As summer departs and autumn arrives, the days get shorter and the nights get colder and the pumpkin spice lattes replace the Arnold Palmers in everyone’s hand.

Many people groan at the sight of apple cinnamon candles and candy corn Hostess cupcakes restocked on shelves in mid-September, but it’s a gimmicky tradition many people look forward to that brings in the fall season. Even pumpkin spice, although one of the many overused food trends, is nothing too special to ruffle turkey feathers over. However, people should be allowed to enjoy these seasonal flavors without being judged for bandwagoning.

Fall flavors remind many people about autumn and its festivities. Some flavors originated centuries ago, reincarnated as whacky flavors in grocery stores.

For example, the cranberry sauce that compliments a freshly-roasted turkey traces back to the Native Americans, who began eating it with wild game by the 18th century.

Insider states that the original Native American cranberry sauce recipe, with just sugar and water, “date back as far as the mid-to-late 17th century.”

While some believe fall flavors have overstayed their welcome for too long, others comment that flavors, such as pumpkin spice, recollect memories associated with the fall season.

According to NBC, the reason pumpkin space is so interesting is we are not only obsessed with the taste, but “we’re obsessed with how it makes us feel on an emotional level.”

What many miss about these flavors is that they are nostalgic. The smell of apple cinnamon should remind consumers about a fireplace in a cabin or a baked pie cooling on a rack. 

These flavors, although interpreted as another marketing ploy, are festive bits of sentimentality that kick off the fall season with a sense of coziness.

Food trends come and go, but there’s a reason why seasonal flavors make their way around every fall season. It is iconic in the food industry and to the consumers who wait a whole year to consume it.

While people laugh at the countless jokes made about people in their UGG boots overhyping their chai lattes or roll their eyes when they see the seasonal Oreos and Poptarts make their way through snack aisles, one thing is clear: fall flavors aren’t leaving anytime soon.