A trend that should end with the year: The influencer food critic.
The phrase 'go with your gut' has a great many more implications in the food world than most other places, but something all too readily forgotten is the reason it exists in the first place. It comes chiefly from persons of vast experience and expertise who subconsciously drew upon and analyzed those things in their decision making, resulting in more rapid, decisive action than might have been expected. The current common (mis)interpretation is near the reverse- it's used to justify 'shooting from the hip', imprecise decisions with limited information, time, and thought.
It's not that I don't understand it- the general public wants to be heard, so they look for those in which they see some fragment of themselves. Problem is, they aren't willing to accept a feeling of inadequacy, so they pin their attention and faith to the inadequate. Many things are popular because they speak to a familiar outlook or experience- but familiar doesn't mean worthwhile. Being the everyman only matters if it offers something worthy of attention, and there's a lot of improvement that needs to happen to the general public before that's reliably possible.
Listen to experts. Learn the principles behind what's good, why it's good, and do the work to appreciate it that way. Don't take the word of just anyone- especially someone TikTok tells you to.
I'm going to spend my last day of 2023 with a bottle of prosecco, making a very nice dashi for some 年越し蕎麦. A little East, a little West, and a lot of real expertise.
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