Last night, my friend, Brianne, and I were trying to convince both her husband and my fiance that, yes, there is such a thing as trendy food. And right now, bacon is a popular food trend. Both men were incredulous and laughing at the thought.

But it’s true, bacon has become trendy. Why else would products such as Bacon Salt and chocolate-covered bacon have buyers? Why are there books devoted to this single cut of meat?

In the earlier days of my subscription to Gourmet, there was a section on “what’s in” and “what’s out.” I was always disappointed to see favorites in the “what’s out” category. How could iced coffee be “out”?

A couple of years ago, I was reading how pesto was a fad in the ’80s. I was really, really sad to read that. I love pesto and didn’t discover it until the ’90s. Was I that out of style? I decided, instead, that I was just too cool to care about food fads or food trends.

A few minutes ago, Kathryn Stevens and I were discussing a grilling story. She told me that grilling is a summer trend. It goes in and out of style depending on the season. I have to agree. Rarely have I seen something more written about than grilling during the summer. However, does seasonality qualify as a trend?

I’ve also been pondering about eating locally. Would anyone care about eating locally if it weren’t trendy?

Have you noticed any food trends?