The War on Burrata Isn't Really About Burrata

The self-cannibalistic cycle of algorithm-driven food media and post-pandemic dining

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve contributed to a topical food media discussion, but between dismal celebrations of the viral TikTok “Girl Dinner” trend legitimized by the paper of record and the trendification of cocktail-and-dessert restaurant excursions for cash-strapped diners suffering from $25 cocktails and $29 hot dogs, there’s only so much cultural toxicity one can bear before declaring enough is enough.

This past week, New York Magazine Underground Gourmet columnist Tammie Teclemariam published an incendiary article called, “A Big Fat Blob of Boring: Can we cool it with all the burrata balls?”a.ka. “Burrata Is So Boring,” causing widespread outrage turning everyone into a Burrata Justice Warrior—including yours truly.

“Furious food debate breaks out over BURRATA after New York Magazine writer slammed the popular cheese as an overpriced 'big fat blob of boring'... so, what do YOU think?” —Daily Mail

“Cheesy debate over burrata rages online: ‘How dare you’” —NY Post

“In defence [sic] of burrata and why it's not a “big fat blob of boring"" —Delicious

“Now burrata is cancelled, people want to call time on these other overrated foods” —Metro

While I place the blame for this click-baity headline squarely on the shoulders of whomever edited her piece, I couldn’t help myself from falling into the trap: being so irritated that I barely read it, chalking it up to the fact that if she was so bored by burrata, it was more indicative of her own dining choices. My friends admitted they hadn’t read it or even bothered to click through, and judging from the comments on the article, none of those readers finished the piece before jumping in to defend the unfairly maligned, deliciously milky ball of goodness either.

But the issue here isn’t burrata. Tammie herself admits burrata isn’t the problem. Rather her disdain lies with restaurants using creative marketing to sidestep their own lack of creativity on what is very likely an overpriced dish.

“To be clear, the problem isn’t burrata itself, essentially a wrapping of mozzarella filled with cream. When it’s applied judiciously (Marea’s chilled lobster with tomatoes and burrata comes to mind), its dense, milky heft serves as a welcome base note to a dish’s other ingredients. But too often, the burrata is the focal point, a thick blob of cold dairy that gets a few splashes of seasonal garnishes and a $20 price tag.

To that point, I actually agree with her. My eyes would glaze over burrata on a menu. It usually is presented in a very boring, predictable way that always costs more than it should for a loosely garnished, subpar product. And if I ordered that $28 “toast d’oursins” starter at Ella Funt, I would be pretty pissed, too.

There are certainly many legitimate reasons for the decline of post-pandemic dining experiences amid skyrocketing inflation, of course. The most obvious being labor and food costs worsening whatever arrives on the plate, tipping fatigue increasing bad service and customer entitlement, and mismanaged expectations as a result of the push away from trusted criticism towards aesthetically-driven TikTok culture so that every dining experience feels like a risky financial gamble.

At the same time, burrata is boring because it’s a safe menu choice. It’s a noted crowdpleaser unlikely to offend anyone or risk being called into question for cultural appropriation or deviating from tradition. Not every risk comes with reward, and I can understand how cash-strapped restaurants trying to keep the lights on will put whatever on a menu is most likely to sell. To me, the issue isn’t that burrata is boring—it’s that media and restaurants have become boring from competing against this exhaustive marketing machine.

Once upon a time, trends operated as a rule of thirds: once it hits three menus, it’s a trend. Today, the algorithm seems to drive contemporary tastes and opinions, where the oversaturation of content has made us all susceptible to falling into the TL;DR trap. The fact Tammie is even in a position to name and call out that restaurant is a beautiful thing that I think many diners no longer appreciate. The rise of user-generated platforms like Yelp unseated the seasoned critics who were supposed to be discerning, objective, and trusted arbiters of taste beholden to diners, not restaurants.

The day I saw Tammie’s story, I ended up at a wine bar later that evening where I ordered the $22 burrata dish. Predictably, it arrived as the centerpiece blob on a plate garnished with thins slices of pickled plums. While the burrata was as expected and service was perfectly lovely, I couldn’t help but think about the $6 mark up from the $16 burrata at Murray’s Cheese Bar and how unhinged dining feels these days. I wondered if we’ll ever return to a more normalized dining experience where I’m not having to check my bank account before ordering an appetizer and a drink. And ultimately, I realized that burrata is kind of boring after all.