The Fancy Food Show once again took over San Francisco’s Moscone Center this week. Photo: Noah Berger/The Chronicle 2011
The WFFS is the largest marketplace devoted exclusively to
specialty foods and beverages on the West Coast. Some 1,400 exhibitors —
ranging from established mega-corps to small indie artisans looking to
get a foothold in the specialty food market — participated in the three
day event.
Imagine Comic-Con, except with food — aisles upon aisles of food.
With so many food industry movers and shakers under one
roof, it also happens to be a great place to spy burgeoning food trends
(along with reminding us of fads that just won’t die — we’re looking at
you, bacon). Here are just some of the major trends we spotted over the
past two days:
Big Tree’s coconut nectar.
Coconut: It’s everywhere — and in almost
everything. Which is not a huge surprise considering the skyrocketing
popularity of coconut water in recent years. What was mind blowing
though, were just how many coco-centric products are now flooding the
market, and the wide variety of forms — ranging from water, caramel,
chips, cookies, granola, flour, syrups, vinegar, and even beer (Maui
Brewing Company’s Coconut Porter). This is a trend that’s at its peak.
Turmeric teasans from Numi Organic Tea.
Turmeric: Is it the new acai? It would
seem so. Touting healthful, anti-inflammatory properties, we spied the
pungent root in no fewer than seven products — snack foods, soda, juice
and so on — but mostly in tea form, including a new teasan line from
Oakland’s Numi Organic Tea.
Nourish Snacks’ chickpeas.
Chickpeas: These versatile legumes are for
more than making hummus — chickpea and hummus-based crackers, chips,
and even served whole and crunchy in a variety of flavors including
honey, wasabi and Korean BBQ.
Azuma Gourmet’s seaweed sesame hummus and seaweed salad.
Seaweed: An increasing number of roasted
seaweed snacks are popping up. We also spied seaweed used as a flavoring
in two different popcorns (479 Degrees and Pop Art), sweet snack bars,
as well as in hummus form (blended with the aforementioned chickpea)
from Hayward’s Azuma Gourmet.
Vosges’ Maple Caramel.
Maple: For more than just pancakes — in
addition to syrup form, we saw maple flavoring BBQ sauce, tea, coffee,
frozen desserts and caramels (Vosges Haut-Chocolat).
Eliot’s Adult Nut Butter.
South Asian Flavors: The flavors of India
and Southeast Asia are permeating the market in unexpected ways — think
masala chai caramel corn and savory spreads, like Portland-based Eliot’s
Adult Nut Butters’ garam masala and spicy Thai coconut infused peanut
butters.
A few other takeaways: Lastly, from kale
chips, paleo-friendly snacks to ancient grain this and that — the
“healthy” snack craze isn’t going anywhere. Whether or not this a good
thing — you be the judge.
Article and Photos Sourced From: http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2015/01/13/six-hot-trends-from-2015-winter-fancy-food-show/
