Kimberly Decker

We Americans have notoriously restless palates. This is especially so in today’s food-forward world, as chefs vie for celebrity status and the more adventuresome among us approach dining as an extreme sport. It’s now commonplace to find even familiar flavor favorites forced into some pretty unusual pairings, as the current practice with chocolate demonstrates.

Starbucks probably thought it was doing the right thing by coloring its Strawberries & Crème Frappuccino with carmine. After all, even if consumers didn’t realize it when they ordered the popular dairy-berry beverage from their friendly neighborhood barista, the coffee giant had them in mind in opting for this natural colorant over a synthetic like, say, FD&C Red #40.

It’s getting harder to stroll a city block without landing in front of yet another frozen yogurt outlet. These brightly colored, sleekly designed shrines to soft-serve bliss are sprouting like spring grass, adding oomph to what some have described as the latest renaissance for a category that was all but written off not long ago.