Cottage Cheese Has Lost The Plot

If the swarm of people you see these days wearing claw hair clips, slip skirts, and bucket hats tells you anything, it’s that trends are cyclical and also heavily fueled by social media. 

And what’s true of fashion trends can also be said of food trends. Case in point: cottage cheese.  A snack that had, until very recently, been consumed mostly by the bowlful in nursing homes. 

What was once a diet fad in the 1980’s has, thanks to social media, found itself back in the spotlight with another 15 minutes of fame. Starting around late March, early April, I couldn’t  doom-scroll on TikTok or Instagram  without stumbling upon these watery curds. 

It all started innocently enough with the viral cottage cheese ice cream and cottage cheese toast.

Then it began appearing (and quickly disappearing with the addition of at least 8 other ingredients) into “high protein” cheese sauces. Like putting lipstick on a pig.

But then, as of July, it seems we just started skipping all that blending and that adding-of-flavor and just went right off the rails.

A squirt of ballpark yellow-mustard and cottage cheese for dipping those chicken sausage hunks. Because WHY NOT? At this point, cottage cheese is practically a required ingredient if any food related social post.

Why Cottage Cheese? And Can’t We Do Better?

Cottage cheese is packed with vitamin rich nutrients, low in fat and high in protein. Plus, cottage cheese is fairly affordable, and if the tinned fish craze has taught us anything, we love a good budget friendly, protein-packed option.  

Cottage cheese has a mild flavor, making it easily accessible to even picky eaters. But, it also has a somewhat soupy texture.  It’s that soupy texture, along with its almost non-existent taste, that is exactly why, IMO, this obsession with cottage cheese has gone way too far.   

Let's just all be honest for a moment and admit that cottage cheese is not that good (feel free to fight me on that… and lose). If it was, we wouldn't need to create recipes that completely disfigure it by blending it, hiding it in sauces, or smothering it in mustard. You don't see this being done to ricotta or  burrata. 

Even when whipped ricotta (aka what cottage cheese wishes it were) was trending, it was still very simply prepared with toasted sourdough and dribbles of sweet sticky honey. There was no masking it or making it be something that it wasn't. 

And burrata needs no more than some crusty bread and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to make it the perfect meal (plus tomatoes, when in season). 

Can you honestly say that you would feel satisfied (and happy) eating a piece of toast covered in cottage cheese, with nowhere to hide? Just as cottage cheese fell out of fashion in the 80s, so it seems its (second) 15 minutes of fame are quickly coming to a mustard-covered close.  

Do yourself a favor. Slice a nice piece of sourdough, toast it, and place a big old burrata ball on top. Crack the cheese open with the tongs of your fork, drizzle your favorite olive oil over it, and sprinkle it with salt and freshly cracked pepper. Then, close your eyes as you take a bite, and let me know if you can even remember what cottage cheese tastes like.