Is There Too Much Pickle?
Popeyes’ new pickle menu features, clockwise from top left: pickle glaze bone-in wings, pickle lemonade, pickle glaze boneless wings, fried pickles, and a pickle glaze chicken sandwich. | Photo by Justin Tsucalas; food styling by Lisa Cherkasky/Both for The Washington Post via Getty Images The pickle is Gen Z’s avocado; it’s a passion and a personality. But maybe that’s missing the point. In the Top Chef episode “Pickle Me This,” which aired on April 17, host Kristen Kish, in power clashing greens, announces that two teams of chefs must go head to head in creating an all-pickle dinner. The five-course meal was to feature different kinds of pickles in every course — not kimchi or achar necessarily, but instead the cornichons and dill of the European influence. There were charred pickles with cured mackerel, cucumber and celeriac pickle gelee, chef Massimo Piedimonte’s winning fried pickle cannolo, and of course a bread and butter pickle curd with dill ice cream. Individually, each dish sounded great, and judge Tom Colicchio said two of the dishes, including the dessert, were some of the best he’s ever had on the show. Top Chef contestants often have to create meals utilizing an ingredient that’s in the culinary zeitgeist. Some of those meals are more successful than others. But a successful five-course meal of all things pickles illustrates the strange place in culture the pickle holds now: both cheffy and with diverse-enough flavor profiles to inspire chefs in fierce competition, but obvious and basic enough to also be a little bit of a joke. It’s the food of the moment, both sincerely and ironically. As Rebecca Jennings wrote in Vox, pickles are Gen Z’s avocado, a viral food that people genuinely enjoy: They “pair well with other contemporary food trends like dirty martinis and canned cocktails, and fit right in with aesthetically pleasing butter boards and “girl dinner” spreads.” But people are also consuming pickles for the meme of it all. There are pickle chips, pickle popcorn, Flamin’ Hot pickle Cheetos, and pickle seltzer. Popeyes recently introduced an entire pickle menu, including pickle lemonade. 21Seeds wants you to make a spicy pickle martini with its tequila, and people are putting pickles in their soda. Sweetgreen has pickle ketchup, and of course Molly Baz has dill pickle mayo. And like any “it” food nowadays, the pickle has moved into fashion and home decor. Like with any trend, though, it’s kind of exhausting when it’s everywhere. Pickles have become subject to the flavor-ification of actual foods; half the time, pickle-flavored anything is an unsatisfying approximation of the flavor of Central European-style pickled cucumbers — typically a combination of salt, vinegar, and artificial dill which evokes none of the live-culture fizz that hums through the real thing. It’s that complexity we crave, herbs and lactic acid and often spices like coriander. But for the pickle to be the centerpiece of an entire five-course meal, or for it to be one’s personality to the point that it flavors every snack in one’s house, slightly misses the point of the pickle. A Popeyes meal of fried pickles and pickle glazed wings washed down with a pickle lemonade serves no refreshing alternative to the onslaught of puckering pickle potency. A filthy martini and a bowl of pickle popcorn offers no relief. What makes pickles great on a sandwich or a charcuterie board is usually that the pungent brine and preserving salt make for a great contrast to any creamy, sweet or rich ingredients. Pickles are salt and acid bombs that are delicious on their own, but also enhance every other flavor. It’s why olives are often served with bread and cheese plates have all that cheese. The back and forth is what makes pickles truly shine. Obviously no one is forcing anyone to only consume pickles, and if that is indeed what your taste buds crave, then congrats on being the moment! But put pickles everywhere and they cease to be a treat, the shining zinging bite to zap you into whatever else you’re eating. Maybe they should stay a sometimes food.
The pickle is Gen Z’s avocado; it’s a passion and a personality. But maybe that’s missing the point.
In the Top Chef episode “Pickle Me This,” which aired on April 17, host Kristen Kish, in power clashing greens, announces that two teams of chefs must go head to head in creating an all-pickle dinner. The five-course meal was to feature different kinds of pickles in every course — not kimchi or achar necessarily, but instead the cornichons and dill of the European influence. There were charred pickles with cured mackerel, cucumber and celeriac pickle gelee, chef Massimo Piedimonte’s winning fried pickle cannolo, and of course a bread and butter pickle curd with dill ice cream. Individually, each dish sounded great, and judge Tom Colicchio said two of the dishes, including the dessert, were some of the best he’s ever had on the show.
Top Chef contestants often have to create meals utilizing an ingredient that’s in the culinary zeitgeist. Some of those meals are more successful than others. But a successful five-course meal of all things pickles illustrates the strange place in culture the pickle holds now: both cheffy and with diverse-enough flavor profiles to inspire chefs in fierce competition, but obvious and basic enough to also be a little bit of a joke. It’s the food of the moment, both sincerely and ironically.
As Rebecca Jennings wrote in Vox, pickles are Gen Z’s avocado, a viral food that people genuinely enjoy: They “pair well with other contemporary food trends like dirty martinis and canned cocktails, and fit right in with aesthetically pleasing butter boards and “girl dinner” spreads.” But people are also consuming pickles for the meme of it all. There are pickle chips, pickle popcorn, Flamin’ Hot pickle Cheetos, and pickle seltzer. Popeyes recently introduced an entire pickle menu, including pickle lemonade. 21Seeds wants you to make a spicy pickle martini with its tequila, and people are putting pickles in their soda. Sweetgreen has pickle ketchup, and of course Molly Baz has dill pickle mayo. And like any “it” food nowadays, the pickle has moved into fashion and home decor.
Like with any trend, though, it’s kind of exhausting when it’s everywhere. Pickles have become subject to the flavor-ification of actual foods; half the time, pickle-flavored anything is an unsatisfying approximation of the flavor of Central European-style pickled cucumbers — typically a combination of salt, vinegar, and artificial dill which evokes none of the live-culture fizz that hums through the real thing. It’s that complexity we crave, herbs and lactic acid and often spices like coriander.
But for the pickle to be the centerpiece of an entire five-course meal, or for it to be one’s personality to the point that it flavors every snack in one’s house, slightly misses the point of the pickle. A Popeyes meal of fried pickles and pickle glazed wings washed down with a pickle lemonade serves no refreshing alternative to the onslaught of puckering pickle potency. A filthy martini and a bowl of pickle popcorn offers no relief. What makes pickles great on a sandwich or a charcuterie board is usually that the pungent brine and preserving salt make for a great contrast to any creamy, sweet or rich ingredients. Pickles are salt and acid bombs that are delicious on their own, but also enhance every other flavor. It’s why olives are often served with bread and cheese plates have all that cheese. The back and forth is what makes pickles truly shine.
Obviously no one is forcing anyone to only consume pickles, and if that is indeed what your taste buds crave, then congrats on being the moment! But put pickles everywhere and they cease to be a treat, the shining zinging bite to zap you into whatever else you’re eating. Maybe they should stay a sometimes food.
