Advertising companies and politicians like to play with semantics for the purpose of changing images. Big soda companies seem to be heavily invested in changing their images this year - with Pepsi completely revamping their packaging and Coke teaming up witt Jay-Z to promote Coke Zero - so it isn't entirely shocking to hear that they no longer want soda to be thought of as "carbonated soft drinks." Instead, they're "sparkling beverages."

In what some might describe as a blending of advertising and politics, the name change represents some social climbing on the part of soda companies. They are trying to distance themselves from their high-calorie, junk food roots, which politicians and other people in positions of power continually hold against them. Unfortunately for the cola companies, soda is so popular that no matter what Coke and Pepsi executives decide to call it, changing the name for the product to "sparkling beverage" is like trying to change the word for "beer": it's just not going to happen.

We love smoothies. New consumer research shows that smoothies have been one of the fastest growing food/drink markets over the past five years, where sales have been up more than 80% to over $2 billion in annual sales. This includes both made-to-order smoothies, from businesses like Jamba Juice, as well as pre-packaged products.

There are a couple of reasons for the popularity of smoothies, but the biggest one is that they are perceived as being health-conscious, without being too "healthy." Most smoothies involve a blend of milk, yogurt, sorbet and fruits, often with additional vitamins and supplements mixed in. They aren't necessarily low calorie, but they are better for you than a double cheeseburger and fries in terms of nutritional content. Smoothies are also convenient, and their appeal as an "on-the-go meal" is one thing that has helped them become a fixture in people's busy lives. The biggest market is people 18-34, with 50% of respondents to researchers inquiries said that they had at least one smoothie a month.

To keep up the growth, smoothie manufacturers will have to look to new flavors and new twists on their existing recipes. Look for more flavors/ingredients in existing recipes, like the addition of green tea and açaí, and expect to see a wider range of offerings, from low-calorie smoothies to decadent ones, to draw in new consumers.

A really high-quality, aged balsamic vinegar is something that no chef should pass up, as it is basically the standard to which all other vinegars aspire. Other vinegars have their uses, of course, but few will be coveting the taste of white vinegar to top off a nearly perfect dish. Aged balsamics can be expensive, though, and as a finishing touch to a dish or to enhance the flavor in a dressing or marinade, flavored vinegars can be great options.

Flavored vinegars are infused with everything from sweet berries to fiery chilies and they seem to be everywhere right now. Trader Joe's, for example, is carrying at least four kinds right now, including the ones pictured above: California Grapefruit, Mango Chili, Strawberry Balsamic and Pomegranate. The flavors tone down the astringency of vinegar, while retaining its brightening properties. Of the ones pictured above, Grapefruit and Pomegranate are delicious in salads, while Strawberry is good on desserts and Mango works well as a marinade.

If you can't find a flavor that matches your own tastes, you can make your own fairly easily, with fresh herbs, fruits and spices.

We already know that not all kids like vegetables and that preferences may even be genetic when it comes to overall eating habits, but that doesn't explain why kids entering adolescence eat fewer veggies than they did when they were younger.

In a report that appeared in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers noted that there were two big drops during a five year period in the amount of fruits and vegetables that teens, both jr. high and high school students, ate. One dip occurred early in adolescence and another occurred late. In both cases, consumption dropped by 1/2 serving - which could be a substantial percentage if the kids were not eating the recommended minimum number of servings a day to begin with. Researchers don't yet know why these drops occur, although it is possible that access to vending machines at jr. high schools (not present in elementary schools) and access to cars/fast food in high school may contribute.

Every year there are a handful of ingredients and flavors that find their way onto almost every single restaurant menu in the country. Last year, two of the most popular flavors were pomegranate and chipotle. This year, the menu trend-spotters have already made their top five predictions, some of which are bolder than before and others that are merely extensions of existing trends.

Functional flavors - Beyond green tea and pomegranate there is a whole world of functional food that will become more widely used. Açaí, acerola cherry, red wine and red tea will all step more into the limelight.

More Latin flavors - Chipotle is still popular, as is regional Mexican (from Oaxaca and Jalisco), but new flavors will step up, with more influences from Central and South America.

Sweet and savory- The pairing of salty and sweet (or savory and sweet) really hit a home run with packaged foods last year, but more mainstream restaurants will be offering salted caramels or herb-infused ice creams than in the past.

Expected flavors, unexpected fruits- Why stick with orange when you can use blood orange? The same goes for choosing Meyer lemons, Buddha's hand or other citrus over plan lemon. Twists on popular flavors will make the food seem more exotic, without taking a big risk by radically changing the flavor.

More Spice, Less Heat - Instead of the overt heat of chipotle, ancho, and jalapeño, there will be more Indian and Moroccan spices added to menus, including curry, cumin and cardamom.

To say that the awareness campaign against childhood obesity has been a big one is something of an understatement. There are healthy vending machines getting put into schools, students' BMIs are getting put on report cards and junk food ads have been banned from many televisions. But despite all efforts, there hasn't yet been a noticeable change in the way children eat or a reversal of the trend towards obesity.

A new study illustrates the fact that the impact of all such measures has been minimal. Kids snack more than other age groups, with the average 5-9 year old child consuming $114 worth of candies and sugary treats, $30 of ice cream and $58 of salty snacks each year. "Tweens," the next age group up, consume "40 percent more carbonates per capita than the population average." The same study found that kids are exercising less than ever before, as well, leading to their prediction that childhood obesity rates (including both "overweight" and "obese") will move up from the current 32% to 42% by 2011. European kids aren't too much better off with rates around 35%.

The advice for a turnaround - eat less, exercise more - still stands, but unless something motivates a change, it doesn't look like there will be a radical decrease in the near future.

We have heard that formal dining rooms are back in vogue on the restaurant scene this year, which means that the combination restaurant dining room/kitchens, where everyone had a clear view of their food from start to finish, will gradually be phased out. Patrons are now more interested in eating the food and appreciating the subtleties of a well-prepared meal than they are in watching it be prepared. With the massive number of cooking shows on TV, can you blame them? Everywhere you turn, you can see great pictures of food and videos of how its made, but the restaurant is where you can taste every delicious looking item that you wouldn't ordinarily get at home.

The UK Guardian is saying that the "Nigella Effect" is responsible for this change, as the sultry chef's recommendation is enough to make people try anything. She sold the public on 250,000 tins of goose fat over Christmas, so the end of open-air kitchens was easy by comparison. But although she may have helped to speed up the trend, it is far more widespread than Britain already - and like it or not, it seems as though this trend could be here to stay.

My three year old is in a cooking class learning to make artisanal breads.

Well, my two year old will only eat raw milk cheeses that have been smuggled into the country by our friends traveling abroad.

Oh yeah? My 7 month old will only eat sushi, foie gras and foods prepared by Ferran Adria.

It looks like having kids with gourmet palates is the newest status symbol for the "urban sophisticate." They want their kids to appreciate the finer things in life as soon as possible, so members of this food-forward group of parents - foodies, chowhounds and gourmets all - try to expose their kids to as many different foods as they can. They enroll them in kids-only cooking classes so that they can get some hands-on experience and take them to fine dining restaurants - many of which now offer smaller kid-sized portions - as well as cooking dishes from around the world at home.

Those outside of this adventurous eater movement are less enthralled with it than the parents of the children are, even if the "outsiders" are parents themselves. Not only do they feel that there is no reason to push so much so soon (even adults like mac and cheese!), but some foods like medium rare burgers and sushi seem like they might be opening children to heath risks. The biggest concern arises with restaurants, where many patrons feel that the experience is lessened when they have to sit next to a cranky child. Restaurateurs and chefs, on the other hand, don't seem to mind quite as much. "Eric Ripert, the chef at Le Bernardin, Zagat's highest-rated restaurant in New York, thinks his dress code helps keep children in line. 'They have a tie, so they are almost strangled already,' he said. 'They don't move much.'"

One thing that struck me when I was at the Fancy Food Show was that there were a number of products that were marketed at women. Some of them, like chocolates, seemed just to feature girly packaging and slogans, but others touted potential health benefits. In this latter category were two new products that were the result of a collaboration between The Republic of Tea and LUNA: Nutritional Iced Tea for Women and LUNA Tea Cakes. The collaboration was a natural one considering that the companies - both of which endorse healthy lifestyles - have similar values and goals.

Nutritional Iced Tea for Women is the first iced tea designed with women in mind. Brewed, lightly sweetened and packed in resealable plastic water bottles, the all-natural teas have just 50 calories per 12-ounce serving, are made with 70% organic ingredients. On top of that, the teas are fortified with folate, calcium and vitamins B and D. They come in five flavors: Ginger Currant Black Tea, Lemon Blueberry Decaf Black Tea, Kiwi Strawberry Green Tea, Mandarin Orange White Tea and (caffeine-free) Cherry Vanilla Red Tea. They are truly delicious and very refreshing. The fruity flavors really come through (my favorite was the Ginger Currant), with no sugary sweetness to dull them.

Sex sells. Usually, it sells things like beer, various liquors and - of course - fatty fast food hamburger, but some Seattle area businesses are using it to sell something else entirely: coffee. Espresso joints with names like Natté Latté, Moka Girls Espresso, Cowgirls Espresso, The Sweet Spot and Bikini Espresso have decided to spice up their images with sexy outfits and flirtatious female baristas to try and attract business away from competitors.

At Cowgirls Espresso in Tukwila, WA, for example, barista Candice Law (pictured) says that she and the other baristas dress to different themes for different days. "Everybody's excited to see you," she said, as evidenced by the look on this customer's face on seeing his coffee served by a girl in a corset and thigh-high boots. At other establishments, "hot-pink hot pants and tight white tank tops," lingerie and "fetish" outfits are just part of the dress code.

Dubbed "sexpresso," the combination of sexy outfits and coffee is a relatively new concept and seems to be gaining in popularity as commutes get longer and consumers are more likely to take factors other than simple convenience into account when looking for coffee in the morning. As one (satisfied) customer said "If I'm going to pay $4 for a cup of coffee, I'm not going to get served by a guy." The employees - just about all women - seem to like it, too, citing the friendly customers and huge tips as great incentives.

Food manufacturers love bacteria, especially probiotic bacteria. The market for products that contain probiotics has really taken off in the past year in the US, after Dannon launched a line of yogurt, Activa, that included them as an aid to digestive regularity. The company's sales soared to over $100 million dollars and other producers quickly scrambled to work probiotics into their own lines, appealing to health-conscious consumers who are interested in improving their diets and lifestyle with food that is good for them, rather than by taking pills as supplements. In other words, probiotics appeal to the American consumer's growing interest in functional foods.

Probiotics are being called "this decade's oat bran," by trendspotters, who are referring to the fact that that grain rose quickly to popularity in the 1980s - and stayed there - when "it was shown to lower cholesterol levels." Oat bran ended up in everything for a very long period and it seems likely that probiotics will, too, provided that the companies that use them can get the same results from the live cultures than Dannon has. Known benefits include relief from irritable bowel syndrome, yeast infections, and diarrhea, but more claims are being made every day, suggesting "probiotics may help ward off everything from allergies to colon cancer."

For now, most probiotic products are dairy-based, including a TCBY frozen yogurt, StonyField Farm's upcoming dairy-based energy drink and Dannon's Activa and DanActive. There are soy milk products that contain probiotics and Kashi has put it into cereal.

Now that Bulgaria has joined the European Union, some of the previously high taxes on Bulgarian goods have been eliminated. Bulgaria is known for having good wine, but it is beer that has people from other EU countries flocking to the stores to buy it now that some of the taxes have been lifted. Boza beer apparently claims to help women's breasts grow larger.

Upon hearing of its claims, your first thought might be why taxes would matter, since there are surely people who would pay anything for a product - let alone a beer - that could do that. The following thought, of course, would be about how accurate this claim is.

Boza is made from fermented wheat and/or millet and has a low alcohol content. The original recipe has been around for thousands of years and dates back to Pre-Ottoman Turkey. It has always been considered to be a very healthy drink, a "warming and strengthening beverage" with approximately 1,000 calories per liter. For comparison, milk has about 630 calories per liter.

It is unlikely that Boza actually does increase the size of women's breasts, although with the high number of calories it contains, it is certainly possible that it could cause weight gain in general if enough is consumed.

Donuts are not health food. Fried pieces of dough covered in sugar or chocolate and, sometimes, filled with jam, donuts are written off by millions everyday as an indulgence. But because they rely so heavily on frying, and as a direct result, on partially hydrogenated oils, donut makers have grown increasingly worried about their futures over the past few years, as trans fats have fallen far from the eye of public favor.

A large number of donut makers have turned to "all natural" recipes and are already using trans-fat free oils for frying. After first seeing the anti trans-fat movement spring up, many shop owners and chefs started to eliminate any and all trans fats from their recipes. Some of the donut makers that use no trans fats include the Doughnut Plant in New York, Mighty-O Donuts and Top Pot Doughnuts in Seattle. Dunkin Donuts is close and has been testing new recipes for two years. More are in the process of converting, helped along by their desire to keep consumers coming in every morning and trying to make their particular brad of deep fried indulgence seem a little less bad for you.

Either I don't eat out enough or must not pay much attention to the dessert menu, because even though I live in LA, I had no idea that banana cream pie was a city-wide obsession.

The third possibility here is that the reason I don't know about the trend is that it isn't a trend at all, just the New York Times' assumption that banana cream pie is a fad based on the presence of banana desserts at some So Cal bakeries and diner-type restaurants.

So, I'm not going to vouch for its trendiness in restaurants, but the rich, whipped cream-topped pies can be quite satisfying if you like cream/pudding-based pies, so the NYT's piece could come in handy if you are in LA and decide to go out looking for some. Clementine Bakery, Jin Patisserie, House of Pies and Apple Pan are all mentioned, but the Times' top pie pick is from Pie 'n Burger, in Pasadena. A similar recipe is included if you're of a mind to try baking your own version of the pie at home, although you would need a shortening-based crust (not a graham cracker one) to get even closer to the Pie 'n Burger recipe.

Every year, over $20 billion dollars is spent on snack foods in the US, so it is easy to see why the snack industry is so interested in trying to find the next big product - or better yet, the next big flavor. Most snack products have been around for a long time and are met with only slight variations. Popcorn is healthier or more indulgent and cookies can be chewy or crispy. The flavors, however, can be used across the board in all different types of snack foods. Cheddar, for example, is a very American flavor and everything from chips to popcorn to aerosol "cheeses" come in cheddar flavor, making it one of the most popular snack flavors around.

In their efforts to come up with the "next cheddar" the snack industry uses snackologists, who observe the snacking habits of their target audience "to identify flavors the public will like and then find ways to package those flavors into irresistible morsels." A lot of research is done at restaurants, where trends are introduced to the mainstream. Chipotle and jalapeno were some of the most recent snack flavors to spring from the restaurant industry and snackologists are now pondering whether teriyaki, curry and other Asian flavors can make it into the US snack mainstream successfully. These masters of munching aren't going to reveal anything more specific just yet, but you'll know who the idea came from the ext time you see the word "New!" emblazoned on bags in the snack aisle.