Tech culture and crazy food trends go together like peanut butter and jelly. While sometimes it can be hard to separate which fads are coming from the startup people looking to disrupt everything and which are coming from Silicon Valley’s natural inclination to eat weird shit, there’s no doubt that techies like to be ahead on the trends, whether they’re focusing on apps or food.
While the more normal food fads range from cupcakes to bacon everything, here are three that only a techie could love and one that is just so San Francisco I couldn’t not mention it.
Coffee With… Butter?
Cream is so 2013. The latest drink craze for startup founders who never get enough sleep is coffee with unsalted, grass-fed butter and a healthy dash of triglyceride oil called Bulletproof Coffee. And yeah, okay, they’ll put in some normal frothy milk to appease all you old school coffee lovers, but that’s where the compromising ends.
Fans of the buttery coffee claim it has more of a kick, is better for you than a regular old cup of Joe, and that we’ll all be drinking it within the year.
Artisanal Water Filters
Because regular tap water is obviously not good enough, I’d like to introduce you to Soma water. Named after the (in)famous San Francisco neighborhood that is currently the beating heart of Startuplandia, Soma water uses coconut shells instead of plastic to filter your agua because, you know, sustainability.
In addition to those coconut filters, you also get a stylish glass carafe, so you’ll never have to be embarrassed by a clunky Brita filter again.
Soylent
What if you never had to actually eat ever again? Created by an engineer who spent thousands of hours tinkering with his own diet until he came up with the exact right combination of powdered proteins, carbs, vitamins, and minerals, Soylent is the ultimate body/food hack.
The creator of Soylent claims it has the potential to be “the end of food,” and although there are certainly plenty of folks who are not buying it, you can see how Soylent would have a special kind of appeal to, say, website programmers who spend all of their time typing away and rarely want to take the time to whip up something to eat.
Another great tech-related clientele for Soylent is really any startup founder. Pressed for time and battling the bulge that is almost inevitable when you’re working 16-hour days at a computer, Soylent provides all of your nutrients with minimal time investment.
$4 Toast
While the word “toast” may conjure an image of thin, pasty-white Wonder “bread” drenched in butter because it has no flavor of its own, artisanal toast is basically a totally different food group. Thick slices of lovingly made handmade bread are crisped to perfection and the slathered with mouth-watering jams, creams, and butters.
But, yeah, it’s toast that costs $4 so it definitely fits the crazy food trends category.
