Are we over kale salad? As a food obsessor, I am always trying to stay ahead of the curve. It is literally my job to know what is hot now and what is coming next. But what actually happens to trendy foods like kale? Do they disappear, or do they settle into something more familiar, like the old garden salad with ranch?
About a decade ago, when I was writing recipes for Traditional Home magazine, I pitched a dish idea to my mom for an upcoming spread. It was something like plank white fish with a corn and tomato topping. After I described it, she hesitated and said she was not sure because she had never seen anything like it before. I remember thinking that was exactly the point. My job was to create something new, something that had not yet been seen.
That moment stuck with me because it captures what chefs and recipe developers are always chasing. We hope something we create becomes the next braised short rib, a dish so popular it trickles through the culture and eventually lands on fast food menus. It reminds me of that scene in The Devil Wears Prada where Miranda Priestley explains the origins of a seemingly simple blue sweater. She traces it from high fashion runways down through the industry until it lands in everyday retail. Food works the same way. The ideas start somewhere intentional and creative, then filter down into everyday cooking.
When I think about kale salad, I also think about my grandmother. She used kale and similar greens mostly as decoration, lining silver trays that held deviled eggs, cucumber sandwiches, or chicken salad. And the caretaker in our home made rich, slow cooked greens that she loved deeply. In both cases, kale was not the star. It was either background or tradition.
Now kale has a completely different role. It is a centerpiece, especially in salads, though it still requires that extra step of massaging to reach that perfect tender texture. So do I think kale will disappear? Not at all. It has moved beyond decoration and beyond its place as only a stewed green. It has become a staple.
As my writing group is always drilling into me, the WHY NOW why do we care? Why are we even asking if kale is over? Part of it is timing. Kale had a long, visible moment in the spotlight. It became shorthand for a certain kind of eating, health forward, ingredient driven, a little aspirational. When something reaches that level of saturation, it naturally invites backlash. We start to question it, not always because we are tired of the ingredient itself, but because we are tired of what it represents. At the same time, a new wave of ingredients is always waiting in the wings, ready to be discovered, renamed, and reframed as the next essential.
And why do we care? Because food trends are never just about food. They signal how we want to live. Kale’s rise told us we were paying more attention to nutrition, to texture, to bold and sometimes bitter flavors. It marked a shift away from passive eating toward something more intentional. To care about whether kale is still relevant is really to care about whether those values are still driving the way we cook and eat. And as food costs are soaring and we are still wanting to life a healthy lifestyle, kale still fits that bill, an affordable green that will nourish our bodies.
Like fashion, it will evolve. Trends always shift, and not everything has staying power. But kale has already proven it can adapt. We have embraced its bitterness, its texture, and its nutritional density. It will continue to ebb and flow in popularity, but it is firmly part of the way we eat now.
Just like the most memorable looks from the Oscars, the Golden Globes, Vogue, or the Met Gala, only a few trends truly last. Kale, in its many forms, feels like one of them. And maybe that is why now feels like the moment to reconsider it, not because it is fading, but because it has fully crossed over. What was once my grandmother’s practical garnish, something used to line a tray or support a spread, has become a marker of how we eat today. Its relevance comes from that transformation. Kale carries both memory and momentum. It reflects where we have been and how far our tastes have shifted toward bold flavor, texture, and intention. Trends come and go, but the ones that matter reshape the way we think about food. Kale did that quietly, steadily and pushed us into a new tier of food.
Do you still like kale?
What do you think is the new food trend?
