Le Creuset's New Color Is The Trend Child Of Millennial Pink And Alison Roman's Shallot Pasta [View all]

[Celerity]

The launch of the “shallot” shade from Le Creuset is apparently a big deal — in our newsroom, at least.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lorencecil1/le-creuset-shallot



Le Creuset is probably the most iconic brand in the cookware space. My mom has had her “flame”-colored Le Creuset Dutch oven for at least as long as I’ve been alive (29 years). My brother and sister-in-law got a full set of “Caribbean blue” mugs and serving dishes from their wedding registry. And now, finally, you can deck out your kitchen with a full line of pale purple Le Creuset pots and pans, a shade it’s dubbed “shallot.” In case you’re not familiar with shallots, they are those small but delicious bulbs that are close relatives of the onion.

When the news broke of the Le Creuset spring 2023 color launch, a BuzzFeed News Slack channel erupted in debate — not over the quality and aspirational nature of the brand, or the appeal of the soothing pale purple, which were almost universally agreed upon — but the choice of name for this new color. It all started when someone shared a tweet of a video documenting the dramatic color reveal. The video shows the fresh new spring cookware line amid a plethora of light purple flowers. There is not one actual shallot in sight, one staffer noted.

Link to tweet

“Someone had to explain to me that it’s the inside of a shallot,” an editor commented. Another agreed and questioned why it was not brown, like the outermost layer of a shallot, to which someone questioned, “Do you eat the brown part?” (It’s like the skin of an onion, so, no, don’t eat it.) Photos of shallots were shared to show their white-and-purple interior. Some argued that other produce-related colors, like apple red or banana yellow, would in fact refer to the skin as opposed to the insides. Finally, the question arose of whether “shallot” is a different color than “onion.” (We are talking about red onions, of course, which are actually purple, but that’s a conundrum for another day.)



After peeling off the skin to reach the first edible layer, I would say that a shallot is a lighter, more gentle purple than a red onion. It’s also a trendier and, in my opinion, superior vegetable. I understand what Le Creuset was going for when naming its product line, and also in choosing this pastel hue. One of my colleagues referred to the whole launch as millennial culture proof of life — it’s the amalgamation of the millennial pink and Alison Roman caramelized shallot pasta trends. It’s an Instagram-ready kitchen aesthetic ripe for sharing all of your re-created TikTok recipes.

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