I’m convinced that “vanilla” meaning “plain/no flavor” is because the makers of vanilla ice cream cut down on the amount being used so much that people associated it with flavorlessness.
An early shrinkflation.
this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2026
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Lots of things taste like vanilla, but that generic vanilla taste is as authentic as the generic banana taste. Real vanilla tastes very different from the chemical imitation that you find in every cheap dairy product. The "plain" in this story is refering to that fake vanilla. Real vanilla is still very much rare, expensive and exceptional.
Edit: fun fact, the fake banana taste is actually based off of the "gris michel" banana. This specific banana cultivar was THE generic banana you could buy in every grocery store. Until the 1950's when almost the whole species went extinct due to a decease. The "panama disease". Heavy monoculture farming made the banana industry extremely suseptible. Within a few years, all major farms were destroyed. Now we have a different banana cultuvar, the "Cavendish". This banana is not susceptible to the panama disease,but variations of the panama disease are allready showing up around the world.
Actually, the "fake" vanilla aroma is chemically identical to the main aroma of real vanilla. So you really can't say that it's as authentic as banana aroma, as that is just similar to real banana. Now real vanilla does taste different, because it has a lot of other components creating a much more complex taste profile.
Yeah, I was about to ask who hasn't had both? Like, I've eaten, cooked and baked with real and fake vanilla and they're almost identical. I prefer vanilla extract over other options and I don't really care how much real vanilla is in it.
since all the plantations are clones of the same banana its just a matter of time until we lose the banan
For what it's worth, it probably won't go extinct. Even if there wasn't a more resistant cultivar, they'd probably just get really expensive. It's still possible to get gros michael and others, just not as easily or for less than $1 USD unless the buyer lives near a plantation.
So this sent me down a rabbit hole and it turns out they're basically not available in the UK full stop as a fresh fruit, even via the European importer I found thanks to Brexit. I can import it dried, or otherwise I have to make a long weekend of it in France to try it!
Wasn't that whole gros michel story made up after the fact? Those bananas are still available, just more expensive. People who've eaten them have reported them tasting a bit more like the chemical banana taste, but not really the same. And the taste is highly dependent on how ripe the banana is. I think the actual story was the chemical banana was close enough and cheap and easy to produce. People also liked it, even though it didn't really taste like bananas. So it became the de facto banana taste. In small amounts the taste is a lot closer, but people prefer the higher amounts because of the more intense taste.
It even says as much on the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel#%3A%7E%3Atext=The+Gros+Michel+has+a%2Cseeming+version+of+the+Cavendish
A food history myth is that artificial banana flavor was specifically developed from the Gros Michel, but isoamyl acetate is a simple compound and was not based on any specific cultivar.
It's all a little fuzzy but essentially the Gros Michel was THE cultivar of banana, but it became susceptible to a disease. It still exists, but can't be farmed like it used to be.
The chemical was developed and likened to the Gros Michel variety in mind for it being called 'banana' flavor since the Cavendish (i think?) hadn't yet replaced the world market as the banana cultivar of choice.
I think it might be more that the industrialization of agriculture made rare flavors far more commonplace.
Even real vanilla isn't all that expensive or hard to come by anymore. Virtually every grocery store has it in quantities that will suffice for anything but full on commercial needs.
So it has become a default flavor, exactly because it is both cheap to acquire and popular to consume. Not unlike chocolate (which, I might argue, is more vanilla than even mediocre quality vanilla).
Vanilla is my favorite smell. Back in college when my buddy went to Mexico and brought back cup souvenirs for friends, he didn’t get one for me. Instead he gave me a big bottle of fancy vanilla. I kept that thing at my computer desk and every so often for the next couple years I’d pop it open and take a big rip of the smell just to feel a little more alive. It was so great.
It doesn't help that "vanilla" flavored products usually use a tiny drop of artificial vanillin.
Real vanilla has a much richer amazing taste. But even the artificial stuff would be ok if they just put more of it. That shit is cheap, pour it in dammit.
Vanilla is "plain" because it's incredibly inoffensive and mild.
It's also considered the boring option because everone loves it
"VANILLA IS A FLAVOR!"
-Tiger Wiger
“I LOVE TO DRINK AND DRIVE!”
- Tiger Woods
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaa”
- tiger attack
- a birb
Wow
It's because people are so used to tasting it in sweet foods.
IMO, where vanilla really comes into its own is in very small amounts in savoury foods.
Try just a little bit in your scrambled eggs
There's a dish from Réunion island plainly called "vanilla chicken". It's onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, chicken, a few herbs and spices and a fuckton of vanilla simmered in a pot for hours. Like almost all creole dishes, it's served with white rice, lentils, fresh rougail and the most insane chili paste casually put on a table as if it was a salt shaker.
It's fucking amazing.
yeah we should start calling it Boring instead
like "are you kinky or boring?" LOL