Food: Most of '88 Recipe of the Year: Eat and Be Well

Still shakily insecure after the crash of '87, food trendies this year looked for safer culinary havens. They snuggled up to take-out food in the barefoot safety of their own living rooms, or sought out comfort foods (pasta and pizza, meat loaf with mashed potatoes and gravy, creamy desserts) in small, moderately priced Italian trattorias and American bistros. Many of them shunned the lavishly styled and priced restaurants, which in general took an almost unprecedented beating. The beef industry fought back even while the promise of immortality via good health made a superstar of cholesterol- reducing oat bran. And Oprah Winfrey's...