What is it about “hipster food” that drives people so nuts?

Not hating, but I'll still take a King Size Snickers any day.

Not hating, but I’ll still take a King Size Snickers any day.

 

Recently the artisan foodie community went nuts when intrepid food bloggers revealed that some Brooklyn (of course) chocolate makers’ process may not live up to their professed “bean to bar” ideals. Heavens!

This New Yorker piece examines where the furor comes from and what responsibility both haters and lovers of “hipster food” may have to bear for buying into the myth.

For consumers, it is embarrassing to have been seduced again—by the Masts, if you agree they did anything wrong; by artisanal food that can’t possibly remain true to its ideals when it becomes a category of mass appeal; and by the glib, high-class opt-out from contemporary life that the hipster aesthetic depends upon. The backlash against the Masts has far more to do with pent-up irritation at the self-satisfaction of urban cultural élites than it does with cocoa beans. We can only hope that the embarrassment is pervasive enough to kill the tired-out hipster category altogether.

But whether you care about this at all may be the most revealing thing about the whole debate.

 

How do you feel about hipster foodie culture in general? Good? Bad? Annoying? Overrated? Exciting?

 

Have you benefitted from this trend? Has it hurt you in any way, or do you believe it has hurt or helped society in general?

 

Why do you think you have any response at all? Where are your opinions coming from? What are they based in?