Natural Food Show In Anaheim, 2014, Part 1

Each year I look forward to March, as I know the Natural Food Expo is right around the corner. Phil would be there, and I would get to spend an hour or two visiting with him, before exploring the miles and miles, and rows and rows of wonderful (and some not so wonderful) food items. This year I asked Paula to join me, and she was especially interested, as she has several family members who eat a gluten free diet, and this would give her a chance to sample some of the products.

I look for trends in food as I walk up and down the aisles. This year, nothing new stood out. Yes, there were lots of new products, but they all seemed to be more of what is already out there. Yogurt as we all know, is a huge space in any supermarket. All the big yogurt companies were there, with both Fage and Chobani having very large, impressive booths. I was super impressed with Chobani. Their chef had created recipes using Chobani yogurt and a variety of toppings that we so interesting and unusual that I couldn't wait to get home and try them. Here are just a few of the recipes I got to sample:

Toasted Coconut and Pineapple Chobani

1/2 cup plain Chobani

1 T pineapple

1 1/2toasted coconut

1 1/2 T. light agave nectar

1 tsp chopped hazelnuts

Put yogurt in a bowl, then put the toppings on top. Do not mix.

Fig and Walnut Chobani

1/2 cup plain Chobani

1 T. dried figs, chopped

1 1/2 T. clover honey

1 T. chopped walnuts

Pistachio and chocolate Chobani

1/2 cup plain Chobani

1 T. chopped pistachios

1 1/2 T. dark chocolate, cut in small pieces

2 T clover honey

1 tsp fresh mint

Several other recipes for Chobani were available for sample. I was also given a refrigerator magnet that lists cooking substitutions using yogurt. For example, substitute 1 cup of oil with 3/4 cup yogurt. Overall, yogurt was everywhere in the show in some form, either plain or in frozen desserts.

Another item that has continued to grow is nut butters. Justins is my favorite peanut butter, and they continue to expand their product list. They now make chocolate peanut butter and several candy bars, my favorite being peanut butter cups, similar to Reese's. Nuttzo was also showing its line of nut butters, which include the original, with is peanuts, nuts and seeds, in both smooth and crunchy. They also have a chocolate nut butter which is 70% dark chocolate from Peru. Both of the above mentioned nut butters are delicious, but expensive. They have no added oil or chemicals.

Birch Benders was a name I was not familiar with, but will try it when and if I see it. It's a gluten free pancake mix. I tried the ginger spice which was absolutely delicious. They also have plain and blueberry. For those who are gluten free, this is a winner.

Kelp has been popular for several years now, and there are new players in the snack division, which offers dried, flavored seaweed. A company new to me is Gold Mine, which makes kelp noodles. They were sampling them as a cold Asian salad, and they were delicious.

I noticed lots of new, gluten free flour products. They'll turn almost anything into flour now. I saw flax flour and quinoa flour, in addition to rice flour.

My favorite drink was Bruce Cost's ginger ale. I have tried it before, and am always amazed how delicious it is, and how different it is than what we're used to. The Bruce Cost ginger ale has lots of bits of ginger that you can see in the bottom of the drink. It has a real zing to it. This year they also have a jasmine tea drink and a pomegranate drink. All the drinks are carbonated and loaded with flavor.

This concludes my first blog on the natural food expo. I'll be back next week with some more interesting items from the show that you may be interested in seeking out.