How one fast-food innovation has inspired restaurant chefs and home cooks for more than two decades
The Crunchwrap Supreme is a feat of both texture and engineering. To create the Taco Bell classic, which — like Eater — turned 20 years old this year, a large flour tortilla is layered with seasoned beef and thick nacho cheese sauce, a crispy tostada shell, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, and tangy sour cream before being meticulously folded into its signature hexagonal shape and griddled to hold all the elements together. (...)
Our obsession with watching people eat giant meals on camera has now spilled over into other parts of everyday life
Usually within about 30 seconds of opening the TikTok app on my phone, I can almost guarantee that I will see a video of someone eating. Maybe they’re sitting in their car with a sack full of fast food, or perhaps they’ve just prepared an elaborate meal that they’re sloppily plating into bowls, but within seconds, the eating begins. In 2025, it feels like the entire internet is mukbang, and I’m not the only one who can’t stop watching. (...)
As the chef-forager became a trend — then a cliche — it created a trap for many restaurants. We’re just now starting to break out.
An indelible image has captured the imaginations of diners for the last decade and a half: A chef, tousled hair and a short beard, work pants and galoshes, slowly walks alone through a moss-covered pine forest. He carries an Opinel knife in one hand, a square plastic container in the other. He pauses, seeing something the rest of us can’t. Dropping to one knee, he delicately plucks a single leaf from the forest floor, inspects it, and gingerly nibbles its edge. (...)
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