Now that we are in the wind-down stage of the month, the year, the decade, it’s time to look back before we focus our energies on the brighter future. It’s coming, right?

In the food world, it’s been a vocabulary buster. New words were created to define the state of the industry and the intensity of the passionate chef and consumer. All who were interested in food and sourcing (there’s a word) became trend followers as everyone seemed to consider himself a foodie (bad word, overused).

The word locavore was born. This is a word that says it all and says too much, all at the same time. Everyone wanted a ride on this gravy train as a way to support the farmer and all the local producers. People wanted to be called locavores for all their efforts! Food miles became an added descriptor helping people explain that proximity plays an important role in all our purchases. Some even chastised those who exceeded purchases beyond a 100-mile radius.

This was certainly the decade for the farmer, a previously forgotten soul who was hidden under big agriculture’s compost. Although statistics remain gloomy in terms of the small farmer’s livelihood, people wanted to connect with farmers and became loyal devotees of farm markets which managed to end the decade with much higher visibility. CSAs grew in popularity and became more mainstream than alternative as they were a decade or so ago. Green became our favorite color as we recycled and composted: We finally understood Kermit’s mantra.

Vegetable gardening became a headline grabber. Everyone dug the garden culture this year including The White House one, spearheaded by First Lady Michelle Obama who stressed healthy eating.

One of my favorite new food phrases being thrown about is ranch of origin. If you can’t find it locally, then at least you want to know where it is coming from and who is bringing the product to market. I just saw that phrase for the first time not too long ago and believe it will be a keeper. Knowing our food source has become an important shopping goal in light of some of the more fearful food words of the year: food recalls and food safety.

Of course, there’s been heightened interest in organics, but price has been a problem this year with the bleak economic situation, but organic dairy has proven a growth industry.  More people are discovering food allergies and the gluten-free market has literally exploded.

Sustainability has become an important consideration, especially in terms of  the dwindling fish population and the importance of finding foods that are not being overfished. Is it wild has become a common query as farm-raised fish, once a darling concept, lost its luster as questions occur about the water itself–are the fish swimming in chemically-laden runoff?

As for new foods and those we retired: Tilapia has certainly grown in popularity basically because of its less expensive price point and its versatility. Kobe Beef quietly succumbed to the new reality of less spending money and was replaced by its less expensive-sounding name, Wagyu. Semantics. Then there were the hamburger denizens, many overseen by popular chefs who once captured audiences with their expense-account locations.

Of course, the ever-present cupcake helped us maintain our obesity status as food trucks even got in on the never-ending dessert action.

This has been the decade for more products available in cryovac to communicate safer food handling. Sous vide preparation moved from the top tier chef to the home aficionado. The home chef became a reality during this past year as so many people saved their dining out dollars for more clever in-home preparations.

Foam magically appeared on many restaurant dishes as molecular gastronomy has become an important technique for many chefs. With that notion, we grew from 3-course prix-fixe menus to extravagant small plates, with big-name chefs striving for 10 or more courses. We became cooking scientists.

Then there are the words I hope never to see again: E.coli and Salmonella, both too present in our discussions. Too fearful. We purchased way too many containers of hand sanitizers.

The list goes on.

I look for a year, a decade of great food and new traditions.

Tags: farm markets, locavore, trends