Yesterday our Love with Food box arrived. I love getting them every month. It's a surprise and a present every month. And with each one I think about Lassa, who gave it to us as a Christmas gift.

Love with Food is a subscription service in the form of a box of unique and mostly new specialty food products (no perishables) - giving producers trying to break into distribution a chance to catch on virally, and hungry consumers the chance to discover them. Then, (and here's the Love with Food part) they turn around and donate a meal to a hungry child for every box sold.

I am stupendously pleased that NASFT has today announced they have changed their name to Specialty Food Association. It makes sense. I could never remember the acronym, or what it stood for. It's just simpler, sleeker, and more appropriate.

It also reflects the growing importance specialty food has in our diet and food conscience. "Sixty-six percent of US consumers purchase specialty foods {in 2012}, up from 59% in 2011." (Specialty Food Magazine, October 2012, Annual Report: Specialty Food Consumers, p.34.)

As is required by a civilized society bent on projecting introspection (aka Will made me write this)...I've rounded up 5 things I found curious and captivating about 2012. I could run down a list of bad crap, but we've had enough of that for now, yes? So, here they are, in order of how they dawned on me:

In a world gone mad...
1. I'm surprised by how few surprising things there were. This probably either means I'm clueless, inured, or too quirky myself to see quirky for quirky. But if you take a look at Epicurious' prognostications on 2012 (delivered at the end of 2011) you'll see homemade dairy and cheesemakers sitting proud on their list of things to watch for this year. So I guess the fact that 'new trends' scooched a little closer to my reality in 2012 tamps down the 'surprising' factor.

A recent article in Mother Jones examines what Americans are eating overall. Information here is pulled from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and we learn that we now spend more on processed foods than any other food type. This is followed by meats, with dairy now at the bottom!