What better represents autumn than a pumpkin?
Pumpkin patches, jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin speeds, pumpkin pies, and, of course, pumpkin spice lattes. Pumpkin and pumpkin-flavored desserts are seen as festive desserts, meant to immerse you into the feel of autumn (and it’s not only shared by humans). Now, they even sell pumpkin spice dog treats for your four-legged friends. Stores are stocked with pumpkin spice products, some weirder than others, like pumpkin spice wine.
But pumpkin wasn’t always this insanely popular. In colonial days, it was actually hated, and only used as a last resort food. Ever wonder why “Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater” was a childish insult?
Far from the luxurious dessert it is today, pumpkin used to be a sign of being lower class. Because pumpkins were so cheap and easy to grow, it often became a substitute for more expensive cooking supplies. In a Time Magazine article, Cindy Ott, a professor at University of Delaware states, “When there was no wheat for bread, yeast for beers, they’d turn to the pumpkin.”
Pumpkins grew almost everywhere, and were much more accessible than wheat and yeast. Due to this, colonists wanted to mimic European foods. The only issue was that European cuisine did not include pumpkin. Because pumpkins were looked down on, it became a derogatory term for people society looked down upon on as well. Hence the insult, “Pumpkin eater.”
During the industrial revolution and the flock to cities which marked it, people became nostalgic. With a “back in the good ole days” mentality, people romanticized the pumpkins that used to be despised. The pumpkin became a symbol of the simple, rural life, an escape from the rush of the city. That’s when people began flavoring desserts with pumpkin.
However, the invention of pumpkin spice is not new. It is also not pumpkin. On this, Vanessa Barford of the BBC, writes:
“Food historian Dr. Megan Elias says Americans have used spicing that comes from Medieval European culinary traditions to add flavour to pumpkins for years. ‘Most people couldn’t afford those spices regularly till the 20th century, so spiced pies and cakes were holiday fare. Pumpkin is a late fall crop, so it ends up at Thanksgiving. The trend is very new but the spicing combination is very old,’ she says.”
So, while the actual crop pumpkin was seen as food for a poor person, the spicing that accompanies modern day pumpkin was a delicacy too expensive for everyday use. But it became more readily available during the 1900s, and began to add flavor the pumpkin treats that covered a fall table. The nostalgia for the pumpkin, and the fact that it was is a late fall crop, lead to pumpkin becoming a symbol of autumn. It also caused pumpkin pies and breads to be associated with the holidays.
Starbucks is credited with the beginning of the current pumpkin spice mania because of their launch of the infamous pumpkin spice latte (PSL) in 2003. The pumpkin spice latte is wildly popular among coffee drinkers, “Starbucks’ Borges says that more than 200 million PSLs have sold at Starbucks since the beverage debuted.” But why exactly is it so popular? Nostalgia can’t be the only reason for its intense popularity.
It isn’t.
According to an NBC article by Nicole Specter, there’s a scientific reason people love pumpkin spice everything. “The interesting thing about pumpkin spice is that we tend not only to be obsessed with how it tastes, but we’re obsessed with how it makes us feel on an emotional level,” (Specter). She writes that the smell of pumpkin spice automatically brings out the feeling and memories of fall, cool weather, colored leaves, and holidays.
“The pumpkin spice blend is not a trend as it [evokes] natural emotion of human beings,” says Thierry Muret, “It’s about making people happy and connecting them to moments: the changing of the season, of being warm under the covers, but also the memory of spending enjoyable time with family and friends.” So, in addition to pumpkin spice being nostalgic for the ‘simple’, rural life, it is also nostalgic for coziness, fires, family and friends, and the overall cheer of the holidays.
Next time you pick up a pumpkin spice latte, or your favorite pumpkin spice product, appreciate the sentiments of fall that it’s evoking from you.
Oh, and that the spices are nice and affordable now.
