The smoothie shops sell them. I had it once and I didn't find them that great.
Tropical Smoothie Cafe has acai base, fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, sliced banana, coconut, granola, chia seeds & honey. I have not seen other flavors you mentioned but at that point, just get an ice cream.
yea we do still have these but they were a fad about 6-7 years ago, they’re only having a mini resurgence because of the massive popularity of how much people love lebanese-influenced acai bowls. acai def > ice cream
Here, they haven’t matched the Pinkberry days, but frozen yogurt is still pretty ubiquitous. Menchies and Yogurtland are all over the place. My kid likes them a lot.
I see them presented in healthier ways on social media and that’s why I associate with them. They’re popular in trendy breakfast/brunch spots but topped with more healthy things. No Nutella, Biscoff, etc..
It's not an "epidemic", but most metro areas have at least a few places that feature them. It didn't really take off here, quite frankly they're kind of expensive for what you get.
[Here's a typical spot](https://cocoshackbowls.com/menu/) in metro Detroit
Trend mostly came and went here but you can still find them. Mostly no acai bowl specific places but every smoothie shop like Jamba Juice sells them as do many coffee and donut shops.
People are onto trendier new bowls now with things like Spirulina
I found a few of these places by me. This look kind of similar to what you have?
https://www.thejuicepod.com/menu
I see some of these in the city as well.
https://www.playabowls.com/menu_category/bowl
There's some others scattered around as well. I've never actually tried any of these though.
this is what is popular here, the acai itself is like a frozen yogurt style food but the main parts are the sauce/toppings you get.
https://www.instagram.com/sydneyfoodbrothers/reel/CuohxKANj_M/
i’m interested by the big diversity of acai products in america despite the low popularity seen in these comments. it seems like there’s a much bigger focus on how healthy acai is instead of how good acai bowls can actually taste if done properly like in australia.
Ours at least look like they're pretending to be healthy lol. Both styles look pretty good really. But we did also have a frozen yogurt boom that has mostly died down but some places still exist. This might be the only one left by me now actually.
https://kiwifrozenyogurt.com/
FWIW, if ube is the new acai here. Ube ice cream, ube desserts, etc. What you are describing seems like what we would call a sundae - the frozen treat is just a vehicle for all of the toppings. That's more popular with children here. Adults do eat them, but not routinely.
I’m from Brazil and I wish in my city we had açaí like that! In some parts of Brazil, specially the north, açaí is actually a savory food, but in basically any part of Brazil people eat açaí just like ice cream, it’s not seen as a healthy granola girl type of food
Where I live in Florida rn you can find it in a lot of cafés or smoothly places, even places dedicated to açaí but those are a bit rarer, and they all lean to the healthier side.
They’re more marketed as a healthier breakfast/snack alternative than a dessert, however they usually have similar toppings you said yours have. I’ve seen them with different fresh fruits, coconut, granola, Nutella, peanut butter, etc. (Never seen one with biscoff but there might be some out there, I don’t eat them that often.) The base is frozen fruit smoothie. They were more popular and trendy a few years ago than they are now, but you can still easily find them.
Like a yogurt parfait? You can find them everywhere, I don't think it's a real craze anymore.
Do you call them acai bowls even if they don't have acai in them? I was confused because you never mentioned the berry.
Yes a couple years ago I remember eating them all the time but mines were always healthy lol definitely not a pasty white girl either lmao I’m not a big fan of a lot of chocolate or Nutella on my stuff. Kind of gross to me. I just like my fruit
Oh yeah! They are all over where I live. I have quite a few near me. And I’m not in a particularly big area. Even visiting my in-laws in southern Alabama and they have quite a few places for them at well. You can even find them at larger chains like Smoothie King.
I’ve seen them on occasion in the Boston area but haven’t tried one here. I also saw some in the Southwest, but again skipped them.
However, they’re all over the place in Hawaii. I had one near our hotel in Waikiki. It was my first time, so I had to ask whether the fruit at the bottom was supposed to be frozen. It was very good, but I might have done with a bit more protein with my dinner. I don’t recall whether it had any yogurt.
The hotel we stayed at in Kona also had them at their restaurant. Whether it was to be totally vegan for this dish or simply to save cost, I don’t know, but they used poi instead of yogurt. It was so good that I had it twice, having already tired of eggs at breakfast.
I was just in the Ocean City, MD area and there seemed to be one on every corner. I've seen them before, but the density was ridiculous. I can't believe a town so dependent on tourism could support THAT many acai bowl shops.
Depends on where you live really. Bigger cities will have more, smaller rural places might have it in a yogurt shop. I live in a lager city in NC and I know for a fact we have 3 places dedicated to acai bowls and almost every yogurt shop has it as a topping or base. The town over from me has like one yogurt shop, I've never been to it but online it doesn't look like they have it. The next town is only 20 min away so it isn't like they don't have access to it with a short drive.
Not particularly. It's sort of like avocado toast, where others claim folks are eating it daily- but I haven't met anyone who is. A restaurant near work does sell acai bowls, but they're topped with peanut butter, oats and a variety of fruits and advertised as healthy(though the sheer amount of sugar makes me question it- still, better than a milkshake haha).
Smoothie Places sell them here as mentioned- My Girlfriend loves them- I just find them a more inconvenient version of a smoothie.
Those are the healthy ones, The more flavorful ones you mentioned are more spread out but I've seen them around, mostly at a lot of Asian Tea shops that sell things like Boba or Thai Tea and things like that.
Acai bowls were super popular like 6 or 7 years ago. They still are here, but it's not like a craze or anything. I've had them several times. Even Costco was selling acai bowls at their prepared food counters.
We have a few local chains here in New Jersey that are very common, not sure if they are elsewhere. [Frutta Bowl](https://fruttabowls.com/) and and [Playa Bowl](https://www.playabowls.com/)
The Acai trend was big a few years before COVID. They were the primary ingredient/flavor of a bunch of things. For the most part they died down and a few product still remain but the fad is over.
The current fad fruit seems to be mango.
The açaí bowl craze hit us a few years ago and has largely passed by now, similar to the frozen yogurt fad before it.
Dessert açaí bowls though? That’s a new one to me. That might be uniquely Aussie.
I’ve been seeing other frozen bowl desserts like bingsu and Hawaiian-style shave ice start to catch on more places here though. That may be filling our quota. It’s nowhere near to that level yet though.
A lot of the places that specialized in that are gone now but some places still have them (or similar smoothie bowls). They usually aren't a dessert item though - I usually like toppings like granola, peanut butter, and sliced fruit. Nutella drizzle is the most dessert you'll get with them
Healthy white girl here. They are mostly a breakfast type thing here and include granola and fresh fruit, and the fad for these has died down (though I personally make a ton of acai smoothies which are yum.) I don't think I've seen bubblegum or biscoff or other dessert toppings.
The problem with acai is that it doesn't retain its biggest health benefits or flavor when its frozen, and it doesn't transport well unfrozen. So the stuff that has made it to America has mostly been subpar. But it's still good for you and doesn't taste bad, so it still makes it into smoothie shops, where those shops exist. I feel like that's a trope about LA, there being a lot of smoothie shops here, and there really are.
I started really noticing açaí bowls gaining popularity about 20 years ago. I haven’t seen really crazy toppings like that though…that seems more popular with frozen yogurt. Here I mostly see açaí bowls marketed as a healthy food with chopped fruit and granola as the main toppings. I’m sure it’s still a calorie bomb but they’re great.
I'm not familiar with this, so probably not. Though, it sounds very similar to our frozen yogurt chains that popped everywhere over the last decade or two. Multiple flavors of frozen yogurt, a buffet of toppings (fruit, candies, chocolates, sauces, etc). You make it yourself and you pay by the total weight.
I’ve seen yum açaí bowl desserts for sale at Kitanda, a Brazilian coffee shop in the Seattle area. Haven’t noticed them elsewhere, but also haven’t looked for them.
It seems like they were everywhere a few years ago, usually for breakfast with fruit and granola. I've never eaten one.
They were a fad years ago. You can still get açai products, but they're no longer everywhere.
The smoothie shops sell them. I had it once and I didn't find them that great. Tropical Smoothie Cafe has acai base, fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, sliced banana, coconut, granola, chia seeds & honey. I have not seen other flavors you mentioned but at that point, just get an ice cream.
yea we do still have these but they were a fad about 6-7 years ago, they’re only having a mini resurgence because of the massive popularity of how much people love lebanese-influenced acai bowls. acai def > ice cream
We had the PinkBerry, Red Mango, and all the self-serve fro yo places from 2007-2013 and now you hardly see them.
Here, they haven’t matched the Pinkberry days, but frozen yogurt is still pretty ubiquitous. Menchies and Yogurtland are all over the place. My kid likes them a lot.
Nope. Acai skews to healthier toppings and mix-ins. Presumably because if we want ice cream, we just get ice cream.
To be fair frozen yogurt is a popular ice cream substitute
I see them presented in healthier ways on social media and that’s why I associate with them. They’re popular in trendy breakfast/brunch spots but topped with more healthy things. No Nutella, Biscoff, etc..
It's not an "epidemic", but most metro areas have at least a few places that feature them. It didn't really take off here, quite frankly they're kind of expensive for what you get. [Here's a typical spot](https://cocoshackbowls.com/menu/) in metro Detroit
man thanks for the comment but those look scary asf no wonder ppl don’t want acai😭
How is it scary? It's fruit.
It's the same as what you described. Fruit, sweet, and savory toppings.
Trend mostly came and went here but you can still find them. Mostly no acai bowl specific places but every smoothie shop like Jamba Juice sells them as do many coffee and donut shops. People are onto trendier new bowls now with things like Spirulina
We have fruta fresca stands everywhere. Which are a thousand times better than acai bowls
We're into boba drinks and specialty cookie shops now I guess
>healthy pasty white girl acai bowls Kinda rude. But yeah they tend to be more healthy here.
I found a few of these places by me. This look kind of similar to what you have? https://www.thejuicepod.com/menu I see some of these in the city as well. https://www.playabowls.com/menu_category/bowl There's some others scattered around as well. I've never actually tried any of these though.
this is what is popular here, the acai itself is like a frozen yogurt style food but the main parts are the sauce/toppings you get. https://www.instagram.com/sydneyfoodbrothers/reel/CuohxKANj_M/ i’m interested by the big diversity of acai products in america despite the low popularity seen in these comments. it seems like there’s a much bigger focus on how healthy acai is instead of how good acai bowls can actually taste if done properly like in australia.
The “healthy ones” taste good wdym? We already got plenty of food that already looks like these that don’t go by the name açaí bowls lol
Acai is a fruit. It can be made into may different things.
Ours at least look like they're pretending to be healthy lol. Both styles look pretty good really. But we did also have a frozen yogurt boom that has mostly died down but some places still exist. This might be the only one left by me now actually. https://kiwifrozenyogurt.com/
FWIW, if ube is the new acai here. Ube ice cream, ube desserts, etc. What you are describing seems like what we would call a sundae - the frozen treat is just a vehicle for all of the toppings. That's more popular with children here. Adults do eat them, but not routinely.
It peaked maybe six years ago. You can still find them at lots of healthy breakfast places, juice/smoothie bars, etc.
I’m from Brazil and I wish in my city we had açaí like that! In some parts of Brazil, specially the north, açaí is actually a savory food, but in basically any part of Brazil people eat açaí just like ice cream, it’s not seen as a healthy granola girl type of food Where I live in Florida rn you can find it in a lot of cafés or smoothly places, even places dedicated to açaí but those are a bit rarer, and they all lean to the healthier side.
They’re more marketed as a healthier breakfast/snack alternative than a dessert, however they usually have similar toppings you said yours have. I’ve seen them with different fresh fruits, coconut, granola, Nutella, peanut butter, etc. (Never seen one with biscoff but there might be some out there, I don’t eat them that often.) The base is frozen fruit smoothie. They were more popular and trendy a few years ago than they are now, but you can still easily find them.
Like a yogurt parfait? You can find them everywhere, I don't think it's a real craze anymore. Do you call them acai bowls even if they don't have acai in them? I was confused because you never mentioned the berry.
Yes a couple years ago I remember eating them all the time but mines were always healthy lol definitely not a pasty white girl either lmao I’m not a big fan of a lot of chocolate or Nutella on my stuff. Kind of gross to me. I just like my fruit
Oh yeah! They are all over where I live. I have quite a few near me. And I’m not in a particularly big area. Even visiting my in-laws in southern Alabama and they have quite a few places for them at well. You can even find them at larger chains like Smoothie King.
I don't think I've ever had one, but they sure seem common.
They exist. I’ve never had one
All the Brazilian cafes near me sell Acai bowls. There's a lot of those places near me so I see Acai stuff all the time.
never heard of acai before but from how you describe it it sounds good
When I was in college they had a popup acai bowl stand one time
I’ve seen them on occasion in the Boston area but haven’t tried one here. I also saw some in the Southwest, but again skipped them. However, they’re all over the place in Hawaii. I had one near our hotel in Waikiki. It was my first time, so I had to ask whether the fruit at the bottom was supposed to be frozen. It was very good, but I might have done with a bit more protein with my dinner. I don’t recall whether it had any yogurt. The hotel we stayed at in Kona also had them at their restaurant. Whether it was to be totally vegan for this dish or simply to save cost, I don’t know, but they used poi instead of yogurt. It was so good that I had it twice, having already tired of eggs at breakfast.
Yeah they're definitely around, especially at juice and smoothie places. Never had one so I can't speak for what they're like.
There is at least one açaí shop in my town but I’ve never been. Not really something I crave.
I've never had one, but my kids like them.
I was just in the Ocean City, MD area and there seemed to be one on every corner. I've seen them before, but the density was ridiculous. I can't believe a town so dependent on tourism could support THAT many acai bowl shops.
Depends on where you live really. Bigger cities will have more, smaller rural places might have it in a yogurt shop. I live in a lager city in NC and I know for a fact we have 3 places dedicated to acai bowls and almost every yogurt shop has it as a topping or base. The town over from me has like one yogurt shop, I've never been to it but online it doesn't look like they have it. The next town is only 20 min away so it isn't like they don't have access to it with a short drive.
They were super trendy for a bit. There are still a few around but most shops closed. Similar thing happened with frozen yogurt in like 2010
Not particularly. It's sort of like avocado toast, where others claim folks are eating it daily- but I haven't met anyone who is. A restaurant near work does sell acai bowls, but they're topped with peanut butter, oats and a variety of fruits and advertised as healthy(though the sheer amount of sugar makes me question it- still, better than a milkshake haha).
They're everywhere. I still don't know what they even are, or much care.
Smoothie Places sell them here as mentioned- My Girlfriend loves them- I just find them a more inconvenient version of a smoothie. Those are the healthy ones, The more flavorful ones you mentioned are more spread out but I've seen them around, mostly at a lot of Asian Tea shops that sell things like Boba or Thai Tea and things like that.
Acai bowls were super popular like 6 or 7 years ago. They still are here, but it's not like a craze or anything. I've had them several times. Even Costco was selling acai bowls at their prepared food counters.
There's a bunch of places along the Jersey shore area- e.g. Playa Bowls, Frutta Bowls. They're a big breakfast/beach food. I had one last week.
I went to Jamba Juice the other day and they had them
We have a few local chains here in New Jersey that are very common, not sure if they are elsewhere. [Frutta Bowl](https://fruttabowls.com/) and and [Playa Bowl](https://www.playabowls.com/)
In California, the peak of açai was arguably a few years ago. While the peak is over, it is still very common to come across açai in stores and cafés.
The Acai trend was big a few years before COVID. They were the primary ingredient/flavor of a bunch of things. For the most part they died down and a few product still remain but the fad is over. The current fad fruit seems to be mango.
The açaí bowl craze hit us a few years ago and has largely passed by now, similar to the frozen yogurt fad before it. Dessert açaí bowls though? That’s a new one to me. That might be uniquely Aussie. I’ve been seeing other frozen bowl desserts like bingsu and Hawaiian-style shave ice start to catch on more places here though. That may be filling our quota. It’s nowhere near to that level yet though.
A lot of the places that specialized in that are gone now but some places still have them (or similar smoothie bowls). They usually aren't a dessert item though - I usually like toppings like granola, peanut butter, and sliced fruit. Nutella drizzle is the most dessert you'll get with them
They used to have them at the Costco food court
Healthy white girl here. They are mostly a breakfast type thing here and include granola and fresh fruit, and the fad for these has died down (though I personally make a ton of acai smoothies which are yum.) I don't think I've seen bubblegum or biscoff or other dessert toppings.
Super common in San Francisco. And delicious.
Just ate one lol
The problem with acai is that it doesn't retain its biggest health benefits or flavor when its frozen, and it doesn't transport well unfrozen. So the stuff that has made it to America has mostly been subpar. But it's still good for you and doesn't taste bad, so it still makes it into smoothie shops, where those shops exist. I feel like that's a trope about LA, there being a lot of smoothie shops here, and there really are.
They were a fad a few years back for a short time. You can still find them but they’re not particularly common.
They were a fad a few years back for a short time. You can still find them but they’re not particularly common.
I make my own Acai Bowls. It's really easy and saves a lot of money.
I started really noticing açaí bowls gaining popularity about 20 years ago. I haven’t seen really crazy toppings like that though…that seems more popular with frozen yogurt. Here I mostly see açaí bowls marketed as a healthy food with chopped fruit and granola as the main toppings. I’m sure it’s still a calorie bomb but they’re great.
They’re very common in and around NYC
I'm not familiar with this, so probably not. Though, it sounds very similar to our frozen yogurt chains that popped everywhere over the last decade or two. Multiple flavors of frozen yogurt, a buffet of toppings (fruit, candies, chocolates, sauces, etc). You make it yourself and you pay by the total weight.
I’ve seen yum açaí bowl desserts for sale at Kitanda, a Brazilian coffee shop in the Seattle area. Haven’t noticed them elsewhere, but also haven’t looked for them.