The Natural Products Expo West show in Anaheim was in six (count ’em, six) Halls this year. Seemed like about 2 1/2 halls devoted to actual food, one hall to nutritional supplements and the remainder to “living.”
Dried seaweed snacks from Korea and Japan were big — lots of booths showing these, as was popcorn — popcorn chips, popcorn cakes (sort of like second generation Rice Krispie treats), and lots of gluten, lactose, nut-free products.
Soy wasn’t so big, but hemp was — hemp milk, hemp cheese, hemp bread and crackers, even a hemp yogurt and frozen dessert.
Didn’t seem to have a lot of emphasis on “vegan” or “veggie” — more towards the “-free” (so, marketing more of a dairy-free, egg- free, whey- and lactose-free “cheese” ravioli, rather than calling it “vegan”- although it is labeled “vegan” and “kosher.”)
Not a lot of synthetic meats — more on the ethnic, veggie side, such as ready-to-eat falafel, vegetable fritters or patties, sweet potato patties, vegan-stuffed pastas or potato dumplings (although billed as the “-free” stuff, rather than vegan).
Water and tea in every conceivable form and packaging was a big deal.
And, as you can imagine, green, green, green!
Hain had an enormous booth. Soy Dreams was pushing almond and coconut frozen desserts a lot.
Jyoti was showing two new products, Mung Dal with spinach, and Channa Dal with zucchini.
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