Rant: No More Burgers & Cupcakes

Whatever happened to originality? Where are the shepherds, leading the flocks, rather than the sheep who simply follow the latest trend?

I am getting very tired of these food trends that never seem to end, which hang around far too long and which seem to consume the city. From cupcakes to burgers, so many people try to jump on the bandwagon and offer their own version of the latest trend. The market then becomes saturated and you almost cannot walk without bumping into some incarnation of this latest trend. Sure, the first few places that started the trend might have been pioneers, yet why then is there a need to spawn dozens upon dozens of copies to replicate their success?

It almost seems like laziness, that a place lacks its own original ideas so must copy the ideas of others. Ah, Restaurant "A" created this amazing burger so now Restaurants "B" through "Z" must also do so rather than trying to produce something unique to their own restaurant. The slight changes they make to the burger don't usually constitute something "original." Cupcake Bakery "A" has been successful so 20 more cupcake bakeries, almost clones of the first, now need to be opened. Where does it end?

Food writers must bear some of the blame, as some of them seem to revel in writing about food trends. They seem to embrace the multiplicity of places selling a similar product. They like writing articles that rate the "best" burgers or cupcakes. They try to get people excited about the newest burger or cupcake bakery, despite the fact that so many others already exist. I guess for some of these writers it may be laziness as well,  that such food trends are an easy topic to write about. It takes little original thought to write about it.

The consumers must also bear some of the blame, for patronizing all of these different places, for being eager and excited to check the latest clone of a burger or cupcake, rather than seeking out something unique. Why don't they have higher standards? Why are they fixated on a single product, thus satisfied with tasting a myriad variations, despite the fact those variations often are not really that different? Is that laziness as well, sticking with the familiar rather than stepping outside their comfort zone?

Rather than hear about 157th cupcake bakery to open up, I want to know about the whoopie pie bakery or the bread pudding shop. Rather than hear about the 213th restaurant's burger, I want to know which is serving a new Shepherd's Pie. The same applies to wine with me as well. Don't tell me about the 1856th Cabernet Sauvignon that has been produced but rather tell me about the the first producer of Mencia from California.

Stop copying what everyone else is doing. Stop taking the easy route. Stop catering to the lowest denominator. Be original, be unique, be different. Be the one that everyone else wants to copy.