The Yogurt “!!!Craze!!!” Is Boring

I love frozen yogurt. I welcome the opening of Mr. Yogato and TangySweet, both of which I have visited. But this whole yogurt “craze,” as it has been dubbed, has also inadvertently upset me a tad.

No, I do not feel for the masses of lactose intolerant people in this city. Nor do I worry that good old Thomas Sweet will be run out of business.

Here’s what gets to me: This whole new soft serve boom is just another example of D.C. replicating food trends that have thrived already in other cities. Everyone knows the whole tangy yogurt thing was popularized by Pinkberry, a Los Angeles-based company.

But, what do we have here that’s from here?

• Teaism’s Salty Oat Cookies, which people apparently have FedExed from D.C., according to a recent Young and Hungry column.
• Half-Smokes—”D.C.’s signature street food and arguably its only indigenous dish”—which City Paper writer Dave Jamieson wrote about in his story “The Missing Link.”
• And regionally-speaking, blue crabs. And let me just say: Wahoo. Blue crabs are awesome. If you’re from here, eat them and feel pride.

Seriously, is that it? If there’s anything else, please enlighten me in the comments.

Just listen to Washingtonian’s video, and you will hear “Pinkberry” referenced, oh, at least six times. A little taste:

“So I go to Pinkberry a lot, and it’s, like, really, really good, and I’ve been craving it so much, and then we heard about this place…” says girl from L.A.

“So, we had to come, and it’s very good,” says L.A. girl’s friend

“Yeah, they have such a better selection than Pinkberry,” concludes L.A. girl.

Well, that’s good. It’s nice that the copy cats have perfected the original.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 3:51 pm and is filed under Food & Drink. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.