Why must every sandwich, soup or entree I order now contain roasted red peppers? What inspires a chef to say, “This roast beef sandwich tastes almost perfect . . . now all it needs is a charred wad of wet slime that will overpower every other flavor with a combination of mushy, sweet bitterness and a strong potting soil aftertaste.”?

And suddenly they have infiltrated every single dish. “Tonight’s dessert special is a strawberry cheesecake made with roasted red peppers instead of strawberries. And also instead of cheesecake.”

Just how powerful is the roasted red pepper lobby (Big Pepper?) to have promoted such total saturation of our culinary culture? It all became clearer last week: