We’re in the business of reporting trends, but sometimes, these ideas are simply repackaged or recycled old news. Two recent wellbeing fads with roots in the past are “forest bathing”, and the fetishisation of bone broth.
Forest bathing, as detailed on Style.com and in the LA Times earlier this year, is also known as shinrin-yoku, and originated in Japan in the 1980s. But even touting it as a trend then would have been a stretch. The moving meditation encourages immersing yourself in nature, and soaking up the ambience of a forest.
Simply put, it’s walking through the bush great for the mental state, but a trend? Hardly. When we have to be told that finding peace in nature is good for us and that we ought to book into the nearest spa or hotel to learn how to do this something has gone wrong.
And then there's bone broth, or should I say stock, touted as the new superfood and sold in trendy dedicated outlets such as Brodo in New York. Surely I'm not the only one wondering how this fad has fooled so many people. Though it's good to encourage finding nutrients in whole foods and using the remains of a meal, rebranding stock and offering it in a takeaway cup doesn't make it interesting.
I’ve never liked the bone-in style of soup anyway. My father has been buying bacon bones from the butcher and making it for years. But there’s something far too meaty about a bone boiled to smithereens, its oils coming out in liquid form. I always preferred when he just pureed pumpkin pieces.
According to this year’s reports, though, he is a trendsetter who should be Instagramming the sh*t out of his Sunday soups, and selling them out of a beaten-up old food truck. And I should have written about it years ago.
