Superfoods go mainstream: Yerba mate and the history of soft drugs and carbonated sodas

Since the start of the twenty-first century, superfoods (foods perceived as being exceptionally nutritious and having special health benefits) have gained widespread popularity. Some, like avocados, salmon, and blueberries, are familiar in global markets. But most are previously unknown outside their areas of production. The booming sales in the United States, Europe, and Asia of superfoods like quinoa, açai, and yerba mate are closely tied to their origins in the Global South. As scholars have demonstrated, affluent consumers are drawn to ethnic foods, and marketers have effectively utilized exotic, foreign origins and longstanding ties to indigenous peoples to lend credibility to claims about special health and nutritional benefits. Given the relatively new status of superfoods, scholars have speculated about the future, predicting four possible trajectories: 1) decline; 2) disappearance; 3) acquisition of new qualities that maintain their popularity; or 4) hibernation with a small group of consumers. This essay suggests a fifth alternative: superfoods could become mainstream foods. The diffusion of innovations theory provides a theoretical framework for understanding the transition from a superfood to a mainstream food. The trajectories of soft drugs in the early modern era and caffeinated sodas in the twentieth century show how this process worked in a historical context. The current status of superfoods like yerba mate, quinoa, and rooibos suggests that they are undergoing a similar process.