KosherBuzz

2012 Summer Fancy Food Show

How do we briefly describe aisles and aisles of gourmet foods, all there for 3 days of sampling? Our experience at the massive Summer Fancy Food Show held this week in Washington DC was simply one continuous gala tasting party. We deem the event a “Disneyworld” for foodies, including kosher foodies. As we tirelessly, walked aisle after aisle of this fabulous food show, we were dazzled and delighted with the wide kosher selection. Kosher was almost everywhere! At first glance, or shall we say first tasting, we present a few winners. Many more will follow as we review our extensive list of new kosher discoveries.

Yogurt…Our favorite new find for drinkable yogurt was Siggi’s, a high protein yogurt, and Siggi’s Skyr, a spoonable traditional yogurt of Iceland 

Just when we thought we had yogurt covered we discovered the very delicious, Karoun Dairies Mediterranean style yogurt. We tasted the honey flavor, and it was a HONEY!

Then came the frozen treats such as gelato, yogurt and ice creams:

Chozen is an all natural ice cream. We sampled 3 flavors (Well why not!)  Apples and Honey, Ronne’s Rugelach and Matzoh Crunch. This brand is currently distributed primarily in the Northeast, but stay tuned. It can be ordered online. The company owners are a mother-daughter team.

And of course, how could we resist a taste of one of our very favorites, Ciao Bella – and their new introduction Adonia Greek Frozen Yogurt – so refreshing! By the way Greek frozen yogurt  is a creamy new trend!

Yes, we did finally proceed in our tasting to healthful snacks. We found at least 15 kinds of chips in addition to various types of potato chips including chips made of lentils, veggies, pita, beans, pretzels, dried fruits and more. There were gluten free and salt free, baked and fried. We particularly enjoyed our taste of Snikiddy brand snacks. And, if you follow this link, we are providing a Snikiddy coupon.

There was infused everything, including salt and olive oil; Lots of pasta in so many flavors—but we certainly wish more of the Italian pastas were kosher certified! And then, of course the chocolate—in many guises - infused, flavored, ground, bars, chips, cocoa. It was  a “Willy Wonka” chocolate dream. Ask us about the rich, deep flavors of Guylian.

As avid, amateur but adventurous gardeners, we are anxious to try the innovative gold Sofi award winner, the “grow your own mushroom kit” – yes, in your kitchen – from Back to the Roots.

The product choices were infinite – Himalayan salt, fig and ginger jams and jellies, unusual ketchups, cookies, sorbets, olives, soups, salmon jerky, smoked fish delicacies, coffees, candies, and more — much globally sourced, but even more made in the USA!

We enjoyed seeing friends from “our sweet hometown” Georgia company, Savannah Bee and head beekeeper, Ted Dennard. (We think this is one of the world’s best honeys!)  A highlight of the show for us was our chat with one of the top bean counters on the globe…the amazing CEO of the Jelly Belly company, Herm Rowland. He is an extraordinary businessman, and a nice person. More about this chat in future columns. How wonderful to see multiple generations of a family working together. Our kosher sweet tooth is appreciative to have this product available to us! Want to know what’s in the Jelly Belly pipeline?  It’s going to be hot – Tabasco!

We think that the Summer Fancy Food show trends can be summed up as: healthful, low calorie, protein packed, gluten–free, natural and happily kosher! In fact, according to a recent finding by Mintel, a well recognized London–based leading global supplier of consumer, product and media intelligence, kosher is now the #1 claim on new products.*

Do visit KosherEye often in the next weeks and months, so that we can introduce you to some of our favorite new kosher products, brands and finds!

* “It was found out that among the commodities from the beverage and food industry, “Kosher” garnered 27% (5,606 out of 20,455) making it more popular than the most common claim, “all–natural product”. Lagging behind “kosher” and “all–natural products” are “no additives/preservatives” ,"low/no/reduced allergen," and "gluten–free."