi burgers to fancy matcha lattes, Instagram had us incessantly double-tapping on countless innovative culinary creations, turning each and every one of us into bonafide food critics, going ham with descriptors like #droolworthy and #instafoody. But as much as there were food trends that excited us in 2017 — I'm looking at you turmeric — there were others whose fame was short-lived. 

Here are just a few 2017 food trends people probably won't remember by the time we wrap up 2018.

It all started with a giant Moscow Mule in New York City. In the spirit of Instagram-worthy moments, the Dream Midtown celebrated summer by adding a 164-ounce Moscow Mule to the menu at its rooftop bar. Pretty soon, glossy-eyed groups of friends everywhere started snapping photos with communal cocktails that weighed more than your average newborn baby. While we're all about sharing a drink with friends, this might be a little too close for comfort, which is why we're guessing people will start ordering their own drinks any day now.

With activated charcoal gaining popularity in 2017, an array of black foods began appearing all over social media, possibly in protest to the overabundance of rainbow foods flooding our feeds. There was black bread, black juice and yes, black ice cream. Besides looking kind of creepy, this trendy food contained activated charcoal, which some say, has certain health benefits. According to WebMD, "[Activated charcoal] is used to reduce bloating and gas, lower cholesterol and even prevent hangovers." The downside: turns out activated charcoal will stain your mouth and skin black, which means it's great for photographing, but selfies are out once you eat it. See ya later, scary ice cream.

We're not talking about a standard pizza with Mexican-inspired toppings. This is a pizza topped with actual tacos. A creative pizza trend that had a bit more luck with just over 21,000 tags on Instagram was the taco pizza. Made popular by restaurants like Tony Baloney's in Hoboken, New Jersey, this Mexican-Italian culinary hybrid pulls out all the stops, topping a traditional pizza pie with carne asada tacos (shell and all), chipotle sauce, guacamole and pickled jalapeño crema. Overindulgence is a (short-lived) understatement, which is why we're guessing this will die off pretty quickly.

With more and more people embracing the paleo lifestyle, it seems natural that a slew of bun-less burger options started popping up on restaurant menus everywhere in 2017. Enter the avocado bun. 

Let it be known that I like avocado as much as the next girl. But replacing a burger bun with an entire halved avocado is a bit of an overkill. Not only would that be really hard to eat, but we have to imagine you'd get pretty messy. This is the kind of food people order just to photograph once, then never think of again.

Wine and coffee are two beloved beverages. So it's not difficult to see why combining them might seem like a good idea. You can thank Rick Molinari, who owns Molinari Caffè in Napa Valley, for starting the wine infused coffee trend back in March. "I knew that this would get big, but I didn't think it would get to this point," Molinari told Fox News. But maybe not big enough, with just under 10,000 posts using the hashtag #winecoffee. More than likely, people are realizing their morning coffee doesn't keep them quite as sharp when it's infused with wine, so 2018 might have us saving the alcohol for happy hour. 

2017 seemed to be the year we took beloved flavors and went completely overboard — and nothing proves this better than the pickle-flavored food trend. We know a lot of people love pickles, and adding that flavor to your chips might be a good idea, but it went too far when the flavor showed up in freeze pops, mints, candy canes, and even baked goods. Eventually, people realized it didn't taste nearly as fun as it sounded, and the trend started to fade — which came as a shock to absolutely no one.

It was the frozen drink that broke the Internet. Okay, not really. But Starbucks' color changing Unicorn Frapuccino quickly gained social media stardom when it was released back in April. According to Starbucks, the blended beverage was made with, "a mango syrup and layered with a pleasantly sour blue drizzle ...  finished with vanilla whipped cream and a sprinkle of sweet pink and sour blue powder topping." Pretty? Sure. Something you'd want to order more than once? Probably not — which is why is was released for a very limited time. Let's hope we've seen the last of this sickeningly sweet drink that was better for photographing than for drinking. 

After the Unicorn Frappuccino frenzy, Starbucks followed up with a Dragon Frappuccino that, though not as popular, still generated a lot of buzz. Still, this bright purple and green beverage didn't seem to take off quite like Starbucks probably expected — more than likely because it tasted even worse than their first attempt. Hopefully Starbucks will spend the new year focusing more on taste and less on pretty colors. 

Unicorns and dragons, oh my! Mermaid food became a thing, over the summer of 2017, inspiring a bevy of #mermaidfood posts on Instagram, showcasing everything from cupcakes to doughnuts to yogurt bowls. The only downfall was that most of it didn't taste as good as it looked, which is why this is another trend that's not likely to hold water for much longer.

A waffle iron that's only for making waffles? Now that's just crazy. The year 2017 had foodies making anything but traditional breakfast waffles in their irons, and you can thank social media (again) for this trend. Hashtag #willitwaffle generated many Instagram posts, inspiring everything from waffled spaghetti to waffled sausage and rice, and even waffled mac and cheese. So now that we all know it's possible to waffle all sorts of things, we can stop. The cleanup alone probably isn't worth it. 

Pizza is one of those foods that tastes good with almost any topping ... almost any. This Halloween, Chuck E. Cheese, the famous family restaurant and entertainment center, switched up its traditional pizza with candy corn. The idea seemed to momentarily take off, with many candy corn lovers posting pics on Instagram before this trend fizzled out. The verdict: perhaps we should leave the candy corn for trick or treating.