As someone who can hardly remember what happened last week, it’s almost impossible for me to think back to January of 2023. But if you asked me to tell you what I ate for dinner last Tuesday night, chances are I could describe my entire meal, which chair I sat in, and which of my roommates joined me for dinner. Food creates memories, so I decided that the best way to remember 2023 would be to go back and highlight the primary food events of each month. This food recap of 2023 by month might make you nostalgic or angry that you didn’t get that Starbucks Stanley cup. Either way, 2023 was packed full of food-related memories.
January: The Golden Globes, a new Oreo, & the world’s largest pizza
2023 kicked off with the beloved Jennifer Coolidge sipping on Dunkin’ before winning a Golden Globe, because even celebrities needed a boost of caffeine post holiday season. Another celebrity who rocked the foodie world in January was Lizzo with her “Nature’s Oatmeal” recipe that still makes going vegan look delicious. Next, what Oreo-enthusiast can forget “The Most Oreo Oreo” that came out January 30? Even Martha Stewart got involved with the heavily stuffed iconic sandwich cookie. January closed with the world’s largest pizza record getting broken by Pizza Hut and Erik Decker, because the year couldn’t officially begin without 14,000 square feet of pizza.
February: The Grammys, pickle pizza, & an egg shortage
In February, we snacked our way through the Grammys with food inspired by our favorite nominees. Next, Slice predicted pickle pizza to be the topping trend of 2023. A few restaurants have started selling pizzas with pickles atop them this year, with perhaps the most controversial being DiGiorno’s pineapple pickle pizza. The real question is whether or not pickles will continue having a place on pizza in 2024. As winter wore on, we needed extra vitamin D to brighten our days, so this guide to citrus came at a good time.
Even though we were only one and a half months into the new year, we were also in need of Gatorade’s new energy drink “Fast Twitch”. Despite having citrus and caffeine to lift our spirits, the egg shortage continued to drain our grocery budgets. Even Taylor Swift fans couldn’t lower egg prices like Trevor Noah wanted. Thankfully, February ended with a laugh over McDonald’s buggy AI drive-thru, because that poor robot was determined to add nine sweet teas and extra butter to people’s orders.
March: Pasta water candles, olive oil coffee, & the beginning of the Eras Tour
March was when winter finally ebbed and made way for spring, leaving us with new hope and inspiration. With seasons changing, we craved some new food shows to watch, because everyone needed a show to binge after surviving the first two months of the year. Inspiration continued to flow as Ed Sheeran released his own brand of hot sauce — and great news: it is now available in the US. Candle companies also felt a pull toward something new and unusual because the “pasta water” candle was born. If that wasn’t enough, Starbucks then released the “Oleato” menu, bringing olive oil into the world of coffee. Chat GPT also helped create new Starbucks orders for those of us who were tired of the usual. By the end of the month, the Eras Tour had finally begun and Swifties were all too excited to have a Lavender Haze lemonade to celebrate both the tour and spring’s arrival.
April: Prank products, celebrity recipes, & M&Ms
This year, April Fools’ Day inspired brands to post prank product photos — my personal favorite was the “Nutella Tic Tacs.” Then things got serious, because we realized we hadn’t cleaned our water bottles since restarting school after the holidays. Spring cleaning definitely meant making time to properly wash our beloved Stanley cups. Next, our Pop Culture Kitchen series brought some trending celebrity recipes to us, such as Selena Gomez’s Spray Cheese Late Night Snack and Hailey Bieber’s Air Fryer Wings. Keeping with April's spirit of fun, it seemed proper to end the month with a ranking of M&M’s flavors.
May: Cheesy chocolate truffles, Starbucks Stanley cups, & more Starbucks Stanley cups
Stanley cups had been gaining popularity before May, but everything dissolved into chaos when Starbucks collaborated with Stanley cups. Online buyers might have had the best luck with ordering them. Target had them, but then they were gone. Then you could get one on resale, but it would cost you an arm and a leg. One day later, everyone who hadn’t acquired a Starbucks Stanley cup felt depressed, so we resorted to Starbucks’ new tumblers. There was the hope of a restock, but as far as I know, it never happened. If you’re still feeling sad over your lack of a Starbucks Stanley cup, these memes might make you feel better.
Besides May’s Stanley cup chaos, we can’t forget about Velveeta releasing “Cheesy Chocolate Truffles” — on second thought, maybe we want to forget about those. Finally, May would not have been complete without a celebrity releasing something food-related, and this month it was Millie Bobby Brown releasing her own brand of coffee.
June: Pickle-flavored hard seltzer, Panera swimsuits, & a new Stanley cup?
June marked the end of school and beginning of summer, so we grabbed a pickle-flavored hard seltzer and relished the completion of finals. With college students getting out to celebrate school’s end, Panda Express timed the release of its Orange Chicken sandwich perfectly. Then, MTG collaborated with Hot Pockets to give away a 30-year supply of those cherished, microwavable sandwiches. I don’t know who won, but I hope they had a lot of freezer space.
When summer finally began, Panera shocked customers by releasing a colorful and fresh swimsuit collection featuring sandwiches, broccoli, strawberries, and cheese in honor of its soups. Speaking of releases, though, we can’t forget about Hyrdroflask’s release of a Stanley cup — er, I mean, the All Around Travel Tumbler. With controversy on the rise, we had to make sure to give Stanley cups their place in June, too, so we admired all the lovely colors Stanley Quenchers come in.
July: #girldinner, Taylor Swift swallows a bug, & adult capri suns
As the first official summer month, July was full of adventures, trends, and girl dinners. Even as we step into 2024, let’s be real — “girl dinner” is probably not going anywhere. The Eras Tour also continued bringing joy to Swifties still bummed about the Lover Tour, canceled in 2020. Apparently, even bugs had been waiting three years for this tour. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) also was released in July, and we enjoyed the album in style with these snacks. Then, Kim Kardashian released Kimade, an energy drink to boost busy moms everywhere. I guess we needed Kimade to get us through the days when it was so hot people could cook food in their cars (this is why I live in the Pacific Northwest). Maybe rising temperatures also contributed to the invention of adult capri suns on TikTok. Oh, Summer, I miss you.
August: Farmers’ markets, pickle jar sweatshirts, & controversies
I can’t speak for everyone, but in August I usually remember all of my organization and cleaning goals I’d meant to accomplish when summer began — so this guide came in time to inspire late summer organization. Besides cleaning, August is one of the best months for farmers’ markets, and we definitely took advantage of locally sourced produce last summer with these tips.
Next, the Hydroflask vs Stanley cup competition was back underway, because the All Around Tumbler was five whole cents cheaper and we needed to know if saving that nickel was worth it. Not to overshadow those infamous water bottles, but we need to take a second to reflect on the pickle jar sweatshirt that went viral in August. I guess some people weren’t suffering under brutal temperatures, because it seemed like everyone had one — not because they liked pickles, but because those things were comfy as all get out. Anyways, at the end of the month, controversy struck again, but this time it was over beans and not Stanley cups. Unlike beans, however, it seems that Stanley cups do have a substitute: Hydroflask’s All Around Tumblers.
September: Celebrities working at restaurants, pickle fries are back, & fall begins
As summer drew to a close, we looked back at all those celebrities who convinced restaurants to let them work a few shifts. Lana Del Rey eventually revealed why she worked at a Waffle House so fans could rest easy knowing her music career was not over. Although Olivia Rodrigo was never behind the counter at her local Starbucks, she did release GUTS on September 8, which we celebrated Spoon-style with purple snacks. September was already going great, but Sonic made it even better by bringing back its pickle fries.
While we ate our pickle fries, we reflected on the past controversies and consulted Instacart for a list of the most controversial foods in America. But wait — pickles were the 11th most-hated food? Maybe that’s the reason Sonic couldn’t keep pickle fries on the menu year-round. Anyways, the most anticipated event of September is the start of fall, and the return of our beloved pumpkin spice products. Trader Joe’s did not disappoint this year, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t stash a bunch of its fall products in my freezer for winter.
October: Pickle ice cream, Taylor Swift, & the Spoon Choice Awards
Even though Halloween was on the 31st, we started thinking about it as soon as October began with a history of spooky cocktails. Starbucks also provided us with a way to be cozy apart from a hot PSL: a designer varsity jacket honoring the 20th anniversary of Starbucks’ release of the PSL. Unfortunately, this jacket was $295, so I had to settle for ordering a PSL instead. Not all companies sold pumpkin products in honor of fall, however, because Van Leeuwen decided that the upcoming holiday season was the perfect time to release dill pickle- and Kraft Mac & Cheese-flavored ice cream. Apparently, they didn’t read up about pickles being the 11th most-hated food on Instacart.
October was also another month for Swifties everywhere, since the Era’s Tour movie came out in theaters. Those popcorn buckets and soda cups were put to some creative uses, too. Taylor Swift also released the long-anticipated album, ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version), which we, of course, had good snacks to celebrate with. Then, between all of the Taylor Swift hype, we released the Spoon Choice Awards to commemorate college town restaurants all across the country.
November: Travis Kelce cereal, Thanksgiving, & the Stanley cup that survived a car fire
November is a month for foodies. The month began with a review of croissant perfume, which definitely sounded better than March’s pasta water candle. Speaking of candles, 2023 might be home to a trend different from “is it cake?” — the “is it a candle?” phenomenon. And yes, in case you were wondering, there was a pickle candle. Next, the month wouldn’t be complete without a celebrity releasing something, and this time it was Travis Kelce bringing us Kelce Krunch: the cereal with a misspelled alliteration that bothers the crap out of me. On top of that, McDonald’s also released its own crocs collection. I bet those cute and colorful crocs look great with a pickle jar sweatshirt.
If you were surprised that Stanley cups haven’t been mentioned in a while, then you might be more surprised to remember that November was the month a Stanley cup survived a car fire. Maybe this phenomenon will spark a collab between Stanley cups and firefighters in 2024. Lastly, Spoon University served up a Thanksgiving menu of tofurkey and carrot mash to finish the month off strong.
December: Polar Express hot chocolate, Jellycats, & the food trend predictions of 2024
December and the holiday season isn’t over yet (thank goodness), but a lot has been happening between studying for finals and trying to stay warm. If you missed this hot chocolate recipe from The Polar Express, be sure to treat yourself to a soul-warming mug of nostalgia soon. I also have to mention the adorable food and drink Jellycats that many of us secretly want for Christmas. Then, even though it’s hard for me to think past my finals right now, the new year is coming up fast, and thankfully, we are already prepared for the food trends we predict to see in 2024. I am sad to say that pickles are not a part of it, but we can assume Taylor Swift and Stanley cups will stay trendy. Goodbye 2023, thanks for all of the food.