Cuisine Canada Scene

Summer 2010 Fancy Food Show

By Dana McCauley

With over 180,000 products showcased by 2,500 Exhibitors at New York City’s Javitz Center, the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) Fancy Food Show offers an interesting glimpse into the current culinary landscape. Here, in no particular order, are my observations:

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• Pink peppercorns were featured in chocolate products by New Tree and Vosges. At New Tree the chocolate was dark while Vosges used lemon scented white chocolate as foil to this sweetly spiced berry.

• The show was, quite literally, saturated with teas and coffees. While they featured all the typical spicing and flavours, the real interesting flavour story in the beverage category for me came from Ayla’s organic herb infused water. I think cinnamon-orange peel was my fav.

• Artisan goat cheese was being sampled in abundance and much of it was very, very good; however, the most interesting goat milk product at the show was, IMHO, the goat milk caramels presented by Happy Goat.

• Chips made from pulses (beans, chickpeas, lentils) were plentiful at the show as were “puffed” products such as rice cakes and quinoa. In the case of quinoa it was being used to add crunch to chocolate bars and candies by several confectioners.

• Macarons – both savoury and sweet- were not only popular at the show but also in the shops and cafes in NYC. That said, cupcakes aren’t dead yet. They had less presence at the show but were still wildly popular on the streets.

• Baking mixes by popular sweet establishments were also noteworthy. Pat from Fat Witch Brownies (a Chelsea bakery I’ve loved for years) has a new line of baking mixes that bring Fat Witch favs home as does Vosges.

• Sweet and savoury continues to prevail in a number of ways. Sticky toffee pudding cheese, chocolate chip cheese balls, coconut curry ice cream, bacon toffee ice cream …etc were just a few examples of how this trend is maturing.

• Bacon-flavoured products of all kinds: mayonnaise, applewood smoked, lip balm (seriously) and salt are generally poor quality but in abundance.

• Uncured meats. Uncured hams and artisan bacon of excellent taste and texture were available from quite a few companies.

• Stuff on sticks. Apparently, putting a chocolate or cheesecake on a lolly stick is important in this day and age where no one has time to sit down and eat or to wash their hands when they get a bit sticky.

• Savoury jams and preserves are an emerging trend. Interestingly, few of them – unless they were authentically Indian – were called chutneys.  There was also choice between ketchups of various flavours and levels of artisan-ness (is that word?).

• Very thinly sliced, super crisp biscotti were being marketed as a cracker substitute to serve with cheese by at least two companies.

• Beets – to my delight! – were used as a chip and packaged in cold deli style containers so that no cooking or peeling was required before enjoying them.

• Bialy was a new discovery for me. It’s a cross between a bagel and an English muffin and quite intriguing.

• Pickles are in!  From refrigerator pickle kits to spiced pickles to old fashioned pickles in crocks, people were puckering up in delight.

What else did I learn at the Fancy Food Show?  I learned that there is a lot of competition in this world and that, if you’re looking to get into the food business that you should likely avoid choosing these crowded categories:

• Tea
• Chocolate
• Finishing salts
• Artisan goat cheese

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Dana McCauley is the culinary director at Janes Family Foods, a Canadian food manufacturing company operating for over 40 years.