Industry Insights

Another season, another show! Last week was the Summer Fancy Food Show- here are a few of the highlights:

The rise of mushrooms

From the looks of it, companies are trying to change the way that people perceive mushrooms. Moreover, it isn’t just happening in food- its spanning across teas, coffees, and dried snacks. One of the snacks that received a lot of buzz were Popadelics. Popadelics are a crunchy mushroom chips from NY-based Fun-Gal Snacks. They are made by using a vacuum frying process, producing a crunchy texture while retaining more of the color, nutrients and flavor, according to the company. The mushroom cap snack has intense flavors including Thai chili and rosemary and salt, and truffle Parmesan varieties- so its hitting on that flavor trend pretty hard. What’s weird to me is the name and packaging- with all of the rage in the cannabis market one might get the wrong idea?

Now the name of the Fancy Food Show- now this is fancy!

Another product that people are talking about is in the dessert category. “Whipnotic” has taken the traditional whipped cream and amplified it in adding a colorful swirl of flavor and a new patented technology that infuses the flavor essences into the whipped cream. YUM! The question is- what flavor should we try first?!?

Sustainability

With shows like this, its sensory overload but of course, a hot topic at these events continues to be sustainability. From an actual package to the product itself- companies are really stepping up their game when it comes to their waste, footprint and packaging materials. Here’s a few worth mentioning:

Uglies. What a name! The concept around these chips is taking naturally imperfect foods (in this instance potato) that would have otherwise contributed to food waste, and making them into a delicious snack. Uglies support farmers in using what they may discard which ultimately reduces food waste in landfills as well.

Another endeavor worth mentioning- Numerous exhibitors promoted sustainable supply chains and production processes. Tomato Bliss, a Chicago startup, produces a line of globally inspired soups made with regeneratively grown heirloom tomatoes.

It’s so great to see all of these new products, trends and processes all under one roof. Can’t wait to see them of shelf!