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I predict more people going vegetarian. :P

My dad's well ahead of the trend on the home brew. I bought him a kit last Christmas thinking it would end up in the extra bedroom with the 2007 Smores maker, but was totally wrong. He has gone to town with that kit! He's upgraded everything-- my favorite are the cool re-usable glass bottles: http://www.amazon.com/Reusable-Swing-Top-Homebrew-Bottles-Case/dp/B000P1QUGW

I predict a rash of donuts-on-sticks. Much like cakepops, donutpops would be injected with interesting fillings, like maple cardamom cream. Donutpops, people. It's going to be huge.

I agree with herbstsonne... I'm surprised they didn't mention more about reducing meat in their trends.

To the posters above, I think people are going meat crazy, and eating ever more exotic animals and reveling in fatty cuts. I've never seen so much pork belly everywhere. I don't see a "less meat" trend happening any time soon.

Yeah seriously, what's up with all these meat trends....

They all sound great to me!

I would include vegetarianism in that too. But! The "meat" trend is not as bad, in theory, as some people may think.

By reviving the art of butchery and choosing to buy local meat, people are creating direct links between farmer and consumer.

Most of the bad things (environmental and cruelty issues) that are associated with meat have to do with meat that is factory raised. That meat makes up almost 100% of the market.

The meat trend may be just that, a trend. But people will always be idealistic and hope that by setting a standard that they believe is better, they will make a change, for the better.

I forsee an increasing interest in exotic / gourmet cheeses and breads.

I also predict an increase in cooking from scratch (rather than take-out, or cooking with pre-packaged foods)

The home-brewing trend is already going strong. If you don't beleive me check out beeradvocate.com! My husband and most of his friends brew some pretty serious stuff and we've also been noticing (happily) that many new restaurants in Minneapolis are including a beer list, along with the wine list, featuring not only local stuff but also exotic and hard to find imports. . . many at prices that rival the wine list! We're happy that beer is starting to shed it's strictly blue-collar image!
As for the meat trend, my husband is going veggie because he disagrees with the meat industry. He will however eat wild game (venison yum!) or meat if it's locally raised on a farm using humane practices. Since we can't really afford the fancy meat (hey, there's a recession on!) he's mostly sticking to tofu.

Oh man, Lunafaerie5, I sure hope you're right. And that maple cardamom cream sounds like a brilliant idea.

I think waffles are the next cupcake...seeing fancy versions pop up everywhere.

I'm never overly satisfied with potlucks. There are so many competing flavors that the salty and fatty dishes tend to take over. I've been part of a small close-knit community with a yahoo group, and have tried to facilitate people signing up for specific dishes. It worked extremely well for Thanksgiving, but other meals, with limited success. But I've been thinking about trying specifically themed potlucks like healthy home cooking or middle eastern. What ideas do you have, and/or do you think it would work?

I don't know whether they'll be right or not, but I'm ready to stop seeing bacon and cupcakes everywhere.

What! I am dismayed to learn that TheKitchn, where I come for my food trends, is actually square.

I'm going to say that gluten-free will be big, even for non-celiac types. Everything I see these days says "gluten free," which makes me think even gluten tolerant people must be thinking there's something healthful about that.

I also agree that waffles are supplanting cupcakes.

But - are you ready?

2010 will be the year of the mushroom.

Here's my list of food predictions 2010: http://inthesupermarket.blogspot.com/2009/11/this-years-girl.html

Waffles topped with fried chicken, smothered in gravy. It's already a hit in SF Bay Area. No kidding.

@lemonsprig a few friends and i have been having themed potlucks for a couple years now. we've done middle eastern, potato bar, burgers (and alternatives -- there are vegans and celiacs among us), pizza, and seasonal themes. the host usually suggests a list of dishes or ingredients and everyone goes from there. just make sure you've got one person (at least) in charge of dessert!

I agree with some other readers here.

Vegetarian recipes, even for the omnis, will be big next year. This past Thanksgiving was the first time I ever saw major publications devoting entire holiday veggie menus alongside their standard turkey-centric ones. So I think it'll be hot. People in general, whether vegan, vegetarian, or omni will surely be looking at vegetables in a different way.

While not a kitchen trend, I think a renewed interest in veggies (along with homesteading trends) will see the veggie garden movement grow even past what we saw in 2009. People will grow things they've never tried before and they will treat those veggies as main courses, not just steamed blandness.

Someone else said it here but cooking from scratch will be back. Definitely.

Lastly, if people take on more veggies, grow their own, and continue to buy produce at farmer's markets, I predict Squash Blossoms will be big! Stuffed, on pizza, in pasta, in quesadillas, etc. 2010, the year of the squash blossom. Let's make it happen, folks!

Making your own cheese will be on the upswing. Which will be closely followed by the raw milk scene, which poked its head up a little while ago and then resubmerged.

Homebrewing is already huge. We belong to a homebrewers guild that has grown by leaps and bounds in the last several years. Hooray for beer!

Maybe it's where I live, but the recent meatier trends have been a breath of fresh air. I feel like I spent the 1990's and the first half of this decade surrounded by vegetarians.

Vegan, veggie, gluten free, raw, and more green smoothies!
Babycakes LA will be opening soon!

I think (and hope) everything is coming back home.

"Artisan" and "heirloom" keep cropping up everywhere, which could signal a return to simpler ways -- cheesemaking, as someone suggested, but also home gardens, breadmaking. The slow food movement, especially with all of the food-born related illnesses, seems of particular importance. I'd also say vegetarianism because it can be more economical (if you use beans, anyway -- where we are, in Florida, it's cheaper to buy meat than almost anything else.)

I disagree with lamb replacing bacon. I like lamb, but most of the people I know don't care for it.

Organic was the new vegetarianism, and eating local is the new organic. People want to be able to claim some sort of moral high ground, but they don't actually want to have to make any sacrifices to do so. 2010 is going to be good year for free-range poultry and beef that isn't corn-finished.

Along those lines, I expect to see a lot more "healthy" or "natural" versions of junk food (e.g. cane sugar soda). I also expect to see more fancy versions of comfort food.

My optimistic wish for the new year: regional and specialized ethnic food. Thai restaurants that don't have the same menu as every single other Thai restaurant, regional Chinese food, regional Mexican food, etc.

The next fad diet will be the "primal" diet. It's like Atkins but classy.

The headlines of the day are: runaway health care costs and its effect on the economy, swine flu or avian flu, antibiotic resistance, water quality/quantity problems, an obesity/diabetes2 epidemic, global warming... And the powerful, low-cost solution quietly resting at the nexus of it all? A plant-based diet. It's ironic that Epicurious should see so much meat in the future when in the past couple of years the tide has turned considerably on the western diet and many have come to realize that the further humanity tips the scale towards a plant-based diet the better are the prospects for the long-term survival of all species.

As Michael Pollan says In Defense of Food, "Eat food - not too much - mostly plants." But I guess that's why I don't read Epicurious.

Here's a different view: Top 10 (Recent) Developments On Factory Farming And Vegetarianism. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/top-10-recent-development_b_372351.html

FRIED CHICKEN!!

Did that ever really go "out"?

Fried chicken is my all time favorite food ever.

The Husband makes really delicious oven-baked "fried" chicken that tastes just like KFC (including all the spices), but not as greasy and gross. I'd share the recipe, but I don't have it because he won't share it with me.

My friends and I have been doing potlucks all year for a while. But we're all journalists, so we don't get paid much to begin with. And our pay was frozen - and then cut - long before everyone felt the effects of the economic crash. And it's just easier for us to all get together if everybody brings one thing.

But, I really miss the formal dinner. I like it best when one person prepares everything, and all the flavors complement each other.

So The Husband and I have been trying to revive the formal dinner. We make a lot of roast chicken because it's cheap, easy to dress up or down, goes with white wine or red, and we have a great roast chicken recipe I found on Ezra Poundcake's blog.

Lamb is the new pork - lamb neck is the new pork belly. @SarahBerneche I love lamb and agree that many people don't like it. But I think people just haven't tried good lamb - grass fed and finished. Hopefully more people will have access to good lamb and this prediction can come true

I'm sorry to break it to everyone, but fried chicken came and went this year already. It's about as fresh a food trend as bacon.

I predict, maybe not in 2010, that cupcakes will have a brief "ironic" comeback, like when American Apparel reintroduced fanny packs. And perhaps 2012 or so will see an upsurge in former butchers/would-be cardiologists enrolling in medical school, while the almighty trend-o-meter starts heading the way of whole grains and statins.

Hate to break it to you, but cupcakes have had/are having their moment right now (past peak, I believe).

Donutpops--that made me laugh.

Cooking from scratch with whole foods. Heirloom/obscure veggies will come back into vogue as will baking bread and... darkhorse of them all... home canning!

The meat trend has been interesting because it focuses so much on origin, quality, and using every part of the animal (offal, anyone?). I forsee pork continuing its meteoric rise.

Alternately, I agree with other posters about the whole vegetarianism, thing. Just because you're not a devoted convert doesn't mean you can't eat like one! Look at the Meatless Monday's thing and Martha's veggie Thanksgiving. And y'know what, it's because veggies are delicious! And cheaper than meat. And healthier for you and the planet.

This was fun. I like these predictions!

Homebrew... wasn't that a trend in 99?

I didn't realize I was so trendy with choosing to limit my family's meat intake but increasing the quality (grass finished/pasture raised)!!

I agree with the person who said vegetables will be big this year. We won't be giving up meat at my house, but we are focusing more on ensuring we eat a vegetable dish with every dinner. Half a plate of veggies (salad, cooked veg, etc), one quarter meat, one quarter carbs.

And beans! Probably not trendy. But I'd like to see us all rediscover beans!

Just reading these predictions about vegetarianism makes me crave grilled flesh. In tough economic times it is hard to see vegetarianism gaining any ground. I think people are interested in spending and eating modestly and in looking to meals for comfort and stability. Instead of big changes, folks will want healthful and inventive twists on old reliables, or to try adding new veggie or two to their line up as they reduce meats. (Notice how folks aren't talking about fish? Because its spendy! Lamb might be the new pork for a limited few, but it ain't gonna trickle down past those who jump on the bandwawgon of the day.)

I'm putting a vote in for the rise of wild foods and foraging. At least that's my hope. It's already got a real foothold in the UK but I really hope it catches on here in the States.

I like the attitude of the author of Cleaving--eating meat that is responsibly raised automatically makes it more expensive and more of a treat.

Heirloom beans! (shout out to Native Seed Search)

Donut pops!!

I predict:
Pastured eggs and animals instead of so-called free range.
Kales and chards and all those deep toned leafy greens.
Turnips and rutabagas.
Places like 18 Reasons, SF's food and art focused community center, will start popping up in other cities.
Snout-to-tail eating will continue, as well as the celebrity butcher.
I also agree on homemade cheese and beer.
Cooking with fire. (And not Ms. Waters' egg-in-a-spoon preciousness. I'm talking Francis Mallman's Seven Fires cookbook. Amazing.)

I predict people eating more sophisticated dishes made at home, instead of restaurants; basically re-discovering the joy of cooking.

I don't see meat dominating or disappearing. Instead, emphasis will be on creating more diversified main dishes with vegetables in the starring role and meat as a supporting player. Also, other protein sources (beans, dairy) will be important.

The following ethnic cuisines are robust, elemental people's food. They emphasiz spices and condiments to create toothsome and wholesome meals where the amounts of expensive meat or fish are subordinate to affordable vegetables, legumes, grains and other starches.

Back to basics will be the key phrase when cooking these cuisines at home. Most ingredients can be grown at home or found locally at farmer's market. My predictions:

Korean and Indian cuisine will be the new "Chinese"

Mexican and Iberian will give way to Latin-Caribbean cuisines:Puerto Rican, Cuban, Yucatan

Look for Brazilian food to make a resurgence

Also, Afghani and Moroccan dishes that use lamb and yoghurt (not the probiotic kind!)

Donutpops, I can't wait for you!

My vote goes to lentils.