Why the colour black is ruling the food world
From ink-hued main courses to black ice cream, our desire for intensely dark, Instagramable foods shows no sign of diminishing
Sensationally coloured foods have a short shelf life in the Instagram news cycle. Unicorn lattes might last a few months, before fading from view.
Black foods are an exception to the rule.
Two summers ago, black ice cream was a social media sensation, thanks especially to the glossy, black coconut ash ice cream from Morgensterns in New York, followed up by Goth soft serve from Little Damage in Los Angeles.
That should have been the end of it.
Instead, black-coloured foods have proliferated. Among the reasons are the popularity of bitter, charred foods from such places as Scandinavia, the acceptance of squid ink as more than a novelty ingredient, and the rise of activated charcoal as a health food. And there’s the visual impact, which should never be underestimated in this age.
In South Korea, an entire holiday celebrates black food. On April 14, Black Day, in a ritual that started in the early 2000s as the antithesis of Valentine’s Day, single women and men wear black and eat black bean noodles (jjajangmyeon). Sales of black coffee reportedly spike as well.
Squid power
If there’s one ingredient driving the black food trend, it’s squid ink. Chefs are using the ingredient to rethink notable dishes from around the world, even one of the original black foods: squid ink pasta.