Pumpkin Spice: Yes or No?

A few years ago pumpkin spice flavoring took over. And it needs to fade out. The pumpkin spice flavor – cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice blended- actually originated in 1934 as a harvest dessert flavoring (How Did Pumpkin Spice Become So Popular? And Why Do We Hate to Love It So Much?), but its gotten out of control and people use it for everything! Once leaves start turning colors, so does the flavor of everything. Coffee, muffins, candy, milk, cereal, even cream cheese. In the fall, any product that has a significant scent or purpose has a pumpkin spice line. Things like body washes, lotions, candles and even deodorant.  Well some people like it, this trend is ridiculous. 

    Deodorant smelling like a pumpkin? What happened to always using clean or fresh scented deodorant? Why are there now seasonal personal care products? It seems to be quite excessive. 

    Not to mention, overly perfumed products like body soap, lotion, etc. tend to be less effective and actually in some cases harmful. According to The Guardian, fragrances are made of up to 4,000 different chemicals and there can be up to 400 chemicals in every “scent”. Companies aren’t required to individually list every chemical and can instead right it off as “Fragrances”. (Fragrance Perfume Personal Cleaning Products and Health Issues)

    If that does not change your mind about using pumpkin spice fragranced items, the smell itself  could. Pumpkin spice seems to be a flavor people either absolutely love or hate. At Milford High School, 15 students were polled asking if they liked pumpkin spice or not. 5 students said they did not like pumpkin spice and 10 students said they liked the flavor. 

    The typical response of a pumpkin spice advocate looked like, “Pumpkin spice slaps” as former student Jacob Miller responded. Whereas an opponent to the flavor said something more like, “Absolutely not”, which was Nick Barthold’s response. It seems clear from the poll responses people passionately like or dislike pumpkin spice, there seems to be no one with an impartial opinion. 

    Even within the dislikers there are more groups of people. There are the people who hate the taste of pumpkin spice and then there are people who hate the smell. The discord in opinions regarding this flavor just goes to show the ongoing controversy over this seasonal flavor. And anyone who likes it, is crazy!