"fancy foods" news and stories

Most trade shows are the stuff of, if not nightmares, then at least a sleepwalk from one charmless kiosk to the next. Not so at the 54th Summer Fancy Food Show, where 20,000+ gourmet retailers, restaurateurs, chefs, media folks and plain ol' food fans spend three days chomping their way through a fever dream of some 180,000 specialty foods. The throwback "Fancy" is a bit of a misnomer by now, as there's a very wide slice of products on offer, ranging from swankity wines, oils, cheeses and caviar to humble chewing gums, ketchups, chili seasonings and snack mixes.

Here are my first day favorites from the more wallet-friendly end of the spectrum. More thorough reviews will follow, but I've gotta recover from hauling around a 21lb* shoulder bag of collected samples and press releases first.

I believe that I mentioned one of my favorite things - although I had quite a lot of "favorites" to be perfectly honest - from the Fancy Foods Show were the meat pies that I had at the Vili's Gourmet booth. Meat pies are a favorite Australian snack food, the sort of thing that you'll find at pubs, random takeaways and - of course - at any major sporting event. They exactly what they sound like, too: small pastries that are filled with a thick mixture of meat and gravy. It's important that the filling be thick enough not to run out all over the eater, since the pies are usually eaten by hand and they are best when topped of with a bit of tomato sauce (ketchup).

The Winter Fancy Food Show just wrapped up in San Francisco. The show is one of the largest gatherings of specialty food retailers in the country, where they gather to show off new products, highlight new trends and encourage the buyers from stores across the country to carry their products. There were over 80,000 new products and 1,100 exhibitors. "Specialty food" is a term that is usually applied to relatively rare foods, very high quality ingredients and small production runs, but as consumers become more interested in health, nutrition and, most importantly, taste, specialty foods are enjoying wider popularity than ever before.

One of the most obvious trends this year is the shift towards natural and organic foods, with many companies aiming to simplify their ingredient lists and use ultra high quality ingredients. Many products boasted the use of organic materials. Heidi noticed that "superfoods", like acai and green tea, were making a strong showing, while simmer sauces and relishes spiced things up a bit. There were many whole grain products, including whole grain baking mixes from King Arthur Flour. Another big showing was made by specialty salts and fleur de sel, which appeared in its pure form as well as in candies, like Fran's Grey Salt and Smoked Salt Caramels.