Part of my job as a food writer is to keep up-to-date with food trends. One way I do that is to attend big food events, such as the recent Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco.
It’s the sixth time I’ve been to the show and this year’s event was, as usual, filled with a dizzying array of food and drink.
The Winter Fancy Food Show is described as the West Coast’s largest marketplace devoted exclusively to specialty foods and beverages, which in North America alone accounts for sales of more than $100 billion.
During the three days of the event, 1,500 exhibiters from around the world showcased about 80,000 different products in 215,000 square feet of San Francisco’s massive Moscone Center. Thousands of buyers and others in the food business, including media, also attended the event.
There’s a lot to see and sample, but because my focus was on food trends, I started with a section of the show called “What’s New, What Hot.”
Among the products showcased were fermented foods and beverages, such as yogurt, sauerkraut, kombucha, drinking vinegars, kefir and kimchi, all said to promote a healthy gut and offer health benefits.
Many companies compete in this category, so taste, attractive packaging and the company’s story all help in getting a product noticed.
On that note, one that caught my eye was called Mother-in-Law’s Kimchi (milkimchi.com).
Its founder, Lauryn Chun, was inspired to recreate the kimchi served in her mother’s beloved Garden Grove, California, restaurant, Jang Mo Gip, which in Korean means “mother-in-law’s house.” Good product, neat story, fun name and Chun even has a cookbook called, you guessed it, The Kimchi Cookbook.
Other hot trends in food products are those that incorporate pulses or seaweed, including snack foods. Two of many examples included smartly packaged Lentil Chips with Spicy Sriracha from a company called The Daily Crave (thedailycrave.com), and Annie Chun’s Seaweed Crisps (anniechun.com), with flavours such as wasabi.
Beyond the “What’s New, What Hot” section, another good place to track food trends at the show is the area displaying products that won Sofi Awards.
After a rigorous judging process the show organizers, The Specialty Food Association, award these golden-chef-shaped, Oscar-like statues to products deemed most innovative.
Award-winners that drew my interest included African Sauces by Kitchens of Africa (kitchensofafrica.com); Thai Curry and Lime Broth by Nona Lim (nonalim.com); and Smoked Spanish Olive Oil from Culinary Collective (culinarycollective.com). For a list of all the winners, go to specialtyfood.com and click on awards.
From the awards section, I began to stroll the main halls of the show and, it must have been fate, but the first booth this Canuck was drawn to was that of a relatively new Canadian company called Wize Monkey Coffee Leaf Tea.
On their website, wizemonkey.com, they say coffee leaf tea is an infusion of Arabica coffee leaves that has been proven to contain more antioxidants than green tea, yet very little caffeine. Not only does this leaf create a healthy and tasty brew, says the company, it also repurposes the centuries-old coffee industry to create year-round income for farmers.
“The Fancy Food Show allows us to expose our novel product, share our story with other passionate foodies, and also connect with high-powered food executives,” said company co-owner Max Rivest.
“Whether it’s for distribution or new product development, it gives us the platform to connect with diverse people that could help us build our business.”
From this impressive business, I came across a much more established one, Quebec’s Lapierre Maple Farm (lapierremaple.com). They were offering samples of their organic maple syrup. As Ienjoyed them it crossed my mind that these products are so good, they will always be on trend.
That maple syrup was one of a wide array of organic products I found at the show, which even included organic jellybeans from Jelly Belly Candy Company (jellybelly.com).
The Winter Fancy Food Show also had international pavilions showcasing products from numerous countries. Italy, the partner country for this year’s show, had the largest one and I did a lot of sampling there of cheese, meat, antipasto and much more. One of the most interesting Italian products I saw was Truffle Zest by Sabatino Tartufi (sabatino truffles.com). It’s dried, finely grated truffle that one can add to pastas, meats, rubs or anything else that would benefit from its intense flavour.
I can’t mention every splendid product I saw, but I noticed that certain categories of foods were garnering a lot of attention.
Those included western-style foods flavoured Southeast Asian-style, such as Tandoori Seasoned Chicken Nuggets by Saffron Road (saffronroadfood.com); foods rich with protein, such as Cinnamon Hemp Heart Bites by Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods (manitobaharvest.com); and foods made with beets and other root vegetables, such as Organic Stoneground Purple Corn Flakes by Back to the Roots (backtotheroots.com).
Many of the products I’ve mentioned are so new they are not yet available in Canada. If you’re interested in any of them, check out their websites to determine availability, or if they can be ordered online, as is the case with Wize Monkey Coffee Leaf Tea.
Eric Akis is the author of The Great Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook (Appetite by Random House). His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
