Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Natural Food Expo, 2014, Part 2

There are literally hundreds of products displayed at the natural food show. All the big players are there, like Hain, Dole, Amy's, Chobani, Silk, and Kashi. There are also many companies that are new, and may or may not make it. The natural food business is so competitive, and many companies with a great idea don't have the financial backing to stay the course. A small company like Henry and Lisa's Natural Seafood may have trouble competing against big corporate operations like Chicken of the Sea. However, they have a great product and a great mission. All their seafood comes from environmentally sustainable fisheries, and is independently tested for contaminants. Their seafood is frozen and canned, and includes salmon, fish nuggets, and shrimp. Their canned products include wild sardines, albacore tuna and salmon.

Asian food companies are found in abundance at the food show. The Shibuya Group (distributed by Mishima Foods) has a variety of sweet potato cakes and sweet potato chips. I loved the purple chips, so crisp and sweet, and gluten free! Tang's makes frozen dim sum items, like pot stickers, and edamame whole wheat dumplings that were delicious. FG (Feel Good food) products include a variety of frozen dim sum, gluten free, and great.

There were so many crackers at the food show, but most of them were not very good. They may have been healthy, but not to my liking. There were some I did like, though. Kashi makes crackers now, and the hummus crisp and black bean crisp were both good and crispy. Indian Life makes masala chips, an interesting new flavor. Le Pain des Fleurs makes crispbreads in buckwheat, chestnut and quinoa. They're gluten free, kosher, and vegan. Thin, crispy crackers.

Perhaps my favorite item at the food show came from Mama Lils. Mama Lils is a line of canned peppers, olives, and fava beans. Everything was good, but I went back for seconds of their peppadew goldew peppers, They are something between a pepper and an olive, and full of flavor. Perfect for a charcuterie platter or any hors d'oeuvres tray for that matter.

That's enough for now, but I still have pages of notes on products I have yet to mention. One more blog on the food show. I promise that will be it. This may bore many of you, but you foodies are probably enjoying this.

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