When the ball dropped on January 1, we entered a new decade. Isn’t it funny to think that just 10 years ago we were eating sushi all the time, working at dot-coms, and wearing high-tech-looking shoes with wavy Space Age soles? Imagine if somebody had told us that beards, pickles, and backyard chickens would be cutting-edge, 2010 fashion. CHOW.com busted out the time capsule to investigate more of what we were eating and drinking in 1999, and how it’s changed. Take a look…
| 1999 | 2009 | |
| Sushi everywhere: Mountains of shrimp at dot-com parties, oyster and raw bars galore | Fish endangered: Bluefin tuna extinct by 2012, shrimp farming now recognized as environmentally terrible, salmon fisheries closed | |
| Atkins diet: People eating meat to lose weight | Skinny bitches: Veganism as diet trick | |
| Cell phones: Use in restaurants debated | Cell phones: Ubiquitous | |
| Smoking: Still allowed in NYC restaurants | No smoking: Not anymore! | |
| Starbucks: Killing indie coffeehouses | Independent roasters: Kicking Starbucks’ ass | |
| Asian fusion/overblown food: Ahi tuna tartare towers | Italian, rustic, simple: Country grits, egg on pizza, braises, pie | |
| Appletinis: Cocktails were froufrou and candy-colored | Manhattans: Cocktails are manly, classic, made from brown spirits | |
| Webvan: Get your groceries delivered in under half an hour! | Farmers’ markets: Browse in a leisurely fashion for local lettuces | |
| Triple-distilled vodka: High-tech and free-flowin’, mixed with Red Bull to fuel late-night programming/raving | Beer: Craft ales, made by hand | |
| Reservation-only restaurants | Pop-up restaurants, street food | |
| Expensive wine | Half-off wine nights, box wine | |
| Fine linens | Hand-woven rustic napkins and recycled materials | |
| Not many people eating organic | Walmart sells organic food | |
| Restaurant names reflect hubris: Paragon, Vertigo, Mc2 | Restaurant names are humble: Dirt Candy, Farm, Flour + Water | |
| We wanted exotic: Thai satay, imported caviar and rum, anything Asian fusion | We want local: Restaurants list which farms things come from on menus, consumers want to know where their meat was raised | |
| Eating dinner at your desk, ordered in by the boss while launching your dot-com | Out of work, learning to cook and can tomatoes at home | |
| Catered parties: With wasabi mashed potatoes in martini glasses | Butchering demonstrations and home-picklin’ classes | |
| Blogger.com launched: Food blogs start up | Food blogs blamed for death of Gourmet | |
| Eating free food at dot-com launch parties | Freeganism and gleaning: Dumpster diving and stealing your neighbors’ fruit thrives in the economic downturn |