????南瓜風味食品與萬圣節糖果十分類似。兩者都預示著秋天的來臨，而且隨著它們一年比一年早地出現，仿佛連傳統的季節劃分都要為之改變。

????不過與其他的飲食風尚不同——典型的例子如可頌甜甜圈和棒棒糖蛋糕——南瓜風味食品的熱度十分持久。星巴克（Starbucks）推出南瓜拿鐵（Pumpkin Spice Latte，被狂熱的愛好者稱為PSL）至今已有11年，該產品已經售出超過200萬份，是該公司最為流行的季節性飲料。星巴克的競爭對手，咖啡供應商唐恩都樂（Dunkin’ Donuts）也在今年推出了超過6款南瓜風味咖啡。唐恩都樂表示，他們花了不少時間來研究如何提高產品的“南瓜特色”。

????大多數顧客都非常清楚，我們說的不只是咖啡，還包括任何已經有、或者很快就會有南瓜風味的產品：奧利奧（Oreos）、蜜蘭諾（Milano）小甜餅、M&M巧克力豆、酸奶、棉花糖、口香糖、燕麥片、Eggo華夫餅。上周甚至還有傳聞說南瓜味的避孕套即將上市，不過最后證明這是個惡作劇。這個假新聞之所以會吸引如此多的關注，也說明了南瓜題材已經變得多么誘人。

????也可以說，這則新聞是在諷刺這個曾經默默無聞，現在卻無處不在的瓜類家族成員。確實，已經有人開始抱怨自己患上了南瓜風味疲勞癥（權且稱其為PSF）。但另一方面，飲食習慣的調查數據顯示，他們仍然在喝南瓜拿鐵。行業追蹤機構英敏特（Mintel）發現，自2006年起，在美國人的菜單上，擁有南瓜成分的飲料數量增加了130%。而自2004年起，南瓜風味食物在菜單上的數量已經增加了10倍之多。

????到底是什么讓南瓜風味如此勢不可擋？《財富》（Fortune）決定探究這一現象背后的消費心理學。

????星巴克和唐恩都樂的高管都指出，這種風味能喚起季節感與懷舊之情。南瓜拿鐵研發負責人，星巴克產品經理彼得?杜克斯表示：“這種飲料捕捉到了秋天的真味。”他的同事，星巴克美國區、美洲區總裁兼Teavana茶品牌負責人克利夫?巴羅斯認為，南瓜風味的成功，與悠長暑假的結束和返校，以及美國勞動節假期的結束有關。他表示：“這是一個重要的轉折點。喝著南瓜味飲料度過這段轉折期是一個好辦法。”

????Pumpkin spice is a lot like Halloween candy. Both are harbingers of fall, and both seem to push the appropriate seasonal boundaries by popping up earlier and earlier every year.

????But unlike other food fads—two well-documented examples are cronuts and cake pops—pumpkin spice has endured. This is the 11th year that the Pumpkin Spice Latte (the PSL, in the parlance of aficionados) has graced the menu at Starbucks . With more than 200 million PSLs sold, it’s the company’s most popular seasonal beverage. Rival coffee purveyor Dunkin’ Donuts has more than a half dozen pumpkin-flavored items on the menu this year. The company says it spends time strategizing how it can ramp up the “pumpkin-osity” of its offerings.

????As most consumers are well aware, we are not speaking merely of coffee. Just about anything that can have a pumpkin variety now does, or soon will: Oreos, Milano cookies, M&Ms, yogurt, marshmallows, gum, oatmeal, Eggo waffles. There was even buzz last week, which turned out to be a hoax, about a pumpkin spice condom. The fact that this fake news gained so much traction is a sign of how sexy the subject has become.

????Or perhaps it was an ironic commentary on the ubiquity of a once-humble member of the squash and melon family. Indeed, some have begun to complain of pumpkin spice fatigue (let’s call it PSF) out of one side of their mouths—but data on eating habits suggest they’re still sipping PSLs out of the other. Since 2006, industry tracker Mintel has found that pumpkin as a beverage ingredient has grown 130% on U.S. menus. Since 2004 the use of pumpkin as a flavor in food on menus has increased ten-fold.

????So what’s driving the flavor to these new heights? Fortune decided to investigate the consumer psychology behind pumpkin spice.

????Both Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts executives point to the seasonality and nostalgia evoked by the flavor. “It’s a beverage that captures the essence of fall,” says Peter Dukes, who led the PSL’s development as a Starbucks product manager. His colleague Cliff Burrows, group president of the U.S., Americas, and Teavana, thinks its success is linked to the combination of the return to school after the long summer holiday and the closure of the season with Labor Day. “There’s something about that whole turning point, which is so significant,” he says. “It’s a nice way to turn the corner on the year.”