Melon with port was smart; peppers, broccoli and avocado were exotics and spag bol was the classic supper-party dish. In restaurants, flambeing food at the table was considered the height of sophistication. Indian and Chinese restaurants sprang up, and Pizza Express and Wimpy opened their first London outlets.The Seventies: pasta and lasagne become more popular There was a fondue set on every wedding list. Crepes suzette, Black Forest gateau, scampi with tartare sauce and gammon and pineapple are being championed by such luminaries as Delia Smith, in her Winter Collection, and former Bibendum chef Simon Hopkinson, who is co-writing an English cookbook - working title: The Prawn Cocktail Years.. 1996: WHAT'S IN ... Lamb: enjoying the huge advantage of not being beef; and perfect for middle Eastern dishes Poulet de Bresse: posh chicken that has never been near a battery farm (and is also not beef)Exotic, fiery flavours: chillis, star anise, wasabi, harissaScented aromatics: cardamom, cumin, saffronExotic salads: mizuna, jaba, mache, orache, tatsai, shungiko, plus coriander leavesCouscous: the simpler face of middle Eastern cookingCitrus marinades and vinaigrettesRustic cheeses and big fish: swordfish and tuna steaks, big prawns, all ideal for Pacific Fusion eatingSundried tomatoes: once could do no wrong, though they have been described by Nigella Lawson as "like blood-flavoured chewing gum"Thai: now being churned out by every pub in the land; and lemon grass is in plentiful supply in every supermarketBalsamic vinegar, polenta, crostini, bruschetta: easy to cook, but hardly cutting edge any moreBaby things: baby squid and baby vegetables Rocket: even if it's called arugulaThe Fifties: roast was still the great British staple.

"Exotic fish," says Joanna, aged 26, "cooked en papillote for extra swank value. And lovely cheeses, such as delicious Yarg - obscure enough that my guests would have to ask what they were, thus displaying their cheesy ignorance and giving me the upper cheese hand.""I'd serve fresh tuna, baked in foil with lemon wedges and fresh herbs, baby clams, tomatoes and creme fraiche," says Clare, 29 "But I don't specially look out for trendy foods. I still serve things such as baked Alaska, though I do feel a bit embarrassed about it, because it's so Seventies."But she can take heart, because the naff revival is also on the way. Authentic Mexican food is also tipped for a revival (but forget Tex-Mex, which has always been vulgar, vulgar, vulgar).So have current trends hit the home kitchen yet? It seems the dedicated follower of food fashion is well on top of the latest ones. Look back at nouvelle cuisine - it was fine to start with, then everyone just went mad." Students on Leith's year-long course spend their first and third terms learning classic techniques, while the second term is devoted to the exotic - perhaps Japanese or Latin American. "It's a sudden braveness on the part of the British - people now have the confidence to mix and match But there is always the danger of getting too interesting.

It's a great pity that we are so prone to them."And, she points out, trying to recreate restaurant food with only a reluctant partner or friend to act as sous-chef, is a harrowing experience. "Chefs have 30 staff to chop their carrots; it takes a lot of underpaid people to make a meal with restaurant panache." She adds, hearteningly: "Alastair Little once told me that when he has friends round, he will do something like a prawn starter, then roast chicken, and follow it with a Sara Lee danish pastry bars."Caroline Waldegrave, principal of Leith's School of Food and Wine, also advises caution. To a certain extent you can't avoid it, but there are so many fads that no one ever really gets to grips with one kind of cooking. "Hospitality isn't just about food - the idea is not to have everyone clapping and saying 'Oh, how clever' about what you've cooked. In France, there is home cooking and restaurant food, and they are quite separate, but here, everything's the wrong way round - people cook terribly elaborately at home, but in restaurants you might get a simple hot-pot and bread-and- butter pudding. But the easiest option is simply to leave it to the professionals.

Nigella Lawson, Vogue's food writer, is writing her own cookbook - one that eschews fancy fads. Pacific Fusion involves a lot of experimentation."A typical meal at the Collection, the new and achingly stylish restaurant in London's Brompton Road, and part of the vanguard of the PF movement, might be seared tuna sashimi with soy, mooli and shiitake mushrooms, served with the merest dab of wasabi (Japanese horseradish), pickled ginger, and a lime segment.So how is the dinner-party cook to react to this? Basic PF is ideal for the barbecue; posh PF takes an army of chefs. "It's their relaxed but anarchic approach that is making them so popular. It involves a lot of raw food, a lot of fish, a lot of aromatics, and chargrilling.