It’s the start of the new year, and everyone has predictions.

The Fancy Food Show just released a list of the top five food trends for 2010, according to a panel of “food critics and food writer experts” on location. They are:

• “good-for-you” foods
• coconut
• gluten-free foods
• exotic citrus, and
• “nostalgic” foods.”

Then, adding to the list are are the usual Top Food Trend stories that appear every January. Nani Steele sent me a whole passel of ‘em from Market Watch, the Food Channel, Slashfood, Epicurious, Yahoo Lifestyle, and Eating Well. I’ve boiled the trends down to:

• Comfort food cooking with basic ingredients — lamb and pork are particularly trendy
• Budget-friendly recipes are still in style
• Regional ethnic food, particularly those of Korea, Morocco and Japan
• Good-for-you foods, based on allergies and building immunity.

I’m sure magazine and cookbook editors and literary agents pay attention to these forecasts. Aaron Wehner, publisher of Ten Speed Press, told me they’re drowning in budget-friendly cookbook proposals right now.

Trend stories make me wonder: should food writers jump on these trends and suddenly pitch articles and cookbooks on coconut and exotic citrus, or other trends mentioned in these stories? If you’re a blogger, will you write blog posts with recipes based on these trends? How do these trends guide you, or do they?  What will you do with this information?

(Photo thanks to Stephanie Stiavetti of Wasabimon.com)