The Fancy Food Show
The Fancy Food Show was held this Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in San Francisco at the Moscone Center. Featuring over 1500 vendors, culinary cook-offs and an offering of specialized classes to attend, this show was gi-normous! With my restaurant schedule, I was only able to attend Monday and Tuesday, and let me add I could have used the third day. Although, by Tuesday most of the vendors had had their fill of attendees. They were still hospitable, yet less excited.
Monday was insane, as it was MLK day and most people had the day off. The amount off people was a bit overwhelming at first, but as we joined the herd and funneled down each aisle I quickly realized we were no longer free-range. Shoulder to shoulder we meandered from booth to booth. I was skeptical upon arrival as to whether a vegan would have enough of a reason to attend this food show, but the magnitude of the show gave me enough reasons to say "Yes, I'm glad we came."
Although there was mostly dairy and animal products on display, they also had a fair share of vegan items; they were almost always not advertised as vegan. For instance, I had plenty of olives. There were olives from everywhere in the world, and the cured olives from Spain were my favorite. I also had nuts, nut bars, seeds and a gallon of teas and coffee.
- They are harvesting delicious pistachios from Nut Land, in Bakersfield, CA. (That is not a joke.) They are not organic, but are in the process and are expecting certification this next year.
- Hippie Chips had a tasty product, another California-based company, about half their chips are vegan and gluten-free, with hemp seeds added. I drank some good teas but most of the coffee I tried was horrible. (note I only tried 4-5 different coffees out of 25 at least)
- "Tasmania Rain. It's Australian for water." No, seriously. They are harnessing rain before it hits the ground and bottling it. As I was told, Tasmanian air is the cleanest in the world, giving it clean, thirst quenching, rain. They produce still and sparkling versions. My wife loved it, and I think it's marketable. Hey, at least it's not Los Angeles rain! So those are a few notable products, and there is plenty more to share.
- An amazing company we saw was called Project 7! Definitely check them out! 50% of their proceeds go to 1 of 7 charities and you can choose the charity you want. The 7 charities each represent one of the following intentions: 1. to heal the sick, 2. Save the Earth, 3. House the Homeless, 4. Feed the Hungry, 5. Help those in Need, 6. Build the Future, 7. Hope for Peace.
- The CCOF had a booth there and we talked to every vendor about going Organic. Many of the vendors are in the process and working towards certification! It was exciting to see that that was the next step that people knew they had to focus on!
- The Big Bark Bakery is a company based out of Texas, that has all Vegan, wheat-free Dog Treats! They were really friendly and their products were loved by our puppies Tasha and Latte.
We attended a Japanese food and beverage class; that will be a blog of its own. Below are the website of the companies that I spoke of today. Enjoy. Happy Inauguration Day!
vegan chef period.
www.specialtyfood.com
www.nutlandfoods.com
www.hippiechips.net
www.tasmanianrain.com
www.project7.com
www.bigbarkbakery.com
We need help please! We are over 30 percent funded on our Kickstarter Campaign for Sanctuary, a new plant-based bistro to open this Fall in East Bay. Please check it out and consider backing and sharing with your friends. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/473325024/sanctuary-bistro-a-plant-based-bistro-in-the-eastThank you!