Slashfood Ate (8): gastronomic movements of 2005

Food trends aren't sudden and flashy like the styles clothing or iPods; they tend to ebb and flow; few foods gain universal acceptance, few ever die out entirely. The trends of one year will overlap with those from the year before. You'll see many of these on the lists of 2004 and 2006, and probably a few on 1952, 2035. There were some undeniably 2005 phenomena, like cold sake and sous vide. Others are just a bit more hip this year than last.

The food fashions of 2005 run the gamut from the saucy to the silly to the sublime. Our ratings? They're completely subjective. Let us know what you think.

• Jack in the Box shows its front-running status by getting in on the front end of the chipotle trend. I've been adding this smoky spice to food from lentils to Coney Island chili to potato gratins for years now and I'm still loving it. Slashfood rating: put it in everything for 2006, too.
• Brands like "Ensure" and "Balance" expand from old people's fiber drinks to health bars for pregnant women and young, active adults. Slashfood rating: a chemically-sweet mis-appropriation of brand equity.
• Cold sake comes into its own with mentions on just about everyone's hip list. I could really take it or leave it until I tried sparkling sake when I visited Koreatown this November. Now I'm thinking about trying some of those newfangled saketinis. Slashfood rating: two sake glasses up. Kanpai!
• Whatever Grant Achatz does, it's trendy. Lately he's been into this sous vide, or vacuum packing, preparation. It sounds terribly odd and very high-tech. Those who've tried it rave. I fondly recall lusting after a vacuum packer at the Beaverhead County Fair in 1983. Slashfood rating: I'll try it once I can afford it.
• How many years have we known that trans-fatty acids contribute to everything bad from heart attacks to diabetes to uncomfortable gas? And finally manufacturers are taking it out of my favorite foods, and best of all, adding labels that tell me so. No more poring over the fine print only to toss those delicious-looking wafer cookies back on the shelf. Slashfood rating: it's about time. I was about to need bifocals.
• Eating local has gotten even bigger than the slow food movement and is coming to, well, your own farmer's market. We did the eat local challenge 'round the blogosphere and it's encouraged me to search out newer and local-er vendors. It's why I ate Oregonzola with my green olives last week. Slashfood rating: truly brilliant; how come I didn't think of this?
• Target has been setting trends in gadgets and home fashions for years, now they're making waves in food with their cheap(er) luxury chocolates and their (supposedly) good boxed wine. Bringing good food to the people who drink wine out of boxes and buy their underwear in three-packs, it can't be all bad, right? Slashfood rating: hey! I resemble that!
• Down with all-or-nothing diets! Raw food and Atkins diets are going the way of the grapefruit-and-Total-cereal diet that was all the rage in the early 90s (ahh, college). In vogue: surprise! It's moderation and exercise. Slashfood rating: my bacon-and-ice cream diet may have been ahead of its time, but it's all over now.