"2009 trends" news and stories

All month, magazines and blogs have abuzz with forecasts for the 2009 food year. Some take their roles as psychic seriously, others skewer and flame-broil the whole concept. I, for one, find both approaches pretty entertaining. Whether earnest or facetious, most lists include something about fad diets and sustainability, as well as at least a couple recession-related predictions, whether that means home cooking or casual restaurants. Bacon, yet again, figures into more than one list.

Enough summary. Here are the links:

From the serious...

• Gourmet presents its picks in slide-show form.
• Food and Wine sticks to restaurants.
• Epicurious says what is the new whatever.
• A blog called Eat Me Daily revisits and reviews last year's picks from Epicurious.

To the silly...

• Also from the blogosphere, Fine Furious Life weighs in.
• Serious Eats belies its name.
• Frank Bruni and Kim Severson unknit their collective brow in the Diner's Journal blog.
• Food Marathon, in my opinion, wins the day with their hilarious photo-enhanced shenanigans.