"best of 2005" news and stories

The year 2005 was a short one for Slashfood, as we were born in the late summer. But still, we wrote over a thousand posts on everything from, um, acorn squash to zucchini. And we were all blogging, and eating, and thinking about foods, food blogs and food news all year long. What dominated our search strings, our comment threads, and our intra-Slashfood buzz? This was it:

• #5 Finding God in food.  Grilled cheese, fish sticks and cinnamon buns. This may sound like the lunch menu at the local high school, but in fact these are all food items on which people claim to have found the likeness of God. Suprisingly, God shows up in mysterious ways on a number of food items.
• #4 Food TV turns away from foodies.  It was gradual, but the channel has changed over the past several years. A couple of major things happened this year that indicate a turn away from the original core audience - people who liked to cook - to a new and (for whatever it's worth) bigger audience. People who eat. The Food Network, it seems, is divesting itself of the foodies and embracing food, of the edible and eye candy variety. And this is such a shame.
• #3 Finding food in strange places.  We know there's always been weird food out there... But there are some places that even we, jaded food lovers that we are, don't imagine finding food. Let's take wounds, for one. In 2005, Slashfood discovered the Bacon bandaids. Take data storage devices, for two. This year we learned of the strange-yet-wonderful sushi USB drives.
• #2 Around the world on the blogs.  Throughout the year...  food bloggers felt imbued with the passion to change the world in whatever small way we could, even if it was just creating pink recipes to honor the fight against breast cancer... In August, a huge number of bloggers worldwide participated in an exercise in locality, challenging each other to eat as much from local vendors and farmers as possible.
• #1 Food lawsuits that rain on our plates.  There are more than a few people out there who continue to give lawyers a bad name. Some of them got involved in the food world this year, working to ban silver balls, obtain a couple hundred grand for a fly in a bottle of water, or suing over hot coffee. For shame.

It's that time of year, the time to look back on the stories that made 2005 great. Our countdown began with God and TV, then touched on the weird and the wonderful. Finally, that most American of all themes: the lawsuit.

There are more than a few people out there who continue to give lawyers a bad name. Some of them are the lawyers who take on what many people deem to be frivolous lawsuits. Sometimes it is the lawyers who take it upon themselves to speak up for people and protest what they perceive is a legal violation or some sort. These may not be all the legal battles caused by food this year, but they certainly were noteworthy ones, whether they deserved to be or not.

1. Silver dragées. This lawsuit isn’t new to 2005, but it is ongoing nevertheless. A California lawyer had essentially managed, much to the chagrin of bakers in the state, to block the sale of little, silver cake decorating balls in the state in a suit against candy makers and bakers. He cites health risks despite the fact that there has never been a documented case of poisoning from silver dragée consumption.

2. Bottled Fly Trauma. In , a hairstylist and his wife were awarded more than $300,000 after finding a fly in a bottle of water. Neither the man nor his wife consumed any water and, in fact, the bottle was unopened. The couple mentioned that they were “plagued by nightmares [and lost] of their sense of humour” as a result of the incident.

Last year around this time, the blogging world, in shock from the terrible disaster in Indonesia, was responding with all its generosity of spirit and kitchen. That fervor continued throughout the year and, it seemed, food bloggers felt imbued with the passion to change the world in whatever small way we could, even if it was just creating pink recipes to honor the fight against breast cancer.

And what is that saying? Charity begins at home? In August, a huge number of bloggers worldwide participated in an exercise in locality, challenging each other to eat as much from local vendors and farmers as possible.

My personal eat local campaign began with coffee (roasted locally) and continued with garlic. I'm lucky to live in a place from which lots of great products and produce hails; but I lusted over the local goodies in California and Provence. When we were done eating? We went around the world in a recycling bin.

Food bloggers, and their readers, took their local charity to Kashmir this past month with Chez Pim's Menu for Hope, which ended up raising $21,716.32. Andrew Barrow and I both donated items (although I must admit I practiced the two for me, one for you thing when I shopped for dried mushrooms at the farmer's market).

Pecorino with peppercorns from the Eastbank Farmer's Market, August.

I didn't keep track, but I must have eaten thousands of dishes in 2005, and tried hundreds of new foods. While I won't admit to how large a percentage "toast with peanut butter" and "breakfast: one cookie, one coffee" were in my personal dietary pie chart, I will offer up some of the unarguable highlights. The following is a photo essay on some things that warmed my stomach oh-so-well in 2005.

Marinated salmon and onion with citrus and cucumber, Tani's Sushi, November.

Crisp, melting, sweet, tangy, citrusy, flavorful, refreshing. One of my favorite dishes in the city.

We know there's always been weird food out there, ever since man first started pounding tiny bits of grain to make a fine powder, mixing it with naturally-occurring bacteria and warm liquid expressed from an animal, letting it sit for a couple of hours, heating it up, and eating it (boy, bread's weird, isn't it?).

But there are some places that even we, jaded food lovers that we are, don't imagine finding food. Let's take wounds, for one. In 2005, Slashfood discovered the Bacon bandaids. Take data storage devices, for two. This week we learned of the strange-yet-wonderful sushi USB drives. Then, there's your lips, who see a lot of food, on the way in. But they don't see much food, well, just sitting around healing your wind-burned kisser. Now they can, thanks to Cheetos chapstick. You think these are weird? That is so not all.