Should We Really Stop Garnishing Our Cocktails?The term “garnish” implies nothing more than a decoration, but cocktail garnishes are often important elements of the drink recipe, and have had a journey of different trends all their own. Over-the-topgarnishes like flaming orange peels have accompanied cocktails since the 19th century, writes Robert Simonson for PUNCH. Around 2015, we saw a spike in maximalism thanks to the Instagramification of nearly every food and drink category — Bloody Marys precariously topped with entire meals, revealing that purveyors were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should. More low-key garnishes, too, have been a steady through line over the decades, part of the DNA of many classics. Would you even recognize your Martini sans olive? More recently, garnishes like New York hotspot Double Chicken Please’s housemade chocolate-and-coffee “Oreo” for its French Toast drink prove how these elements can be a flex for artists behind the bar. And now, cocktail garnishes have their own entire debate raging — about whether they should exist at all. | 
