As someone who anticipates the day there’s a store called “Off Season” where you can buy perennial favorites (what the Gap used to be), after seeing all the trend spotters’ lists*, I decided to wrap up my favorite food twists from the January Fancy Food Show. I don’t see these as trends but good foods that are here to stay! Read ’em and eat:
CRUNCH: Interesting chips – Loved the Wailana cassava chips, Mediterranean Snack lentil chips, and Simply 7 chips, which often had that “pop chips” style of composition, similar to rice crackers. A soft kind of fluffy crunch.
Healthy crunch – Fresh Sonoma Brinery pickles with fun, new branding and a whopping fresh crunch. (Sold in refrigerated sections, mostly on the West coast.)
CHEW: Lots ‘o salt caramel – Soft, firm, dippable (from Amella), uncoated, coated, mixed into ice cream. Well I had to taste them all. I’m one who will not mind if this trend entrenches itself alongside traditional unsalty caramels.
Savory chew pick – Kwik’Pak Fisheries salmon. Superlative lox, strips, and salmon bites, supporting traceable, wild caught salmon fishing in Alaska.
SOFT BITES: Fell madly in love with Bacetti ice cream bites 
from San Francisco. How did they choose pine nut / vanilla as the third flavor after chocolate and vanilla? Inspiration from Tuscany.
Tasting Jeni’s Ice Cream for the first time inspired a little video after I learned about her from-scratch process. (Many of the best, small ice cream makers start with an ice cream “base” made by a dairy or company because of onerous USDA dairy regulations.)
Yogurt in liquid, solid, frozen, and dips scattered the show floor. You’ve known Stonemill Kitchens for their artichoke dips. They’re now making Greek style yogurt dips in Oregon, I learned at Jeff Davis’ Food Fete. (I need to hear the backstory on the S.K. naming.) I could live on tzaziki and welcome any natural yogurt developments.
ZING: And salts – The Day After my eyes were puffy, not from crying or allergies, but the copious salt (and caramel) 😉 tasting. In the Real World you wouldn’t eat so much salt, but if you’re going to, naturally flavored salts like those from Eat Well farm and other favorites like Allstar Organics’ celery salt (found at Ferry Building Farmers Market) are where you should place your salt budgets (both consumption and monetary).
SIP: What more water? I continued to be surprised that the desire for new and different continues demand for new bottled waters. Let’s un-trend this!
What the Trend Spotters Saw
Denise Purcell at NASFT and their team of trend spotters
Food experts like Amy Sherman, Margo True, et al
Procure: You very well know that many of the brands you discovered at the show are available for wholesale orders in a one-stop-shop format through Buyer’s Best Friend, distributed and billed by the manufacturer. You communicate directly with the company so it’s similar to emailing or calling them, only more convenient.
