On one sunny Friday morning several weeks ago, I woke up early to make the trek to my favorite grocery store: Trader Joe’s. My objective? Find as many pumpkin and fall-flavored items as possible. To my dismay, the only fall-themed treats that had been released were the apple cider donuts, which I bought. However, I also picked up a Fearless Flyer with hopes of getting first dibs on pumpkin-flavored treats the following week. 

To my relief, coffee shops in the area had already released their fall menus, and I was able to satiate my pumpkin desire with an iced pumpkin chai latte and a slice of pumpkin bread. 

With fall in full swing, I am happy to announce that pumpkin-flavored items are back on display at many grocery stores and coffee shops in Iowa City and Coralville. And man, did I take advantage of that.

Honestly, pumpkin goes with everything. Pumpkin butter on your toast with ricotta cheese, some cinnamon, and pumpkin spice seasoning? Snack perfection. Autumnal harvest soups with butternut squash, pumpkins, and tomatoes? I could eat the whole jar right now. Pumpkin spice in all of my chai lattes? The perfect addition to an already fabulous drink.

There’s a reason people go crazy when Starbucks drops its fall menu: pumpkin spice and pumpkin-flavored treats are the best fall snacks.

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Whether you’re hot on an 80-degree September day or freezing on a late October night, a pumpkin chai latte, iced or hot, will uplift your spirits. If you need something warm to eat while watching football on Sundays or studying for class, warm pumpkin fall soups are perfect to enter full cozy mode. 

Now, I understand pumpkin-flavored treats can be overwhelming, but when they’re only here for a couple of months, the oversaturation is exactly what we need. Just this week, I’ve already had several pumpkin-enhanced meals and treats, and I have more planned for the rest of the week.

So, why all the pumpkin hate? Pumpkins are just another food that’s in season during fall, same as squash and pomegranates, but there’s no hate for those healthy treats. Plus, we’re able to carve fun shapes into pumpkins, and who doesn’t love to play with their food? 

Pumpkins and pumpkin spice seasoning are the it girls of the fall season, and some people just aren’t ready to accept that. 

Anti Pumpkin Spice – Kyrsten White

With fall finally back, I have found myself surrounded by the one thing I despise: pumpkin spice. I look forward to every aspect of the season, besides this one flavor.

Now, don’t get it twisted, almost anything else pumpkin-flavored resonates with my taste buds. Give me a pumpkin pie or a pumpkin chai latte, and I am in heaven. Give me a basic pumpkin spice latte? We are not friends.

I don’t know where my issues with pumpkin spice come from. To put it simply, I do not enjoy anything about it. 

It tastes like there is too much going on most of the time. While yes, most of the ingredients that make up pumpkin spice are also used in baked pumpkin goods, something about the flavor tastes different when it is in its liquid form.

My distaste comes from just how much pumpkin spice is overused and overdone. Whenever Starbucks announces their fall line, it’s an eyeroller to so many people because everyone only wants the pumpkin spice latte. 

To break it down further, my disdain for pumpkin spice – aside from just how much of it there always is – is the amount of each spice in the blend. The mix is most commonly made up of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and sometimes cloves. Notice what is missing? Pumpkin.

Contrary to popular enjoyment, I also am not a huge fan of cinnamon, and guess what the biggest component of the spice is? Cinnamon. 

Now, I might just sound like a hater here, but I personally think cinnamon takes over the flavor of whatever it is in. I can always tell when it is there.

I know that might sound crazy, to claim to be a fall lover who hates pumpkin spice and cinnamon, even though they are known for being some of the season’s most prominent flavors. But ever since I tried my first pumpkin spice, I was dead set on never having another one.