Hot Honey
and the ersatzness of life in the 2020s
The other day I was interviewing a very clever person for Connections magazine, and I asked her (believe me, this was at least somewhat on topic, although you’ll have to wait for the term 3 issue to find out why), what her thoughts were on Hot Honey.
Have you heard of Hot Honey?
Her reply: ‘Oh, Hot Honey, that’s just Bougie Sweet Chilli Sauce’.
And that got me thinking. What else has Marketing Gotten Ahold Of and Made New Again? And I remembered my longstanding and well-rehearsed rant against a certain kitchen appliance…and that got me thinking…and now here we are with a whole Substack post about stuff that’s Not New But We Are Pretending It Is.
Air fryers
Ok, this one is a bug bear and people will fight me about it but hear me out. No, I don’t have an air fryer, and it’s not just because I already own an oven. Yep, you heard me, AIR FRYERS ARE JUST BENCHTOP OVENS. Seriously folks. Frying with AIR? That’s BAKING. That’s ROASTING. That little thing is just a mini version of the big thing you have under your bench.
Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re good: obviously way more efficient, smaller, and can crisp up small amounts of food a lot quicker and better than a big oven. And believe me, in most cases it probably IS better than your big oven - I’ve lived in enough gas-powered rentals where you risk your life just to light the oven because the clicker doesn’t work to know that a good oven should have more than just one temperature. But, shrinking something and putting it on top of your bench does not a new invention make.
Bone Broth
This is just stock. It’s literally…just stock, the basis of every soup you’ve ever eaten (drunk? I’m not really into soup so I don’t know what you call it). Remember how chicken soup was traditionally served to invalids? Yep, for centuries humans have known that stock is really good for us. But congrats to whoever thought of putting it in a fancy jar and selling it for $20 as a super food.
Overnight Oats
Heard of Bircher muesli? You know, that breakfast where you soak the oats in apple juice and then eat them for breakfast the next day? Yeah, this Swiss guy invented it more than a century ago. Because at the time it was (again) for sick people, he didn’t put any chocolate or other stuff on it - but it’s still oats soaked overnight in something.
Slow Living
This is a great thing that the Wellness Industry invented. Yep, they invented Living Without Your Mobile Phone! Amazing. Wonder what all those people before the 1980s called it?
Forest Bathing
This is Going For A Walk In Nature. Yes, definitely cathartic, invigorating, life affirming, centreing. But it’s still Going For A Walk In Nature.
Self Care
What we used to know as Personal Hygeine has been elevated into a multi billion dollar industry, and many people’s livelihoods and raisons d’etre. Something we do every day is now a Ritual (as long as we’re using the right body scrub). And Kudos to the Instagrammers who’ve made producing videos of themselves doing it (personal hygeine) into an actual Job. Products which were just bubble bath or face cream before have been promoted to ‘treatments’, ‘systems’ or ‘therapies’ and voila, they are now instantly way more fun (and expensive!). And that leads me into…
Biohacking
This is what we used to know as a Health Kick. (Although Biohackers probably don’t want you to think it’s only a fad, but rather, a permanent lifestyle change). Biohacking techniques (are they techniques? I’m calling them techniques) include cold plunges and ice baths (something Scandis have been doing forever but now with Extra Science!), Intermittent Fasting (your mum called it ‘skipping breakfast’) and Enemas (Those Egyptians were really onto something weren’t they?!)
Anyway, we may have already passed Peak Hot Honey, but I’ll eat Sweet Chilli sauce no matter what you call it. Just don’t try and make me buy an air fryer.