Trends?

From the L.A.Times: Bacon, sardines are among top food trends for 2010, ad agency says. Bacon sounds pretty last year to me -- just over a year ago, bacon seemed to be at a peak -- appearing everywhere, from normal to ice cream. Even I noticed it and wrote: Is this a Bacon Fad? So I think it should be very passe now.

Other fads on the list also seem questionable. Wine in mixed drinks and organic food from fast-food outlets also sound more tired than wired. And the faddish skepticism about health claims? That also doesn't seem very new. The source -- J. Walter Thompson -- sounds pretty out-of-touch. But what do I know?

Sardines are the last trend that's supposed to be hot, they say. Healthy, fresh sardines? I was quite interested, as this seems so counter-intuitive. I have elsewhere read that fresh sardines are very hard to keep from spoiling -- they can even rot when they are frozen! That's why they are usually seen from cans. Also -- unlike bacon -- they rank high on the aggregate list of people's least-favorite foods.

One statement about sardines seems especially intriguing: "Once again plentiful in Monterey Bay, the fish [sardines] will appear on menus, often grilled or pan-roasted." I wonder about the old canning factories and fishing boats in Monterey that failed ages ago because the sea yielded no more sardines for them to process. Canneries were re-purposed as upscale shopping destinations. Could they somehow return to their Steinbeck-documented canning function? Would colorful working poor people come back to Monterey? No way: the canning will be done on ships, I bet. And they probably won't even be American ships. Alas.