It's never a good idea to start a new year by looking over your shoulder. But there's no harm in saluting the trends that have emerged over the past 12 months, especially if they represent a significant slippage in the gourmet zeitgeist. After all, yesterday's dabblings by the food fashionistas become the TV hype of today -- and, before you know it, they've insinuated themselves onto the mainstream menus of tomorrow.

If 2001 witnessed the rise and rise of premium pizza (wood-fired in handmade Neapolitan-style ovens, naturally), then 2002 looks like it will be the year of exotic sushi. Not just those inside-out norimaki rolls of the Californian persuasion -- there's been no shortage of variations on that particular theme for some years now. No, we're talking state-of-the-art, no-holds-barred nigiri-zushi. At the designer sushi-ya of this brave new-wave millennium, the only restrictions on neta (toppings) are the limits of the itamae chefs' fevered imaginations.

Here are a few of the more unusual sushi ingredients spotted around town in recent months: uni (sea urchin) tempura; akagai clam with kiwi sauce; sea bass on papaya; and maguro with ankimo (monkfish liver). Looking for more exclusive toppings worthy of a well-heeled expense account? May we suggest a whole leg of snow crab; tamago-yaki omelet flecked with black truffles from Piedmont; a generous spoonful of caviar; or foie gras (pan-fried with a balsamic dressing, of course). Or perhaps you are craving vegetable matter other than kappa (cucumber) or gari (ginger)? How about aloe with ikura roe; asparagus with prosciutto; or perhaps okra with miso mayonnaise. And to close? Why, banana sushi of course!