The Aughts: A Decade in Very Brief Review

Remember stacked, vertical food? What about Green tea? Bacon in everything? The Aughts were the decade where we decided that everyone ought to make gourmet food and gourmet food ought to be everything - including pizza, hot dogs and hamburgers.

Partygoers drank Cosmos, Crantinis and Sex on the Beach. Bartenders become mixologists.

The Food network emerged and so did food porn. Celebrity chefs like Jamie Oliver, Michael Smith and Rachel Ray encouraged aspiring home cooks to be empowered in their kitchens and try new things. The infamous F word was cultivated.

Stores like Williams Sonoma opened in Toronto in 2001 and added status appeal to fancy cookware. Just think of Ina Garten whizzing about marketplaces in her convertible Mercedes in Martha's Vineyard or Paris.

People like Nigella Lawson also helped to add sex appeal to home cooking.

Photo Credit: The Projects/flickr

Oxford American Dictionary named locavore word of the year in 2007. By this time, Wal-Mart was already distributing organic produce. This is the realm in which the food industry continues to see growth.

We watched Anthony Bordain eat disgusting things on No Reservations just as we read Michael Pollan's transparent food industry account, The Omnivore's Dilemma, as if it were a horror novel.

And food became sport. The popularization competitive cooking shows has been on the rise. From Iron Chef to Top Chef, Chopped, or Food Network Challenges, you can bet there's always some kind of food sport on.

The blogosphere has contributed a number of hideous food-centred memes, including, most notably, the Bacon Explosion. The movie Super Size Me shocked a lot of people, but not me.

I miss Krispy Kreme. It's been on my mind lately. Say what you will.

The Aughts brought a lot of sushi, cupcakes and sliders. We drizzled everything in fancy oils. We ate smoothies with superfruits like Açai and Goji and drank a lot of coffee. A lot of coffee.

Molecular gastronomy gained popularity. And someone came up with foam. And a bunch of other gastronomists decided it was a really good idea. I don't miss foam (A.K.A. my least favourite cooking method.) I'm glad the Aughts have taken that one with them.

Finally, what kind of a blogger would I be if I didn't acknowledge the impact the internet has had on food?

Restaurants and food suppliers have become more accountable and attuned to citizen journalists and the impact of tools like Facebook and Twitter. Yelp, Chowhound and other user-generated review sites emerged.We also saw the creation of Open Table, which has made making reservations easier for customers and allowed restaurants to organize and track their customers.

What will the next decade bring?

Check back on Friday when I finally reveal my intensely-researched list of food predictions for 2010.