2006 food trends

earlier this week, epicurious announced their top ten best food trends of 2006. a day later they announced their top ten worst food trends of 2006. a guilty pleasure of mine are all these top ten lists which people create for the previous year. of course i was very curious to read these lists from epicurious.

the worst trends first: they list such events as the e.coli contamination of spinach and fois grais being banned in chicago as items on their top ten worst list. i was a bit disappointed in this. i was hoping that something like "french cooking" would be on the list, not news events. i just don't see those as trends. i think of a trend to be something like "pink is the new black" which we see in the fashion world. still, they do have a few notable items on their list, like "botique water" which is listed in sixth position:

6. Boutique Water: For every report on our overflowing landfills, diminished petroleum supplies, and melting ice caps, there seems to be a new absurdly riced fancy bottled water. At Epicurious, we've read about food and water pairings, and we just got an advance copy of an entire book devoted to Fine Waters, due to be released in January. Even when we do buy water, we don't see the point of paying more than a buck a bottle — unless it's going to turn into wine.

their top ten best food trends is more promising when it comes to actual trends. "southern food" is listed as the number two trend. and i have seen a return to good old-fashioned american cooking. i had a discussion with another food blogger last week about meatloaf. he is from england and was asking me for a meatloaf recipe. i told him that i never ate meatloaf while i was growing up. we then went on to discuss the history of meatloaf and all the fancy meatloaf recipes that are available now. who ever would have thought people would be making asian meatloaf using ground turkey?

other trends mentioned included fancy cocktails, organic food, steakhouses and burgers of all types. the final item on their list is a trend that i didn't even know was a trend, but i find quite interesting:

10. Oh, Honey, Honey: All kinds of honey — lavender, buckwheat, macadamia, blackberry, and hundreds more — proliferated on menus and in stores. "Honey has been around for thousands upon thousands of years and was re-recognized this past year on a national level in the culinary world," says David Guas, executive pastry chef of Acadiana, Ceiba, DC Coast, and TenPenh in Washington, DC. "Fads in the food world come and go, but I am glad to have witnessed this newfound appreciation for this ancient magical nectar."

now i'm going to have to start looking for all those yummy honeys! macadamia honey sounds amazing. god bless the internet because i am sure it won't be available at my local grocery store.