I hear the word "trend" in about every third sentence when trying to discuss food culture. I don't think we have trends as much as we do fads. Wikipedia tells us the difference:
"A fad is any form of behavior that develops among a large population and is collectively followed with enthusiasm for some period, generally as a result of the behavior's being perceived as novel in some way. A fad is said to "catch on" when the number of people adopting it begins to increase rapidly. The behavior will normally fade quickly once the perception of novelty is gone.
The specific nature of the behavior associated with a fad can be of any type including language usage, apparel, financial investment, and even food. Apart from general novelty, fads may be driven by mass media programming, emotional excitement, peer pressure, or even a desire to be outside social norms (counterculture). Though the term trend may be used interchangeably with fad, a fad is generally considered a fleeting behavior whereas a trend is considered to be a behavior that evolves into a relatively permanent change."
I guess this would explain the sometimes almost schizoid declarations in the press about what good food actually is. There are clearly heavy driving forces here, such as peer pressure resulting in brand snobbism: eating foul-smelling (tasting?) food is clearly all right if it is the right kind of shit (literally), but not if it comes in a paper bag bearing a logo of a large corporation, although I'm sure one of the two has some sort of FDA approval.
Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees. So who do you rely on for directions in this veritable wildwood of fads? I guess it all depends on if you know what you want and how you want it.
But don't take my word for it.
(image from google.com)
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