A bizarre food trend originating in Taipei, centered around the common frozen vegetable mix known locally as ‘three-colour bean’ (corn, peas, and diced carrots), has rapidly swept across Hong Kong’s culinary scene and social media platforms, sparking intense debate and sometimes humorous revulsion among local gourmands. This unusual surge began with a polarizing milk tea creation in Taiwan and quickly resulted in localized mutations, including specialty ramen and elaborate dessert cakes, testing the boundaries of taste and garnering widespread viral attention for their shock value rather than their flavour profiles.
Hong Kong Embraces Edible Controversy
The phenomenon, which elevates the ubiquitous, often-overlooked frozen vegetable medley into a main ingredient, first gained notoriety when a Taipei breakfast shop introduced a ‘three-colour bean’ milk tea. The combination, replacing chewy toppings like tapioca with crunchy vegetables, immediately ignited online outrage, yet paradoxically propelled the concept into hyper-virality.
In Hong Kong, the trend gained significant traction on platforms like Threads, largely fueled by a restaurant in Kwun Tong. Freedom Ramen, already known for serving divisive dishes like cilantro-laden broth, introduced a $38 ‘three-colour bean’ ramen. The restaurant provocatively marketed the dish, with the owner reportedly advising customers “You may choose not to eat it yourself, but you absolutely must treat your friends to it,” indicating a clear strategy focused on engagement through controversial, shareable content.
Netizen reactions to the ramen have been varied, ranging from immediate expressions of disgust to surprising enthusiasm. Some diners praised the restaurant’s audacity, while others found the flavour combination anticlimactically bland. The prevailing sentiment underscores the dish’s role as a social media phenomenon—a food item primarily valued for its capacity to generate comments and reactions rather than its gastronomic quality.
From Savoury Noodle to Sweet Disaster
The ‘three-colour bean’ concept demonstrated its versatility, yet escalated the controversy, by infiltrating the dessert market. Local online bakery Miss Marble capitalized on the frenzy by releasing a ‘three-colour bean’ avalanche cake, complete with a cheese foam topping. This iteration involved the diced vegetables cascading down the finished cake upon unwrapping, a grotesque visual spectacle designed for Instagram and Threads.
The backlash against the cake was immediate and severe, with social media comments—often dripping with sarcastic humour—expressing extreme disapproval, characterizing the dessert as a culinary abomination. This digital outcry highlights the power of food trends to quickly transition from amusing novelty to generating widespread, performative outrage.
Contextualizing the Vegetable Medley
Despite the current shock factor, the ‘three-colour bean’ mix is far from alien to the Hong Kong palate. These simple ingredients are a nostalgic cornerstone of traditional cha chaan teng macaroni soup, a beloved staple often served for breakfast or lunch. This established cultural context, however, has not spared the ingredient from criticism when reappropriated into incongruous formats like milk tea or dessert cake.
The rapid spread and enduring visibility of the ‘three-colour bean’ trends demonstrate a growing appetite in Hong Kong, and across the region, for food concepts that prioritize digital virality and shock value over traditional flavour pairings. This raises questions about the future of food innovation: are these short-lived fads driven by consumers’ genuine curiosity or by businesses creating intentional “rage bait” to capture momentary attention in a saturated market?
As Hong Kong prepares for the Lunar New Year festivities, industry observers are left to wonder which common household ingredient will be the next unlikely candidate for a viral, and potentially nauseating, transformation. The saga of the ‘three-colour bean’ confirms that in the era of social media, culinary boundaries remain consistently, and sometimes bizarrely, challenged.
