San Francisco is always a foodie town, but one event is a perennial must-eat: the Fancy Food Show at Moscone Center, where 1,300 exhibitors from fifty different countries offered samples of specialty foods and drinks —from bacon marshmallows to Corsican beer to peanut-sized Peruvian potatoes, and beyond.

Presented every year by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, the FFS is a knock-down-drag-out extravaganza at which chefs and restaurateurs and store-owners (and the press) get their first tastes of emerging trends -- some of which swiftly soak the palates of America -- and stay trendy -- but some of which are just plain weird. (What ever happened to all those poor saps who sank their careers into rooiboos?) Before every January's show, food-industry folks always try to divine the forthcoming flavor of the year. In 2006, it was kombucha; in 2008, it was pomegranate; 2009 was the Year of Exotic Multicolored Salts (most of which came from Australia); and 2010 was Agave Annum.

Okay, so what are 2011's oddest trends? With the event wrapping yesterday, here are five contenders....

• Chipotle and habanero peppers in everything from miso to mayo to artisanal candies. Did any market research anywhere ever determine thatanyone actually likes the joy-buzzerish blast of searingly hot peppers in unexpected places, especially in sweet treats? Launching hundreds of new products onto the scene, this fad gives "hot chocolate" a whole new meaning -- and runs the risk of making millions of eaters forever afraid to bite into anything.

• Goat's milk in everything from cheese to kefir to caramels. Pungent and musky, it's an acquired taste that keeps the eater a bit too keenly aware of its bleating, bearded-mammal origins. In any case, it's giving countless American bovines a well-deserved break. Lower in lactose than cow's milk, it's great for sensitive guts.

• Sweet potatoes. Rich in complex carbs, dietary fiber, beta carotine, and Vitamins A, C, and B6, they're the almost-dessert alternative to their pale distant cousin, the spud. These supertubers were the talk of the show, popping up not just in pies but also in puffs, crackers, fries and chocolate truffles. Sweet! 

• Nostalgia. When it comes to food, memory often overrides all other factors. What else could explain the preponderance at this year's FFS of marshmallows, ketchups, chocolate-flavored peanut butters, and prepackaged Rice Krispie treats? In public we eat like adults; but behind closed doors, it's time to break out the brownie mix.

• Coconut water. Not to be confused with rich opaque coconut milk or coconut cream, this is the fat-free, fresh-tasting, crystal-clear electrolyty liquid found inside green young coconuts. In tropical climes, street vendors slice off the tops of young coconuts and sell the bottoms with water inside and a straw. Now you can have the same experience -- sans machete.

Beyond that, some oddball one-offs included olive-oil gelato from Naia, haggis-flavored potato chips from Mackie's of Scotland, and wasabi-infused cheddar cheese from Cabot. While chipotle's hotness fails to work in so many different foods, for some reason wasabi pairs perfectly with cheddar, lending the smoky aged cheese a scrumptious slow burn. Also check out jade-green moroheiya noodle, calcium-packed and elegantly black chia-seed butter and tangy hemp-oil vinaigrette.

(Photos by Kristan Lawson.)