One of the highlights of my industry and my favorite amongst the big shows geared towards the hospitality field is the New York Fancy Food Show held at the Javits Center every June.
The Specialty Food Association sponsors the show every year at the Javits Center
The Fancy Food Show is aisle after aisle of the latest products that will be stocking our grocery stores, specialty shops and gift stores. From the latest cheeses and pates to snack foods, flavorful drinks and waters to the latest heat and eat prepared foods to almost anything else to stock your pantry with, they are being showcased at this show. It takes me the full three days to get through the show just to walk down the aisles and see what new products there are to sample. That is not enough time plus you get over-whelmed with all the foods to taste and flavors to experience.
My first day I concentrated on the first floor of the show. The first several aisles were dedicated to vendor after vendor of cheeses. I have learned over the years to pace myself when I start the show, or you go into system overload. You have to take your time in the first three aisles of the show or else you will not be able to enjoy all the other samples you need to experience to form an opinion.
I was funny that I felt this way because when I said this to a cheese merchant, she repeated that comment back to me. She said, “You know, I keep asking everyone to try our cheese, but they keep saying they have to pace themselves. Why do they keep saying that?” I reminded her that we have aisles and aisles of food to see and a lot of first timers start to fill themselves up on the first three aisles and then can’t handle the rest of the show. She did not seem pleased with that answer and went back to work.
I continued to take my time walking the Food Show. Traveling aisle after aisle of cheeses, crackers, cookies and olive oils. The snack foods selection was extensive this year. I guess the pandemic got people creating food items that they liked, and they want to make a cottage business out of it. The problem is that there are only so many different ways to make caramel popcorn or chocolate chip cookies.
The biggest problem with food items at the show is when vendors are trying to be too specific who they want their customers to be or catering to a niche customer who is gluten intolerant or looking for all natural foods. I have had to keep a straight face when I had to sample all natural sodas with no sugar or cookies without eggs, wheat, sugar and are dairy free that tasted like saw dust. I know what the vendor is trying to achieve but when an item has no flavor no one will want to buy it. Some products can achieve this but somewhere in the recipe they will have to put a few ingredients back.
I found a lot of successful items at the show that did not agree with judges when it came time to give awards out. Some of their choices just had no flavor, taste or appeal to a lot of customers. I judged products by a couple of standards, how different was it in product, how it tasted and was the flavoring different from other items on the market and creativity in packaging. Some of the snack foods and sodas that won awards boggled me because they had no flavor and no enticing packaging.
I found that some of the best products in the French and Korean Food Pavilions. The Asian countries really had the pulse of appealing to a younger customer or an older customer who liked things from their childhood. The French always know packaging. They are famous for it. The color schemes and the pictures just appeal to a sophisticated customer. It is also the taste of their foods. The flavors are direct and intense. Their snacks had more unusual flavors and better cooking methods. There just seemed like they wanted to bring gourmet foods to the snack masses of the United States. I was impressed by a handful of items that I highly recommend to those who want to indulge in a treat.
The following were the best products I sampled on the first day of the 2024 Fancy Food Show and I want to share them with other foodies and culinarians. These products stood out the most for their taste and packaging:
In the French Pavilion, the first brand I highly recommend is the potato chip brand Simply Gourmand brand Brets, whose crispy flavorful snacks were the best potato chips at the show. in the Snack Food category, I thought they were the best I tasted. With their unique flavors, the best being the Camembert Cheese and the Miel Moutarde, the honey Dijon mustard flavors and colorful packaging, were outstanding. I had to beg the vendor for two bags to take home to sample. The crispy fried French potatoes were perfectly flavored and salted and they filled the bag with chips and not air like American companies.
The Brets brand of potato chips by Simply Gourmand
The samples I took home were excellent. I loved the crunch and the perfect seasonings.
The other item from the French Pavilion were the cookie brands by Gozoki Deceures, both the Maison Jacquemart and the Noots. These buttery delights were a treat when I tried the different varieties.
The cookies from Maison Jacquemart were excellent
I sampled the various flavors of cookies from Maison Jacquemart and the cookies look as good as they taste. I was able to try their Les Petits Lunettes, a small type of Linder tart cookie filled with strawberry jelly and chocolate cream and their mini Almond cakes, that tasted like a Madeline. You could taste the sweet butter in the cookie dough and the fresh jelly in the cookie. The crunchiness of the cookie with the sweetness of the filling was a delectable combination.
It was the same with their tartlets as well. There was a thick layer of chocolate, strawberry and apricot jelly on the top of their cookies with a buttery cookie base that showed me that they did not skimp anywhere when producing their product.
Gozoki Douceurs products were my pick for best baked products at the show
The samples they gave me of the Strawberry Jelly and the Chocolate filled tarts were delicious
In the Canadian Pavilion, around lunch time on my first day of the show, I sampled the Chicken Nuggets by Al Safa Foods and these were impressive especially the spicy ones. They were juicy on the outside and crisp on the inside and the spicy flavor had a nice kick to it.
The Al Safa Chicken nuggets were one of the best chicken products I tasted at the show
What I like about Al Safa Chicken products is the quality and taste of the chicken. The product cooked up nicely and the taste would appeal to children and adults alike.
in the Italian Pavilion, there were many honey products being sampled at the show but the best flavored honey was from Casa Folino were stood out for flavor and packaging.
The Casa Folino flavored honey is a different alternative to jellies when topping toast or biscuits
The Casa Folino line of honeys had a zippy set of flavors and were unique to the show. Other vendors offered different flavored honeys due to the bees or the region they were produced but this company added the flavorings to the high quality honey making a unique accompaniment to biscuits an
The Asian Pavilion offered so many amazing products and these are the best of the best when I walked this part of the show:
I was very impressed with food items from both Korea and Thailand with a few vendors from Taiwan as well. What I liked about the Asian food products is the unique flavors and bright packaging of their products. They made their food products appealing to the eye and engaging to the senses and the packaging was fun. Once they reeled you in with the engaging packaging, the flavors were very intense with different tastes like Rose, Melon and Mango for sweets and peppers and cheeses for their savory products.
These Cheeseburger popcorn snack from HBAF were very impressive. The seasonings really did taste like a cheeseburger and you could taste the beef and tomato flavorings in the popcorn. Their other snacks had unusual flavors as well. I think these innovative snacks will work well in the American market. They also sampled a Cookie & Cream Malt balls and Honey Butter Almonds that were also delicious. All their products had a delicious taste and engaging packaging. The perfect stocking stuffer at the holidays.
Yummy LOL has the most interesting packaging
Yummy LOL candies had some of the most creative packaging in the candy category. The vibrant colors and the way that the company combines the use of candy as a toy makes this packaging all the more fun. The product was candy and a toy all in one package.
The quality of the candy is very good. The flavors of the candy have a high level of sweetness and I notice sometimes that the Asian made candies have a more intense flavor than their American counterparts. I think it is the use of different fruit flavors being used and the way these taste.
In the Thailand Pavilion, the Sappe products had the top beverage of the show. I have not tasted such refreshing sodas in a long time with such unique flavors. The use of unusual fruits and things like rose petal gave the sodas a bite and a flavor that I had never had before. I loved the Aloe Vera sodas, the Mogu Mogu beverages but the standout of their products was these floral Keaf sodas that were so refreshing and had such a bite to them that they were the perfect accompaniment with any spicy dish.
Keaf Sodas have an amazing and zesty taste to them
The Keaf sodas Relaxing Mood, Day Dreamer and Romantic Date Night flavors when well chilled have refreshing flavor due to all natural ingredients and just the way the tastes combine together. These sodas will not be on the market until next year but should be a huge hit in the specialty soda category. Their sodas were the best at the food show.
Of the American made products that I was most impressed with I have talked about in previous blogs on the food show such as Wein-Chuan Chinese Dim Sum products which are such high quality and taste homemade like they are made in the restaurant. Another was Goodie Girl cookies with their packaging and cookie flavors almost mimic Girl Scout cookies. I have found the high quality and consistency and packaging to be excellent.
Goodie Girl Cookies I have mentioned in past blogs as being a high quality brand of cookies and crackers. These delightful treats remind me of a version of Girl Scout cookies and even the Rep told me everyone gets confused by them. Even the packaging and flavors of the cookies are very similar to the latest versions of the scouts cookies.
The best part about Goodie Girl cookies is that you do not have to wait until once a year to buy them. Their Birthday Cake cookies have a creamy sweetness to them and the Fudge Stripped are a crisp sweet cookie and both can satisfy any sweet tooth.
I spent a lot of time visiting the Wei-Chuan booth at the show during meal times to sample all their products and I highly recommend the whole assortment.
The Wei-Chuan products of Dumplings and Spring rolls
Wei-Chuan is another American based company that makes high quality Chinese-American Dim Sum products. They were sampling two types of dumplings, the Chicken and the Pork along with their delightful crisp Spring rolls. I have always been impressed by the quality and taste of their appetizers. They are a product that are restaurant quality and you would have thought they were made in front of you.
A new standout product that I thought was fun and had a lot of promise was Sweetapolita, a specialty sprinkle set for kid’s parties.
Sweetapolita packaging of their specialty sprinkles for children’s birthday parties I think would be a huge hit with adults as well.
When I talked with the founder of the company, she said that when she used to have parties for her kids and said the best part of the party is when the kids had their own toppings. She said she created the product because she found that kids loved sprinkles and the creativity of decorating their own cakes. She found no product that fulfilled the need the way she wanted it so she imagined her own line and that was how she created her brand.
After the first day of the show, I had covered the whole first floor which is like walking four football fields of food. The SFA sponsored on the first night of the show the ‘Five Boro Block Party’ for all the attendees of the show. I was so stuffed from all the sampling that I had been doing at the show that I had no appetite whatsoever. There was a series of food trucks offering complimentary to all the vendors and attendees’ things like tacos, quesadillas, hot dogs and ice cream. Of all the times that something like this was free.
The Five Boro Block Party at the end of the first night of the show
They gave the attendees who wanted to have something to eat a generous sample of the different ethnic foods. Even though everything looked and smelled delicious, all I could manage after a day of sampling foods was a soft serve ice cream cone with a cherry dipped topping.
The variety of food trucks made for a nice light meal
This gave attendees a chance to socialize after the first long day of the show. They had a great DJ at the food truck festival and an actress walking around as the Statue of Liberty on stilts doing photo ops with all the guests. I thought that was fun evening and stayed for bit before I dragged myself back to Port Authority.
The Statue of Liberty who walked around the show greeting guests
I was so tired and stuffed with food that leaving early was no problem for me. So many of my friends imply that it must be so much fun to sample free food all day. It is a lot of work not to be tempted to try everything and to walk what is about four football fields of different types of food can really throw off your body. Too much of too many different things. I had to walk around the City for a bit before I went home that first day of the show.
I love walking around the City during the early evening
The second day of the food show I was raring to go and started the show on the bottom level of the Jarvis Center, where parts of the show was broken down by category and by country and state not just by product, so it gave me a chance to spend some more time in the country pavilions.
The dumplings or Momo’s were a Nepali dumping that were spicer than than their Chinese counterparts
The Momo’s had a spicer flavor to them due to the chilies in the dough and meats
The selection of Momos had a fiery flavor to them and reflected the colder climate where these types of dumplings originated. They are a different twist to typical Asian food. They used different spices and were hotter than most dumplings I tried at the show.
In the Chinese pavilion, one of the most popular vendors was ACC Foods LLC. The women who worked there were making everything fresh and right in front of us.
ACC Foods out of China had some of the best quality Dim Sum at the show
They had employees making fresh pork dumplings and soup dumplings as we watched and then cooking them fresh as we waited for them to come out of steamers and frying pans.
All the samples for ACC Foods were prepared right in front of us
Everything at this booth was made from scratch and then cooked and served under the heat lamps. Trust me, nothing lasted that long where food sat at this booth. The quality, consistency and taste were all excellent.
In the Taiwan Pavilion, Pocas Foods had some of the most amazing food products from the show
Pocas Foods had a fantastic display of items at the show in both the beverage and the candy categories. I was blown away by the quality of their beverages and flavors of their candies. I have not tasted products that have such a vivid taste and in such unique flavors like melon, pineapple and mango.
The Tik Tok beverages to me were some of the best in show at the Food Show. Not only were each of the flavors I tried delicious, but each had small pieces of gelatin inside the bottles to add another sweet treat to each beverage. These were made in Vietnam.
Their freeze-dried candy was so intensely sweet and crunchy. Such a delicious and unusual candy and with each bite it seems to get sweeter. I loved crunching on these and they are addictive.
Another excellent spread that I had tasted was by Trai foods. This brand of sauces were fiery and flavorful.
Their sauces had amazing taste. They gave me a sample of the Amarillo Pepper to take home and delicious hot sauce added a nice kick to chicken and hot dogs.
There were several small batch snack makers I met in the Innovation and New Products Pavilion on my last day of the show. The popcorn from Little Lad’s was delicious and had flavors that I did not see in the more commercial brands.
Little Lads is a high quality product
The representative from Little Lad’s was so impressed by my comments of his product that he sent me home with a big bag of his Sea Salt & Olive Oil Popcorn which was a delight. I loved the subtle flavor of the popcorn and their was a nice saltiness to it.
Another unique and delicious snack were the Caulipuffs snacks. These puffed snacks were made with dried cauliflower flour and then air puffed into a type of ‘doodle’ snack.
Caulipuffs were a big surprise to me at the Food Show and one of the most delicious snacks. Not only were they lighter than most of the snack foods I sampled but they were flavored so nicely. Both the honey barbecue and the white cheddar had a rich flavor and the had a nice crunch in every bite.
The Jaju Pierogi had delicious fillings and great flavor
I had tried a variety of pierogi at the show, but the brand Jaju stood out the most. These small batch dumplings had a variety of fillings, and the Sweet Potato with the Caramelized Onions had a sweet and savory flavor in every bite. They were also the perfect size for a side dish or a snack and cooked up well.
There were many frozen and fresh pizzas that I sampled at the Food Show but PiOOa Pizza stood out not just for the quality and taste but for the ethical stance they took in the company.
PiOOa pizza frozen pizzas stood out not just for their delicious flavor and consistency in the crust but the owner is deaf, and the company gives opportunities for those who are deaf employment in the company. The staff here works together to create these wonderful frozen pizzas.
One of the friendliest vendors I met were the Mother/Daughter team at Miss Hannah’s Gourmet Popcorn.
The mother/ daughter team behind Miss Hannah’s Gourmet Popcorn
One of the surprising popcorn snacks I sampled was in the New Products Pavilion were the deliciously sweet Miss Hannah’s Tutti Frutti and Caramel Popcorn. Made in small batches by hand it is right now only available online. This decadent popcorn tastes like each individual popped kernel was coated individually with a touch of sweetness in every bite. It’s delicious taste and simple but fun packaging will make a wonderful gift or host present.
The candy from UpTop Treats was very unique both in packaging, taste and in the logo. I thought this was a great product for children especially ones who were interested in the Space Age. The candies were freezes dried fruits that were sweet and crunchy and were the perfect snack for kids. Even this big kid (me), was impressed by the flavor and quality as well as the portion size of the product.
I loved the logo and the little space creature they created for the candy. I told the vendor that these would wonderful to sell in the Natural History and Children’s Museums. This is their get selling point. She had not even thought of that angle for the product. I also liked the little stuffed animal the had and said it was another good selling point.
On my last day of the show, the vendors were trying to get rid of their samples because no one wants to travel home with boxes of samples. The vendor from O Sole Mio was explaining his product to me that it was a refrigerated, fully prepared meal that just needed to be unwrapped, mixed in the enclosed container and then microwaved and served. He offered me two samples and I foolishly took only one. It was delicious and easy to prepare.
The packaging and the dinner I prepared at home
The product was delicious and so easy to to put together. Each part of the entree, the sauce, grilled chicken and the pasta were fully prepared and in their own individual bags. I just put them into the microwaveable container, mixed it up and cooked it for four minutes and dinner was done.
The quality of the entree was excellent and it had a nice creamy rich flavor
I thought the product was a nice alternative to these expensive food kits and if you are in a rush or tired after a long day at work, this is a very nice alternative to eating out.
The best for last was a vendor that I have featured a few times before in my blogs on the Food Show. Featured in the Korean Pavilion, Melona frozen desserts. These were excellent and some of the best frozen ice pops and novelties of the show. These fruit purée ice pops are the best at the Food Show but hard to find at the supermarkets.
They have about a dozen different flavors of ice pops and not your typical flavors. Melona frozen foods have some of the most original and creative flavors like honeydew melon, mango, watermelon, banana and green tea. Their ice cream products, some in the shape of fish which has symbolism in Korea, were filled with vanilla ice cream and fruit syrup wrapped in a sweet rice flower dough. Not just beautiful to look at but delicious in taste.
Melona’s version of an ice cream sandwich filled with Vanilla ice cream and sweet strawberry syrup
The selection of frozen treats by Melona products put other ice cream companies to shame with their unique flavors, beautiful packaging and delicious taste. I had to keep coming back to their booth just to try all the flavors all three days of the show. They could not have been more generous with their samples and their representatives encouraged you to try more.
The New York Fancy Food show had many other quality products to sample and purchase for stores but these were the products that really stood out to me in taste, flavor, packaging and originality in the product itself. If I owned a grocery store, these are the products that I would stock and recommend to customers. In the three days I attended the show, these were my set of winners. They were wonderful in every way.
I will be looking for them in grocery stores soon. I look forward again to the Fancy Food Show in 2025.
Every year the Fancy Food Industry holds one of the most innovative events in New York City, the Annual Fancy Food Show at the Javis Center every June. This amazing show shows the industry the newest and latest products that are coming onto the market, old favorites that get new packaging or new flavors, the latest in food trends, cooking classes that introduce a product in a whole new way and products from abroad that are looking for distribution in the States. I found the most interesting products at the show and it was nice to see some of the old standbys that I have been sampling since my first show back in 2004.
I have learned over the years that this is NOT the place to over eat and is not lunch. It can be extremely over-whelming if you sample everything in the first row and then realize that you have about 100 more rows to visit. Don’t overdo it on the cheese and chocolate the first day of the show or you will feel it by 5:00pm. I have learned to pace myself and take notes about what I saw. I also like to see what the products are in the foreign pavilions because they have the most interesting packaging and the representatives are usually bored.
I have also learned that you will get pushed out of the way for a vendor to talk to a Whole Foods buyer even if you are having a nice conversation about their product. Business is business and many of these people are looking for someone to distribute a product that probably is already represented in the food market in the States by a dozen other vendors. It took two days of walking, sampling and talking but there were many standouts at the show that I would like to share with everyone.
I got to the show on Sunday by 10:00am and the Javis Center was just starting to get crowded so people were more willing to talk. Some representatives and sales people looked so bored that no one went to visit them if their product looked interesting I would walk over and talk to them. I had some really nice conversations at the show and learned a lot of the new developments in the fancy food industry.
My first day at the show I covered most of the first level where it seemed that the most popular vendors were placed and got the most traffic. It is also where most of the County Pavilions were placed so I got a chance to visit them with some peace and quiet. Most of the visitors and buyers ran through the foreign pavilions but I had fun checking out all the new products and talking to all their salespeople.
Most of the foreign pavilions were manned by one or two people and it looked to me that unless they already had connections in this country many were sitting at their booths checking their computers or emails. This went on with pretty much all the foreign pavilions with the exception of the Canadian where everyone was out sampling their products and stopping passers by. It is tough for a lot of these manufacturers as they are looking for distribution.
My first stop was at the Japanese Pavilion where I stopped at various booths to look at the packaging of products and sample items that I had not seen before. A few unique things popped out at me.
The Meiji America Inc. featured a whole line of desserts and snacks including a product call Chocorooms which are butter cookie in the shape of mushroom covered with chocolate where the top of the mushroom would be. They also carried a crunchy chocolate snack called ‘Hello Panda’ which is a crisp butter cookie filled with chocolate with a playful panda printed on the top of it. Perfect for those little kids that like something catered to them.
The Ginbis Company of Japan was showing a line of snacks that I thought was quite interesting. One product that was delicious the Shimi Choco Corn which was star shaped corn snacks in both vanilla and chocolate. Another was rather odd but really worked was the Black Sesame Biscuits which were mini asparagus shaped snacks that were studded with sesame seeds.
Another product that I think will be popular is their Dream Animal cookies which are a Japanese version of animal crackers. These delightful little butter flavored biscuits are in the shape of animals with the names of the animals printed on the cookies in English. Very cleaver for the child who is learning their ABC’s. Their snacks were sweet and savory.
Ginbis Animal Crackers
The EIWA America Inc. headquartered in Japan has the license for Sanrio Company’s Hello Kitty line of marshmellows including one that was filled with chocolate which are called smores mellows. They also come flavored in strawberry, mango, pineapple and matcha.
In the South Korea Pavilion, there were a couple of standouts that were featured. Plado Company featured a children’s drink that I thought was nicely packaged but a little on the sweet side. It was a strawberry juice fruit drink for kids called Poro Aazz that featured a cartoon duck on the outside. The bottle was playful and I could see children loving it. The flavors come in milky, apple, tropical, green grape and mango. They also have a line of seaweed snacks and noodle cup soups.
These unique drinks will be popular with little children
A product that stood out at the South Korean Pavilion was by Bibigo with their Gochujang Hot Sauce that had many layers of spiciness. This sauce really lasts with you.
The Pureplus Company featured a line of kids yogurt/coco drinks that had many Japanese cartoon characters on the outside. These types of drinks were really on the sweet side catering to a child with a developing taste bud. These drinks were also quite rich.
The next Asian Pavilion I visited was the Thailand Pavilion and they had more food lines to cater to all age groups. The Sun Yang Food Company were showing several food items that I thought were interesting. They created a line called Ten Jang which are a line of seasoned fish snacks that I am not sure would appeal to a mass audience but the snacks in barbecue and chili would find their way to kids who like a spicy snack, They also offer the line in Chicken and Squid. Their line of rice crackers called “Mochi Max” has some interesting flavors such as pizza, satay and wasabi.
The Srinanaporn Marketing Public Company Limited also offered a few noteworthy beverage lines that I thought might appeal to the child who has a sweet tooth. They had a refreshing line of drinks named ‘Uzu’, which is a white grape juice drink flavored with strawberry, Lychee and Orange. The lychee was thirst quenching and just the right amount of sweetness.
Leaving the Asian booths I walked next to the Egyptian Pavilion to see what food products they were showing at the show. One standout was the Shanawany Group’s line called ‘Delta Sweets” which carried an assortment of candies and crackers. One of the standouts was the Caramel bites, another being a mildly sweet line of Strawberry Wafers and a delicious Chocolate Wafer line called “Chocolatoo”.
Another vendor that stood out amongst the rest was the Elvan Company who carried a line of snack cakes. They offered an interesting sponge cake line that almost looked like a ‘Twinkie’ but not as sweet. The line called ‘CakeTime’ came in both a chocolate and vanilla flavor and had a very nice taste to them. The ‘CakeTime’ Donut line looked really good as well but unfortunately they did not have the samples with them. Their snack cakes were just a step below in sweetness than a traditional Hostess snack cake.
When touring the United Kingdom Pavilion I came across an interesting product in the Great Britain booths by Flower & White Ltd. They have a line of Meringue Bars in various flavors that were light and crunchy and at 96 calories were a decadent little treat. I was able to sample the flavors in Lemon and Raspberry and they were sweet and melted in your mouth. Perfect for that afternoon coffee or tea break.
In the Pavilion for the Country of Greece, there was a lot of olive, nuts and oil companies to choose from. One that carried a line of interesting sweet and savory pastries was from the Ioniki Sfoliata S.A. company in Athens. Their line of cheese and spinach pies, sweet and savory croissants and meat Peinirli (a type of Italian meat pastry) were standouts at the booth. Each was generous filled with cheese and meats and when warmed up had a delicious buttery taste to the dough and the fillings were well spiced.
The Canadian Pavilion offered many choices in maple syrup products and there were a few standouts beside just maple syrup. Jakeman’s Maple Products that was founded in 1876 in Ontario produces an interesting group of products that are flavorful and make good use of their maple syrup background. Their standard maple syrup selections are wonderful but their use of the product in their maple chocolates, maple popcorn (a spin on caramel corn) and their Maple Cream Cookies were just amazing. Their Maple Cream Cookies are extremely addictive and just crunching on them at the show you can easily eat a whole bag at one sitting. They are sweet but not in the sweetness you would in a sugar product.
Another sugary product that stood out was the Double Dutch cookie by Schep’s Bakery Ltd. out of Norwich, Ontario called a Stroopwafels. These sweet little waffle cakes are two light waffle like cookies filled with caramel and are Holland’s favorite cookie. These rich little cookies taste like a portable breakfast and are perfect with coffee.
The French Pavilion always bring such elegant and high quality products. I always love their packaging and I love the way the French do business. Everyone is so nicely dressed and mannered and not one is pushy about selling you something. There is so much pride in the quality in their food products that it shows when they describe and sample them. United Biscuits of France has the lightest and buttery cookies with a happy face where the chocolate filling smiles at you.
The French quality in their jellies show too and not just in the traditional Bon Mama. One of the representatives from La Fruitiere Jams and Toppings let me sample a few of their jellies which are some of the best I ever tasted. You could really taste the fresh fruit in every bite. There were chunks of strawberry and cherry in each bite of the samples.
The was one candy that stood above the others from the Spanish Pavilion was Wonkandy marshmellows in bright colors. These colorful treats were sweet marshmellows covered with colorful sugar topping. These little confections come in a rainbow of colors in a large plastic container.
Leaving the foreign pavilions behind, I started to concentrate on the domestic vendors and found amongst all the cheese, chocolate and popcorn vendors many interesting standouts that I could see becoming popular on the wide market.
One vendor that was garnering long lines was the Hancock Gourmet Lobster Company who was featured in the State of Maine section of the show. Their lobster products were not only fresh tasting like the lobster had just been caught but decadently rich, creamy and buttery. They sampled their ‘Lobster Grilled Cheese’ appetizers which were so decadent and delicious I had to keep returning to their booth to try them again. I had had a taste of the their Lobster Bisque at a different show a few years earlier and that was also rich and silky to taste. Their products were top quality when serving lobster.
These Lobster Grilled Cheese were one of the best products at the show
Another rich tasting standout in the State of Florida section of the show was their ‘Stuffed Garlic Bread’ that is stuffed with cheese, garlic and spices. The flavors are in Original with garlic and cheese and the mild spice variety with a garlic, pepper and cheese filling. When baked it is almost like an open face Stromboli. The combination of garlic and cheese with the soft caramelized bread you could eat on its own with just a little sauce.
There were a few standouts in the Asian-American market as well. The Green Spirit Food Inc. offered a line of vegan food products where you would not have known it wasn’t chicken. Their Vegan Chicken Cake and their Veggie Corn Koroke Cakes were the highlight of their food lines at the show. The chicken variety tasted so much like chicken that I was fooled by it. The corn cakes were filled with buttery corn kernels and fried to golden crisp with a light breading. Both were well spiced and would be perfect at any dinner party.
In the State of Hawaiian section of the show the Noh Foods of Hawaii had a line of ‘Hawaiian Ice Teas’ that I enjoyed very much. Their ice tea line was light, refreshing and the best part was made with Hawaiian cane sugar and not high fructose corn syrup. It was light and sweet and chilled could be drunk right out of the can. They also had an interesting line of spices and rubs.
Another beverage that stood out at the show was manufactured in Minnesota by Maud Borup Inc. It was a line of Fizzy Drink Bombs which are a fruit flavored ball in blueberry and cherry that you drop into a glass of water and watch it fizz. These lively treats are perfect for a child’s birthday party where the children could make the drinks themselves and watch the water pop, fizzle and show the edible glitter.
In the Candy area there were so many choices that I was on sugar high for most of the show. The one standout that I love and it has been mentioned in a few of my food blogs is the Butterfield Candies founded in 1924. The Butterfield Fruit Hard Candies are delicious and you can taste the infused flavors of the fruits. My favorites have been their peach and cherry flavors that I have tasted at the show. Just crunching on them is a real treat.
Back in the State of New York section of the show, one delicious standout was Bantam Bagels which had started out as a small shop on Bleecher Street down in the Village in Manhattan. The couple had been making their stuffed bagels in their kitchen and they were so popular with their friends that they opened a shop and the rest was history. The best part of their bagel bites is that they are already stuffed with cream cheese so you don’t need it on top.
Bantam Bagels are delicious
At the show they were featuring their Classic with just cream cheese and the Onion which had a nice pronounced flavor to it. No wonder the line was so popular that the line was long. Also the people working there were really nice and let you taste a few of them.
Another standout product was from DuFour Pastry Kitchens out of the Bronx were their Smoked Cheddar and Bacon Cocktail Straws (a type of pastry cheese stick) that had a nice smoky savory taste that were light and crispy and had a bite of a mixture of cheeses. Another great cheese snack that I tried are an oven baked cheese bite by Granarolo. The crisp is made with Italian milk and grated cheese and then it is baked. It has a rich sharp taste to it.
A cracker that stood out was by La Panzanella who make a wonderful GMO product. These crisps are made in flavors in Italian Herb, Sundried Tomato Basil and spicy olive and have a nice bite to them.
Haldiram’s, a company that specializes in Indian food had a interesting and spicy line of naan bread, stews and delicious samosa’s and shami kebabs which are a type of patty. All the foods that we were able to sample were full of spices and hot dipping sauces. Everything was delicious.
There were many wonderful desserts that were featured at the show and too many to mention but there many that I enjoyed eating. The Well Luck Company Inc. sampled a line of Mille Crepe Cakes in flavors Strawberry and Mango which were layers of French pastry and ice cream and were sweet and creamy in each bite.
Dewey’s Bakery out of North Carolina offers a delicious line of Doughnut cookies which I thought were unique. These soft batch cookies were a cross between a doughnut and cookie that came in Old Fashioned Glazed, Cinnamon Bun and Apple Fritter that were soft and rich with every bite.
Don’t miss these soft rich cookies especially the glazed
Another line of delicious cookies were from Goodie Girl out of Ridgefield, New Jersey which were packaged and almost looked like Girl Scout Cookies. Their Double Chocolate Chip and Birthday Cake cookies were wonderful and they let me take samples home.
Two snack foods that were a real treat were the Sweet Lemon Sweet Crisps by the 34 Degrees Company. These light and sweet crisps will melt in your mouth. These can be paired with a entree or a dessert or just served with coffee or tea.
The one standout popcorn of the many popcorn merchants was by Fisher’s Popcorn of Delaware Inc.. They made a Maple Popcorn with Old Bay Seasoning. It was a delicious twist to a sweet and savory snack.
Of all the computer software companies that I talked with in those two days, one innovative company that grabbed my attention was I-Whiz. This company works with smaller vendors, restaurants and suppliers and farmers to match up products to sell and buy. The software is rather cutting edge for the restaurant industry.
On my trip day excursion in the world of food, these companies were just a small samples of the people I met. I mentioned more in my blog in July of 2015 and went into more detail of the American companies.
The New York Fancy Food Show is an eye opener in the food and snack industry. Walking the several miles of the show is a glimpse of what we will see on shelves all over the country and all over the world. The products that I pointed out were the ones I thought were different from the rest. I look forward to the long walk of the show next year.
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