Happy Biopolar New Year

To my mind, this time of year has a tendency to hit a bit schizophrenic. Yes—for Christians—Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus, the paragon on humble, brilliant simplicity. Yet we stretch budgets and waistlines with unending spent and ingested excess. And the new year is all about refreshed beginnings—often tinged with well-meaning health and wellness halos. So how do many of us usher them in? With a one-night binge of ultra-unhealthy proportions.

This year, even the economy is unsound. Psychologically oriented economists might even say bipolar, as recently alluded by one journalist, who notes that as soup lines continue to grow, so do the tallies at steakhouses.

And although I’m always prone to taking those crystal ball “what’s hot so-and-so year” soothsayerly prognostications with more than a grain of salt, here’s one of my own: 2009 will be a year of biopolar excesses. Folks will continue to scrimp and save where they can—including with food—seeking bargains across the board, and then turn about face with a touch of elegance as a pat on the back for a job well done.

Our industry will undoubtedly weather this economic storm—as always, not without a casualty or two along the way—but as my esteemed publisher cinematically quoted in his column, appearing soon in the Jan. issue of Food Product Design: “Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”