How Swifties will take over sourdough

It has been a month of rare abundance for Taylor Swift fans First came the album announcement delivered not on a stage or in a cryptic Instagram post but in the casual banter of the New Heights podcast where she advised Travis and Jason Kelce that The Life of a Showgirl would arrive Oct Then just days later came the engagement Swift in a garden Travis Kelce on one knee a cushion-cut diamond ring flashing in the late-summer light The internet hummed with commentary memes and close analysis of carat weight But somewhere between the diamond and the release date another revelation slipped out smaller in scale but with consequences no less seismic for a certain corner of the internet Swift it turns out has been baking sourdough Not casually not as a side project but with the all-in fervor of someone who rearranges their calendar around starter feedings The sourdough has taken over my life in a huge way she stated with a laugh I m really talking about bread of the time now It s become a huge huge factor Travis Kelce nodded while her traditional sourdough is one of his favorites Swift has also been experimenting with other versions There s a blueberry-lemon Swift mentioned There s cinnamon swirl cinnamon raisin And this one I ve been workshopping for the girls because they love everything rainbow funfetti sourdough She continued It s gotten pretty crazy over here I m just like inevitably baking bread and texting my friends Can I send you particular bread She s a loafer for life now Kelce endorsed Related Taylor Swift is not the tradwife you re looking for So while the headlines are busy sketching out the seating chart for a Swift-Kelce wedding I find myself caught on a quieter more curious question what happens when a fandom that can spend hours decoding lyrics and making friendship bracelets turns its devotion toward feeding yeast Now I should maybe admit that I m mostly an outsider here While I have a favorite Swift album Folklore and jars of bubbly starter I tend with the same care I give my second-tier houseplants certain of the finer points of both fandoms escape me I ll never decode every hidden lyric or weigh in on scarf chronology or pronounce autolyse without hesitation or coax a stubborn starter into life like a sourdough whisperer But as a millennial who worked from home during the pandemic sourdough rush I m fluent enough in both worlds to imagine the magic when they collide And in that sense this isn t just a celebrity hobby it s a likely fandom migration moment the kind of cultural pivot that could ripple far beyond Swift s kitchen In fact the brands are already paying attention In the hours following the release of the New Heights podcast episode Panera jumped in the Loaf Story Meal which was available exclusively on the Panera app for a limited time The app also sold a loaf of country rustic sourdough for the likely a nod to Swift s birth year and fifth album a sourdough bread bowl two-pack for and a French baguette loaf for Panera s merchandise shop also debuted a sweatshirt reading In My Sourdough Era available in signature green-and-tan or Showgirl-inspired orange which sold out almost straightaway in every size The price point was an Easter egg in its own right nodding to Swift s favorite number and Travis Kelce s jersey We need your help to stay independent Subscribe at present to assistance Salon s progressive journalism But the corporate stunts are almost beside the point The real fascination lies in what happens when sourdough enters the Swiftie imagination Baked goods have long been woven into her lore chai sugar cookies dusted with cinnamon egg-nog icing for her Secret Sessions homemade Pop-Tarts delivered to the Chiefs offensive line cinnamon rolls that arrive warm for Kelce s pre-game ritual Whenever she shares a recipe or a baked creation hundreds of fans rush to imitate it Recipes are dissected starters replicated variations posted online within hours Funfetti sourdough loaves rainbow-swirled and glistening with butter have already begun to multiply across Instagram Swifties are also digging through the archives resurrecting old snapshots of loaves past One Reddit user checks in with a find Taylor Swift gifted Ashley Avignone her now-famous cinnamon-raisin sourdough The line between fandom and fermenting cultures blurs and soon it seems a new kind of devotion might take shape obsessive meticulous generous communal Particular of the fandom s wilder imaginations are at work too A limited Swifties have speculated that her newfound passion for sourdough might be an Easter egg pointing to a Super Bowl appearance Sourdough Sam the ers mascot the stadium in Santa Clara next February Absurd Perhaps But the delight is in the theorizing in the layering of lore and anticipation And yet there s a quieter more tangible enthusiasm too Hundreds of fans once you start exploring comment threads and fan pages are merely thrilled to pick up the sourdough hobby She brought me here because I ve been getting into baking one fan wrote so I m excited to see where this hobby leads me Meanwhile my inbox has begun to swell with sourdough experts eager to reach this new wave of home bakers with subject lines like A Sourdough Bread Knife That Would Make Taylor Swift Jealous and Taylor Swift Talks Sourdough Here Are Tips to Get the Best Loaf Want more great food writing and recipes Sign up for Salon s free food newsletter The Bite It makes sense really Swifties as we know are obsessively participatory they swap fan theories pen letters knit inspired merch and build sprawling online communities around the tiniest lyric That same force careful attention to detail generosity ritualistic devotion maps almost perfectly onto sourdough heritage people exchanging starters mentoring newbies on Reddit obsessing over hydration ratios even running starter hotels for friends yeast cultures Not that sourdough necessities a renaissance the pandemic gave it one after all but it will be fascinating to watch how the fandom s gratification when applied to flour and water might bubble stretch and rise I can imagine Swifties swapping starters instead of friendship bracelets posting Instagram threads of rainbow-hued loaves with song lyrics as labels hosting listening-party bake nights and turning proofing schedules into a kind of communal obsession A few of the themed starters are already appearing one at this moment bubbling in my college group chat is merely named Travis with a backup labeled But Daddy I Loaf Him Listen I get it It s easy to be cynical about hard-core fandom especially the more parasocial folds And yet there s something quietly lovely about it the way it brings people together sparks new rituals and transforms ordinary tasks into communal ecstasy In a world that often feels bleak and where domestic pleasures are increasingly dismissed as trad-wifery it s heartening to see one of the the bulk powerful women in the world kneading a rainbow-speckled funfetti loaf And if you peek into your neighbor s kitchen this fall and catch the faint scent of yeast drifting through the air Shake It Off playing consider yourself lucky you re witnessing the new facet of a fandom rise one sprinkle at a time Read more about this topic The biggest moments from TMZ s deep-dive into Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce s buzzy relationship Taylor Swift played us again Taylor Swift is in her sourdough era The post How Swifties will take over sourdough appeared first on Salon com