Something big happened in 2010. It's the original kitchen table issue; the food that goes on that table. At homes and in restaurants everywhere, meals with mysterious origins are being replaced by food that has a direct to the dirt it came from pedigree. Economic handwringing, the prospect of the US population's girth expanding beyond our landmass, even give-it-a-name-so-we-can-call-it-a-fad punditry failed to put a dent in the steady drumbeat of demand for good food. Cheese, of course, is the essence of good food. No fuss, no frills, just food at its best.

The 11 Leading Restaurant Trends cited in this article from Australian Food News, http://www.ausfoodnews.com.au/2010/11/22/11-leading-restaurant-trends-fo..., include farmers as celebrities (I can't WAIT to see some of the farmers and cheesemakers I know shooing hyperventilating media wonks off their land) and a focus on back to the earth offerings on restaurant tables. And it's not just food, the new show Brew Masters on Discovery, http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/brew-masters-bitches-brew/, follows Dogfish Head Brewery's Sam Calagione visiting producers making the good stuff as he teaches a bit of history about what he clearly he loves, like his "off centered ales for off centered people."

It’s been going on for a long time. But what continually causes me to slap my forehead these days is that we’re no longer isolated oddities. We’re connecting…and that just seems really good.

It might even be time to drag out an old word, dust it off, and call ourselves wholesome.