Critics call her elitist. “A lukewarm noodle bowl for rich people who hate pleasure,” wrote one food blogger. Others argue the dish is fundamentally broken—that noodles are meant to be hot, that juniper belongs in gin, not dinner.
Dr. Mira Patel, a food psychologist at King’s College London, suggests the dish’s viral rise (over 3 billion views under the hashtag #JuniperRen) is a symptom of collective burnout.