Commentary: Food trends come and go, but please hold the kale

I’ve noticed since Caesar salads that foods suddenly appear at the same moment on restaurant menus everywhere. Caesar salads showed up in the ‘70s, I think. They’re still here, and I still love ‘em.

Not just in restaurants. My mother might say food fads date at least as far back as home-made salmon croquettes. What the heck was a croquette?

I’d say my generation’s response to salmon croquettes was Beef Stroganoff in the 1960s. I liked making it until I added the sour cream and it curdled — yuck!

Chip-and-dip was more from the 1950s and an at-home party dish — crinkle-cut potato chips and Lipton’s dry onion soup added to sour cream.

The restaurants’ answer was hot artichoke-spinach-cheese dip, with low-cal veggies to scoop up the high-cal ingredients. Available most anywhere there’s a happy hour.

Happy Hour! When did that sprout up like flowers in springtime: bringing deep-fried, bacon-and-cheese-stuffed potato skins. So good! And so bad for me.

Salad bars started popping up in the 1960s. Lee was a big fan. He’d select things I never served at home in a salad: capers, raisins, sunflower seeds and pickled beets, topped with cottage cheese. Otherwise, he was perfect.

As if a newly passed law governed them, in the ‘70s and ‘80s, potlucks weren’t complete without three-bean salad, ambrosia salad and a casserole of Campbell’s Mushroom Soup with French-cut green beans. Shiver.

Wine and cheese parties? Everywhere as of the ‘70s. Lots of wines. A dozen kinds of cheese. (“From the lips to the hips.”)

Before wine, people drank cocktails, like they’re supposed to. And ate the Planters. Or the Chex Mix.

Restaurants served quiche and Cajun blackened fish in the early 1980s. I made trays and trays of broiled rumaki for parties.

That’s also when I met cold duck. The first time we offered it to friends, they said, “No thanks. We’ve just eaten.”

Calling “pink champagne” Cold Duck was clever marketing, similar to what made low-esteem rosé wines popular—calling them white Zinfandel or white Burgundy.

“White” rosés appeared overnight on every wine list.

I actually believe wine is falling out of style. Last time I had a family party, the guests drank only designer beers and margaritas. Maybe it was the balance of youth to age, or maybe it’s the 2010s.

I’ll have a well vodka martini up, with a twist, please.

In the 1990s, it was goat cheese and Chinese Chicken salad.

And all the above food led to the South Beach Diet in the 2000s. With caffeine, a là Starbucks.

Maybe 10 years ago, wedge salads debuted everywhere, like the nationwide opening of a movie. I guess people had to eat iceberg, bacon and blue cheese at lunch to counteract the sweet potato fries they’d consumed.

And what made sushi instantly ubiquitous?

Macaroni and cheese, that creamy stuff we children of Catholic mothers ate on Fridays, formerly a humble and homely dish, is now on menus everywhere —truffled, three-cheesed and fried.

For a while, the newbie food was quinoa as a salad additive. Now it’s kale.

Kale. Really? Will this menu option last as long as Caesar salad?

Ick! Wash my mouth out with something salted caramel!

Author LIZ SWIERTZ NEWMAN lives in Corona del Mar.