Trend Finds at the Summer Fancy Food Show

Visiting NYC and attending the Specialty Food Association's Summer Fancy Food Show is always a thrill! Here is the start of my finds and trend discoveries at this year’s show.

🥔 Potato chips have become a canvas for trends. Today's "health-centric" beef tallow trend led to delectable chips from Beefy's Own. For those of us who recall those McDonald's fries cooked in tallow -- this chip is for you! But another stand-out innovation was Folds, a folded potato chip created by two women who dug into the chip bag for the folded ones and created a brand featuring only folded chips - they intensify the taste and the eating experience. Keya's Snacks Indian Spiced Chips in Black Salt and Bombay Spice showed how global flavor profiles can elevate the chip experience.

🌵 More meaningful dips are coming to market. Thanks to our snacking culture and a desire to have positive nutrition, flavor adventure and amazing textures with every food item, entrepreneurs keep creating more creative and varied dips. Señor Cactus features nopales in its Mexican-flavored goat milk dips. Bezi Labneh dips use high-protein fresh cheese with fewer calories and less lactose than cottage cheese. Little Sesame uses high-pressure processing for its hummus made with fresh lemon juice, olive oil and no preservatives for an outstanding flavor and beyond-creamy texture. Waza Waza Bean Dips deliver global flavors like Thai Tom Yum and Mexican Spicy Pepita through its smooth bean dips that are also high in protein. 

🍫 Conscientious chocolate is where new brands are headed.  UpUp Chocolate from the UK is 100% Verified Child Labour Free and B Corp Certified, and made from single-estate cacao from Colombia. Oso Cocoa, a single-origin, Mexican chocolate, shows off unique Mexican flavor profiles: Sweet Potato & Amaranth and Mango Chle-Lime. Figa Foods uses the seeds of Brazilian cupuaçu fruit, a cousin of cacao, to craft chocolate-style bars sweetened with dates and enhanced with cocoa butter. This practice supports crop diversity and rainforest health. The caffeine-free bars come in Pure, Salty, and Fruity versions. 

For a gallery of photos, visit my post on at LinkedIn.