Chic toast and sacred water? We've lost it.

Aestheticizing food really isn't anything new. I'm sure plentry of people remember Tasty - those twenty second BuzzFeed videos that could pull just about anyone in. The perfectly styled plates, the bright colors, the food that just looked so fresh, I can't falt anyone for falling for it.

Whereas in the past we've decided that styled bento boxes were the most aesthetic things ever, the Internet seems to be moving in a new direction.

So, I dare to ask: is toast chic?

That's what one woman on TikTok has said, and plenty are flocking to her. First of all, what does it mean to be chic? Well, it's basically the newest trend. It doesn't really seem that words have much meaning anymore, not when we're using them completely devoid of their original context!

The comments are a bit divided. Of course, there are plenty of people calling out this behavior. After all, why are we over-glamorizing something as average as making toast? I get it, glamorizing your life can make things a bit easier, but it gets to a point where you really have to ask yourself if you mean what you say or you're just saying it because everyone else is.

The other side is defending her like they're in the trenches. Some say it's good that people are eating on camera, that this is a step away from the Ozempic-demic. Others point out that those berating her are doing such just because she's a women. I won't deny that there are probably being doing that, but really? It's toast.

At least toast - the glammed up version on TikTok with avocado, cheese, frutis - has some sort of truly aesthetic appeal to it. The toast does look nice when it has cream cheese, chives, and honey drizzeled on it. But toast isn't the only thing that's "chic" on TikTok.

Have you heard of Erewhon's Sacred Water?

Are you mad that you have now?

At $12 a cup, you'd hope there's something added in there. Maybe some fruit, sweeteneres, syrups, anything at all. Technically, there are other ingredients. According to the luxury grocery store the water has coconut water, jasmine tea, raw honey, white grape juice, green gardamon, basil, anise hyssop, and coconut milk - all organic of course.

But guys, it's water.

Yes, it has some infusions, but at the end of the day this is just an overpriced cup of coconut water. You can go to the local corner store, Walmart, probably even a Dollar Tree, and get a product that tastes eerily similar.

It's easy for me to get on here and ramble about how utterly stupid I find these things. Believe me, there are even more silly food trends online that I think are not only wasteful but clear cash grabs - you don't make a $12 water out of the goodness in your heart after all.

The biggest question behind all of this is why we allow brands, and the social sphere, to let these things happen. Have we made it to such a late stage of capitalism that there's no end in sight? Before you know it the Onceler won't just look like a story anymore. Then again, oxygen bars are already a thing, so maybe we've already made it there.

In the wake of these sorts of trends, we need to step back and truly scrutinze how we view food. The online world is constanly pulled between under and over consumption when it comes to eating. On one hand you have diet culture pushing the narrative that calories are evil and any amount of weight gain is the worst possible thing you can go through. On the other, you have individuals that genuinly get paid to eat copius amounts of food - rarely ever is it food of nutricial value.

The next time you see a food trend online, I beg you to just scroll. It's not worth it. If you have questions about your diet, don't go to the Internet, go to your doctor, an actual nutricionist, don't let the latest influencer decide what should go into your body.

And really, don't spend $12 on a cup of water. You can get that at a restaurant for free.