Natural Products Expo East: Highlights, Trends and What I Scored and Plan to Immediately Hide from M
Amy Palanjian
Want to know what it's like to spend four hours inside of a convention center sampling booth after booth of natural foods? Pretty much the opposite of this, but these Natural Product Expos are my favorite food shows because they are more restrained than the Fancy Food Show. That said, I have found that it's better for everyone if I only try something I am truly interested in and that I haven't tried before. Otherwise, it can get ugly (plus there are enough samples in packaging that I brought a bunch home to sample later!). Here are some of my favorite finds from the show.
This Fresh Ginger Ginger Ale was one of my favorite products at the show. It tastes unlike any other ginger ale I've ever had and reminded me of candied ginger, which I love. I liked the original flavor the best, but there was also pomegranate and green tea which were also pretty good. They were looking for a distributor, which I hope they found since I'd gladly drink this product on a semi-regular basis.
Since I love a nice lemon tart, I was attracted to the tarts from Daphne's Baking Company first for the packaging, then for the interesting flavors. I tried the passion fruit variety, which was tasty. The only thing that was confusing was the size. It was too big for one person, though that's what it was billed as. I mean I guess that's not the worst thing in the world, it just seemed a bit off. Anyway, it was tasty! I only recently discovered summer sausage, but I was psyched to get to try some (along with turkey beer bratwurst!) from Vermont Smoke and Cure. Theirs was Good and it was a nice change of pace from the more snack-type foods at the expo.
I love Green & Black's chocolate (the mint, especially) and they have a new flavor coming out in January that is pretty tasty: milk chocolate peanut. The peanuts are slightly salty, so the combination of them with the milk chocolate is heavenly. I scored a whole bar and am going to try to be nice and share this with my coworkers. We'll see... To the right of the bar are products from Project 7, a company that makes everyday staples like gum, mints and bottled water, but is donating a portion of every sale to seven of the most critical areas of need—like feeding the hungry, housing the homeless and saving the earth (I like how broad that last one is!). I love the concept of doing good through products many of us buy anyway and was equally into the design of their packaging.
The most random trend I saw was rice cake popping machines. There were a total of three of them, one of which is Cocopop which is pictured below, to which I say, really? This is a thing we're doing? Do we think rice cakes will somehow taste better if we can hear the loud noise of them being popped? I dare say the answer might be no (and the scent in the area of the machines was Funk-y), but it was interesting that these booths were drawing so much attention. On the right is puffed quinoa, which this company only sells in bulk, but I'm now determined to figure out how to do it myself because it's a brilliant texture when puffed and seems like a perfect addition to granola, granola bars, and to homemade bread. If anyone knows how to puff quinoa at home, drop us a line!
There was a health and beauty section of the show, as well as a natural living area, so we hit that up after ODing on snacks. I love the soap from the Vermont Soap Works and I remembered that they make the absolutely finest smelling all purpose cleaner on the market—Liquid Sunshine. I kid you not, that name says it all. It's slightly citrusy, but not cloying, and I have extremely pleasant memories of using it to clean my hardwood floors. The beauty products on the right are from a Latvian company called Mardara that is looking for distribution in the US. They are currently sold throughout Europe and Asia and bear the EcoCert label, which is an international organic certification (I have decided that there are too many labels meaning too many different things. Can someone create a worldwide seal please? Thank you.) Their packaging alone makes me fervently hope to see them in a store near me soon.
We swung by the Dr. Bronner's booth to get a few samples of their castille soap and to get an update on the pending lawsuit about organic standards in personal care products. I just bought a new recycled Gaiam yoga mat, but had I not, I would have sought one of these from Jade. The extra thick version was particularly nice and they are made in the US, which I learned is rare, from sustainable rubber. Plus they come in a nice range of jewel tones.
We here at ReadyMade love our HDYGTFAJ feature, but I'm pretty sure these folks don't fit that label. But, they did make my expo experience highly enjoyable. Let's take a few moments to consider what it might be like if it was our job to...
Run for hours and hours. It seemed like the plan for this very fit dude was that he'd run for the duration of the day (I hope his coworkers were planning to sub in). There was a big clock behind him that was at a little over an hour when we stopped by this booth for Zico coconut water, which boasts electrolytes and more potassium than a banana, so at least he was staying hydrated! Plus, the passion fruit flavor is pretty tasty, so he had that going for him.
Dress like a pirate and hand out puffed corn snacks. Yes, there arrrggg (sorry, can't help myself!) pirates in Boston! He was one of two or three manning the Pirate's Booty booth, passing out samples of their New NY pizza flavor. I'm a big fan of their original product and they seemed to be having a good time, so maybe this wouldn't be such a bad way to pass a day after all.
Wear the prettiest Peruvian attire and hand out literature on the country's food products. There was a random smattering of international booths (a new feature as far as I can remember) and this was a lovely lady near the area devoted from products from Peru. I actually love her skirt and might consider giving a few hours of my time for the chance to wear it around (though I think I'd get distracted by my need to twirl around in it).
In conclusion, it was a terrific show and I'm very happy that it wasn't as overwhelming as the enormous spring Expo West in Anaheim. The one last thing I learned that I need to share is this: If you are ever offered coconut milk kefir, please politely refuse. I tasted it because I was curious. I mean I like the regular stuff, but OH man it's so incredibly gross. Spare yourself. And that concludes my PSA for today!
This Fresh Ginger Ginger Ale was one of my favorite products at the show. It tastes unlike any other ginger ale I've ever had and reminded me of candied ginger, which I love. I liked the original flavor the best, but there was also pomegranate and green tea which were also pretty good. They were looking for a distributor, which I hope they found since I'd gladly drink this product on a semi-regular basis.
Since I love a nice lemon tart, I was attracted to the tarts from Daphne's Baking Company first for the packaging, then for the interesting flavors. I tried the passion fruit variety, which was tasty. The only thing that was confusing was the size. It was too big for one person, though that's what it was billed as. I mean I guess that's not the worst thing in the world, it just seemed a bit off. Anyway, it was tasty! I only recently discovered summer sausage, but I was psyched to get to try some (along with turkey beer bratwurst!) from Vermont Smoke and Cure. Theirs was Good and it was a nice change of pace from the more snack-type foods at the expo.
I love Green & Black's chocolate (the mint, especially) and they have a new flavor coming out in January that is pretty tasty: milk chocolate peanut. The peanuts are slightly salty, so the combination of them with the milk chocolate is heavenly. I scored a whole bar and am going to try to be nice and share this with my coworkers. We'll see... To the right of the bar are products from Project 7, a company that makes everyday staples like gum, mints and bottled water, but is donating a portion of every sale to seven of the most critical areas of need—like feeding the hungry, housing the homeless and saving the earth (I like how broad that last one is!). I love the concept of doing good through products many of us buy anyway and was equally into the design of their packaging.
The most random trend I saw was rice cake popping machines. There were a total of three of them, one of which is Cocopop which is pictured below, to which I say, really? This is a thing we're doing? Do we think rice cakes will somehow taste better if we can hear the loud noise of them being popped? I dare say the answer might be no (and the scent in the area of the machines was Funk-y), but it was interesting that these booths were drawing so much attention. On the right is puffed quinoa, which this company only sells in bulk, but I'm now determined to figure out how to do it myself because it's a brilliant texture when puffed and seems like a perfect addition to granola, granola bars, and to homemade bread. If anyone knows how to puff quinoa at home, drop us a line!
There was a health and beauty section of the show, as well as a natural living area, so we hit that up after ODing on snacks. I love the soap from the Vermont Soap Works and I remembered that they make the absolutely finest smelling all purpose cleaner on the market—Liquid Sunshine. I kid you not, that name says it all. It's slightly citrusy, but not cloying, and I have extremely pleasant memories of using it to clean my hardwood floors. The beauty products on the right are from a Latvian company called Mardara that is looking for distribution in the US. They are currently sold throughout Europe and Asia and bear the EcoCert label, which is an international organic certification (I have decided that there are too many labels meaning too many different things. Can someone create a worldwide seal please? Thank you.) Their packaging alone makes me fervently hope to see them in a store near me soon.
We swung by the Dr. Bronner's booth to get a few samples of their castille soap and to get an update on the pending lawsuit about organic standards in personal care products. I just bought a new recycled Gaiam yoga mat, but had I not, I would have sought one of these from Jade. The extra thick version was particularly nice and they are made in the US, which I learned is rare, from sustainable rubber. Plus they come in a nice range of jewel tones.
We here at ReadyMade love our HDYGTFAJ feature, but I'm pretty sure these folks don't fit that label. But, they did make my expo experience highly enjoyable. Let's take a few moments to consider what it might be like if it was our job to...
Run for hours and hours. It seemed like the plan for this very fit dude was that he'd run for the duration of the day (I hope his coworkers were planning to sub in). There was a big clock behind him that was at a little over an hour when we stopped by this booth for Zico coconut water, which boasts electrolytes and more potassium than a banana, so at least he was staying hydrated! Plus, the passion fruit flavor is pretty tasty, so he had that going for him.
Dress like a pirate and hand out puffed corn snacks. Yes, there arrrggg (sorry, can't help myself!) pirates in Boston! He was one of two or three manning the Pirate's Booty booth, passing out samples of their New NY pizza flavor. I'm a big fan of their original product and they seemed to be having a good time, so maybe this wouldn't be such a bad way to pass a day after all.
Wear the prettiest Peruvian attire and hand out literature on the country's food products. There was a random smattering of international booths (a new feature as far as I can remember) and this was a lovely lady near the area devoted from products from Peru. I actually love her skirt and might consider giving a few hours of my time for the chance to wear it around (though I think I'd get distracted by my need to twirl around in it).
In conclusion, it was a terrific show and I'm very happy that it wasn't as overwhelming as the enormous spring Expo West in Anaheim. The one last thing I learned that I need to share is this: If you are ever offered coconut milk kefir, please politely refuse. I tasted it because I was curious. I mean I like the regular stuff, but OH man it's so incredibly gross. Spare yourself. And that concludes my PSA for today!
