For a coffee addict, a recent article on the Time magazine Web site about the “third wave” in the coffee industry (http://bit.ly/bVb3bi) was naturally intriguing. I really hadn’t thought about the two previous waves, but it didn’t take much to figure it out. Once upon a time in the days before cars had cup holders, I was satisfied to get a “go cup” from 7-Eleven for 50 cents to 75 cents. Nowadays, I spend $2 to $3 at Starbucks. I’m sure 7-Eleven has cheaper coffee than Starbucks, but I haven’t checked in many years.

During coffee’s “first wave,” it was largely an undifferentiated commodity. While Maxwell House, Folgers and Chock full o’Nuts had fans, few people would go to a diner or restaurant based on which coffee was served. Any differences that existed were mainly due to the method of brewing. The only people who really cared were truck drivers, Europeans and European wannabes. Cappuccino and espresso could only be found at expensive Italian restaurants or big city coffee houses with weird music or poetry.

Starbucks exemplifies the “second wave.” Like McDonald’s, the Seattle-based company, founded in 1971, didn’t invent a new product. It wasn’t even the first to sell several varieties of coffee at multiple locations. But it was the first to attach something cultural — sophistication and taste — to its product and create fanatical customers in a market that hadn’t existed before.

Even detractors concede that Starbucks has improved the overall quality of coffee in this country. Companies like McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts upgraded their offerings after realizing how much business Starbucks was siphoning from them. According to the Time article, “specialty coffee” accounts for one-third of the $40 billion Americans spend on coffee. That’s $13 billion, or 30 percent more than the value of last year’s U.S. wheat crop.

Coffee’s “third wave” is aimed at surpassing Starbucks, which is no longer considered exotic. It involves getting rarer — and more expensive — coffee beans, using better roasting techniques and providing an “experience” that makes coffee more special than going to the Starbucks on every corner. One practitioner, Stumptown of Portland, Ore., sells beans with a card in the bag that describes the location and elevation at which the beans were grown, with tasting notes and other technical information. As the Time article notes, similar marketing techniques developed new customers for wines and cheeses 20 years ago. For some people, the food or drink they purchase and consume becomes a lifestyle statement.

A similar cycle plays out with other foods, particularly non-essentials. It happened years ago with chocolate chip cookies and now is happening with cupcakes. Someone figures out how to make something that has always been around new and special, and yes, better, and suddenly people are lined up to pay heretofore unimagined prices. The same is true of more substantial foods such as specialty meats.

Certainly, the cost of such items is exorbitant when compared with the old days. But not in the bigger scheme of things. For most people, it’s much easier to upgrade their snack or beverage than their car or home. After all, much of the foodie world revolves around the constant upgrading of food choices.

Maybe the “fourth wave” will involve adding up the cost of all those $2 cookies, $3 lattes and $4 cupcakes. But probably not.

This post was written by Don Lipton; he is director of public relations at the American Farm Bureau Federation.

One of the biggest future food trends may well come from the sea, as aquaculture continues to advance beyond fish farming.

Research at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom shows that alginate, the fibrous material in sea kelp, is better at preventing fat absorption than most over-the-counter slimming treatments. The research indicated alginate lowers the body’s fat uptake by more than 75 percent. In addition, alginates have the added advantage of boosting overall fiber content.

“This suggests that if we can add the natural fiber to products commonly eaten daily, such as bread, biscuits and yogurt, up to three-quarters of the fat could simply pass through the body,” reported team leader Iain Brownlee. “We have already added the alginate to bread and initial taste tests have been extremely encouraging. The next step is to carry out clinical trials to find out how effective it is when eaten as part of a normal diet.”

The scientists used an “artificial gut” to test the effectiveness of 60 different fibers by measuring the extent to which they affected the digestion of fat. The findings were presented at the American Chemical Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco in March.

Another study by Hashemite University in Jordan showed that seaweed extract has the potential to become a treatment for lymphoma. In the study, Mohammad Irhimeh and other researchers tested human lymphoma cells after contact with a commercially available seaweed extract. The compound was found to inhibit the growth of cancerous cells but did not affect healthy cells. The findings were presented at a March conference of the American Association of Cancer Research in Dead Seas, Jordan.

Seaweed is chock full of minerals that can account for up to 36 percent of its dry mass. Mineral macronutrients found in seaweed include sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, chlorine, sulfur and phosphorus; known micronutrients are iodine, zinc, copper, molybdenum, fluoride, manganese, boron, nickel and cobalt. Seaweed also contains several vitamins.

The health benefits of seaweed could make farming this aquatic crop big business in the United States, much like it already is in coastal areas of Japan. Japanese people have long revered seaweed for its health benefits.

In Maine, Kacie Loparto has developed a unique business niche as a seaweed farmer. Through her business, She Sells Seaweed, Loparto sells packages of dried, vitamin-rich seafood sheets online and at farmers’ markets. She harvests several species and tailors her cultivation methods to highlight each plant’s singular flavor.

In Maine’s Casco Bay, Paul Dobbins and Tolief Olson run a commercial kelp farm. They were inspired by seaweed farming in Asia and market their kelp as an exotic frozen vegetable.

“It’s giant brown algae in the water, but it turns bright green when it’s cooked. Think kelp noodles and kelp salad and kelp slaw,” Olson told the Los Angeles Times.

High-quality protein-rich foods like eggs, which help people build muscle and stay energized, are in great demand among food-insecure populations. That is one reason America’s egg farmers donate more than 12 million eggs each year to food banks and charities.

A portion of the donated eggs are committed through the Good Egg Project, a simple online pledge form.

Visitors to the Good Egg Projects’ Web site enter their names and agree to “live more healthfully.” America’s egg farmers donate one egg to Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, for every pledge made by a visitor to the site (up to 1 million) who agrees to “Eat good. Do good every day.”

Pledging is just the start, according to the site. Other suggested food-related ways to continue to be a “Good Egg” include: helping your family eat more nutritiously, organizing a local food drive, volunteering at a local food bank and helping serve meals at a local soup kitchen.

A Farmers Feeding the Hungry section of the Good Egg Project Web site features short videos of Midwest growers talking about the chickens on their farms and how eggs are processed in consumer-friendly terms.

“Since our hens produce a variety of choices for consumers — cage-free, organic and regular table eggs — you can select what’s best for your family’s lifestyle and budget,” said Greg Herbruck of Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch in Michigan.

“We take these measures to ensure high-quality eggs from the henhouse to your table,” said Herbruck, describing the benefits of climate-controlled henhouses and carefully balanced diets for the birds.

Visit www.goodeggproject.org to learn more and make your pledge.