What will be the next hot trend for 2010? So many articles and blog posts have covered the subject in the past month or two. My first thought is FLAVOR, but is this really a trend? Well in my book it seems to be a trend that continues year after year to evolve and develop in so many ways, and will continue to do so this year.Great chefs continue to explore flavor in their cooking throughout their career. It is the factor that differentiates the good from the great in the culinary world. Chefs like Thomas Keller have demonstrated how purity of flavor can be so powerful. Others like Ferran Adria and his disciples, such as Grant Achatz, Homaru Cantu and Wylie Dufresne, show us how closely related cooking and chemistry truly are. They have created a whole new culinary area we now call molecular gastronomy. Is this really new, or did they simply find new methods to explore flavor and capitalize on science?At the end of the day, it is flavor that rules. If we cook more and consider flavor in our food, our culinary enjoyment will continue to grow. I find that cooking dishes at home allows an exploration of flavor in way not possible in a restaurant. Let the great chefs inspire our passion, but keep cooking and seeking great taste in your kitchen.Walking down the grocery aisles it becomes apparent just how far gone the idea of a home cooked, flavorful meal has become. Frozen, pre-cooked, pre-packaged or processed food items dominate the shelves. Our enjoyment of food and flavor, not to mention our health, is suffering.The old excuse for buying and eating this flavor-less stuff is that there is just not enough time to prepare meals ‘from scratch’. I believe this is just not true – there are a whole host of food personalities that have brought the idea forward that meals can be prepared quickly without sacrificing flavor. Also, with great products like quality ready to use sauce, there are short cuts that can be taken to cut down the time some more traditional recipes would normally require. Again without sacrificing flavor or the creativity of old fashioned home cooking.