Have you noticed how, all of a sudden, certain dishes start to appear widely in so-called fine dining restaurants - dishes that were relatively rare or mundane. A few years ago it was shitake mushrooms everywhere. Then, they got replaced by portabello. Now its mac and cheese. Since when was mac and cheese a gourmet dish?

It seems to happen with deserts too. A number of years ago it was tiramisu. More recently, panna cotta and bread pudding. Again, how did bread pudding get into the gourmet line?

Do you have others like this? I guess someone starts a trend and then, especially if it's a "celebrity" chef, everyone copies.