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Get Your Own Fancy Foods

YumSugar — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:56:46 -0800

Since I know most of you are outside of the SF Bay Area, I try to keep my posts region free, but this news is too interesting to keep to myself. You know how I went on and on about the Fancy Food Show and how delicious and amazing everything was? Turns out when the show is over, the goods and samples that vendors haven't given away are donated to charity. In this case they were donated to Under One Roof (a non-profit dedicated to AIDS/HIV education and support) and (here's the interesting part) they're going to be on sale. The event lasts four days and begins on Thursday, Feb 15. I don't know about you guys, but I'm definitely going to check it out. To get the details,

2007 Winter Fancy Food Show - Final Recap

YumSugar — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:04:40 -0800

It has only been two weeks, but I feel like I've been talking about the Winter Fancy Food Show for months now. If you're bored of it, don't worry, this is the last one and if you're afraid you've missed some of the coverage, then fear no more. I've got one final recap that rolls all the other recaps into one.

The Winter Fancy Food Show was a "gorge yourself silly, check out our new products and taste our old ones too" sort of an event. With over 1,000 vendors and 80,000 things to eat, it was a bit overwhelming, by day three I was tired of walking the aisles and needed to take a long nap (that happens after a sugar crash).

While there we ran into a few celebrity chefs:

Paula Deen
Ina Garten (aka The Barefoot Contessa) - be sure to see our video interview
Martin Yan - he was also kind enough to do a video interview

We also identified some major food trends:

Teas - blooming teas, organic teas, fair trade teas - be sure to check out our video interview with Ineeka's Shashank Goel
Superfruits - who doesn't love anti-oxidants?

Infused Waters and Sodas - apparently if your water doesn't give you something else, it's just not good enough
Infused Alcohols and Mixers - a drink is no longer just a drink - be sure to check out our video with TMD's enthusiastic Michael Ward
Goat Dairy Products - Move over cows, goats are taking over!
Real wasabi - okay, this one isn't a food trend, but I forgot to mention it anywhere else and wanted to share this picture with you

If all of that is overwhelming, then check out this video clip to get the complete idea:

To check out a LARGE gallery of images,

2007 Winter Fancy Food Show - Part 6 (Tea)

YumSugar — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 15:58:41 -0800

The last trend from the Fancy Food Show that I want to talk about is tea. Ice tea, hot tea, blooming tea, organic tea, chai tea, flavored teas, tea infused chocolate. Tea. Tea. Tea. Tea.

There were at least a billion and a half tea booths (that is not a completely accurate statement, I lost count at around 22 and just rounded up) and most of them had some pretty pleasant teas on hand. The big show crowd pleaser was the new "blooming" teas. These teas are made by hand-tying edible flowers (like roses, carnations, jasmine, etc.) into a ball that "blooms" when placed into hot water. It's pretty gimmicky, but definitely elegant. The only catch is, you'll now have to invest in a clear teapot as well. The one pictured here is either the Jasmine & Chrysanthemum or Jasmine & Marigold from Tzuni (just one of several companies promoting blooming teas). A box of 12 tea "pearls" will set you back $19.20.

Even though there were many normal teas to try, one of my favorites came from Ineeka. Their award winning teas are grown and shipped directly from founder Shashank Goel's family plantations in India. They only use whole leaves with no added flavorings or oils. The teas are treated with love much like a fine wine and their packaging even shows it. It's like loose leaf tea inside of an ingenious tea bag that opens up and allows the tea to unfurl completely. Founder Shashank Goel was kind enough to talk to us about their start, and show us how to brew the perfect cup of delicious tea. Check out the video below to see:

To see more tea coverage,

2007 Winter Fancy Food Show - Part 5 (Superfruits)

YumSugar — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:09:29 -0800

Looks like 2007 is the year of the superfruits. Over the last few years, the solid pomegranate and his pals blueberry and cranberry have done a lot of the groundwork (now almost everyone knows what antioxidants are). With their help, the world is ready for more. While I was at the Fancy Food Show, I noticed that everyone who didn't have a pomegranate flavor, now has one, and those that already did, now have something new. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the superfruits.

2007 Winter Fancy Food Show - Part 4 (Waters and Sodas)

YumSugar — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:15:22 -0800

PartySugar and I don't always agree, for example, she's not a fan of pre-flavored water (preferring to flavor it herself), whereas I sometimes enjoy the convenience of buying pre-flavored water. So when we saw bottle after bottle of flavored or "enhanced" water at the Fancy Food show, she was definitely more skeptical than I. Yet, after the first few booths, my skepticism was almost as high as hers. It seemed like everyone is getting into the "enhanced water" business. And, if they weren't doing enhanced water, then they were marketing soda to adults. Either way, we drank a lot of beverages. Some of them were good, others not so much.

One of the more interesting waters was Nature 101's (a subsidiary of Sugar Bowl Bakery "Vitamin+Fiber Water." I tasted both the guava and the peach flavor and was pleasantly surprised. I also sort of knew what I was getting into since the "80mg of Invisible Dietary Fiber" looked (and tasted) like a lot of Asian jelly drinks, except that the fibers were clear and chopped up to be really tiny. It looks and seems like a sports drink, but beware, there are 120 calories per bottle, so it's not like it has the same caloric content as water. Since I am pretty familiar with Asian jelly drinks, I wasn't that surprised. PartySugar, on the other hand, didn't know what she was getting into. She "liked the magical invisible aspect of it," but it still didn't win her over. It's a new product with limited distribution at the moment, but if you can find it, I'd say it's at least worth a try.

To check out more "enhanced waters," as well as sodas made for grownups,

Fancy This: We Chat With The Barefoot Contessa

YumSugar — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 08:01:12 -0800

What do you know? It's time for even more Fancy Foods coverage! This time we've got a nice treat for all of you. Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa herself, was there and she kindly took a few minutes out of her schedule to answer a few of our questions. PartySugar was pretty star struck, but who could blame her, I mean this wasn't just any celebrity chef this was the Contessa!

2007 Winter Fancy Food Show - Part 3 (Alcohols & Mixers)

YumSugar — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 13:48:48 -0800

DSC_8290.JPGBelieve it or not, we're not finished with all of our Fancy Foods coverage. There are still a few trends that I wanted to discuss in a little more depth, so expect a few more posts throughout the week. Today it's the all things alcohol trend. Okay, so this isn't exactly a new thing, but it was definitely something I noticed a lot of. There were organic mixers, regular mixers; hand bottled infused alcohols, organic alcohols, new flavors and so much more.

One of my favorite things at the entire show was the Tamborine Mountain Distillery booth. At first I was just wild for founder Michael Ward (when you watch the video you'll find out why, he's so amazingly charismatic and fun!), but after tasting several of the infused liqueurs as well as the Australian Vodka Company vodkas, I was wild for their product too. They were all deliciously smooth (seriously, the Lemon Myrtle vodka was amazing) and beautiful (the liqueur bottles are all hand-painted). Besides, he's a great storyteller and like I said, I was wild for him too. To check out their history in Michael Ward's own words, watch the video (more show highlights below the video, so scroll down).

Two more products I liked, plus a gallery of others,

Check Out What We Saw at the Fancy Food Show

YumSugar — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 07:59:34 -0800

Our fabulous Sugar video producer finally awoke from his cured meat and cheese induced coma and has created this great video overview of the 2007 Winter Fancy Food Show. Warning: you might want to put on a bib, there are some drool-worthy scenes ahead!

Happy Hour: Vignette Wine Country Soda

YumSugar — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 13:36:18 -0800

Last weekend, I headed over to 'wichcraft (Tom Colicchio's casual sandwich spot) for a tasty fried egg sandwich (which was yummy, if not a bit too heavy on the frisée). I was originally going to grab a nice refreshing bottle of water to accompany my meal when out of the corner of my eye I spotted this lovely little soda bottle. Upon inspection I saw that it was called Vignette Wine Country Soda, and well, I can't explain it, but just looking at it made my mouth start drooling like one of Pavlov's dogs.

So naturally, I put down the bottle of water and grabbed a bottle of the Chardonnay flavored soda instead. Now I assumed it would be a refreshing addition to my lunch, but I was not expecting it to be as delicious as it was. It was a crisp, bubbly kick in the tastebuds - not too sweet and with a subtle fruit flavor. I only wish all Chardonnay could taste this nice.

Also, while I was at the Fancy Food Show I had the opportunity to talk to founder Patrick Galvin. He let me know that Vignette is the first carbonated soft drink completely sweetened with the juice from Californian varietal wine grapes and is completely natural. While there, I took a taste test of the Pinot Noir flavor. Although it was also tasty, it just didn't seem to have the crisp, freshness that the Chardonnay had. But then again, regular Pinot doesn't really have the same crispness as real Chardonnay either.

Order yourself a bottle at Hello Delicious, but be warned, it's $4 a bottle. I'd like to say it's worth the price (it is delicious), but I'm pretty cheap and know that I purchased it for much less than that. Unfortunately it's slowly rolling out into stores, so unless you live near a store that carries Vignette, you'll have to pony up and pay the price.

January 26 UPDATE: Patrick Galvin just informed me that the price is now back to $2.50 a bottle at Hello Delicious. Now that's a price I can handle.

He also wanted to let me know that at the show, the "preference for the Chardonnay or Pinot Noir has consistently been split 50/50."

2007 Winter Fancy Food Show - Part 2 (Goat Cheese!)

YumSugar — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:54:40 -0800

Trendspotting: Goat Cheese and Friends
Like I mentioned earlier, we ate a lot of cheese at the Fancy Food Show. But oddly enough, we ate more goat milk flavored items than cow milk flavored items. Now there's nothing wrong with goat cheese (in fact, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the stuff), but it seemed as if goat milk products far outnumbered cow milk products. And I know that goat milk has been a trend for a little while (in fact I'd seen a lot of these products before), but it was still surprising to see so many of them under one roof.

There were too many products to actually keep up with, but here are a few that garnered my taste bud's full attention:

Goat Milk Butter from Meyenberg
This was one of my favorite things at the show. It was a rich creamy European style butter but with a rich goaty flavor. I had to go back for seconds... actually thirds.
Creamy Goat Cheese from the Vermont Butter & Cheese Company
This was a nice and spreadable goat cheese that was available in three flavors: Classic, Roasted Red Pepper and Olive & Herb. I thought it might make a nice alternative to cream cheese in the morning, or tossed with pasta.

Four more and a photo gallery, so

Happy Hour: Kono Marlborough Pinot Noir

partysugar — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:35:56 -0800

When YumSugar and I were trend watching at the Fancy Food Show earlier this week, I was really into tasting all of the wines and liquors. Ok I was really into tasting just about everything, but I was paying special attention to anything that would make my next party super duper fabulous (yummy international wines, infused and organic vodkas, martini glasses shrunken to the size of a shot glass, etc). While there, I was lucky enough to meet John, a handsome fellow with sandy colored hair who was pouring tastings of his Kono Marlborough Pinot Noir from New Zealand. It was love at first sight. With the wine that is, not with John (who was disappointingly not even from New Zealand). He imports the wine in from the Marlborough region of the country. Think "Marlborough is to New Zealand as Napa is to California", the premium wine location.

The Pinot Noir was so incredibly smooth that it would pair well with anything from sausage pizza to roast leg of lamb. It had a savory ripe plum, smoky oak and dark spice aroma with a long elegant finish. The wine slipped down my throat like silk and all I wanted to do was ask John to pour me a full serving so I could leisurely walk through the cheese and salami aisles enjoying the Pinot to its fullest. Unfortunately I only had one sip left and I was saving it for YumSugar to taste, so my fantasy of savoring the wine was put on hold. Until this afternoon when I went to pick up my very own bottle (Trader Joe's for the moderate price of $12.99).

If olive oil can be called liquid gold than Pinot Noir should be named liquid rubies. Now if I only I could find a good-looking sandy haired guy from New Zealand to share my bottle with...

For more information on John and his Pinot Noir (including their interesting indigenous story surrounding the company) visit Kono New Zealand's website.

2007 Winter Fancy Food Show - Part 1

YumSugar — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 08:00:00 -0800

As you probably know, PartySugar and I have spent the last several days at the SF Fancy Food Show. Just so that you get the idea of what it's all about, let me start by saying that it's a bajillion square miles of food vendors, food packaging, gift baskets and anything and everything you can think of food related. Okay, so it wasn't really a bajillion square miles, but it was HUGE. There were over 1,000 companies from all over the world, hawking products ranging from homemade gingerbread to fiber water and everything in between.

While there we met some famous faces (Paula Deen, Martin Yan and Ina Garten) and some not as famous faces (Heidi Swanson from 101cookbooks.com and Cybele from Candyblog.com).

We also ate and drank everything. Cheese, chocolate, carica (a delicious chilean fruit), sparkling juice, sorbet, infused water, freeze dried fruit, infused liqueurs, drink mixers, cured meats, bacon, hot sauces, teas, pomegranate jelly beans and just about anything else people shoved into our faces. It was like food heaven - carpeted, flourescently lit food heaven.

Although there were over 80,000 items on display (I'm pretty sure I read that in one of the brochures), there were definitely some things we kept seeing over and over again. Some of the big trends were:

Anti-oxidants - the trend is still riding high, only this year it's goji berries
Infused waters and soda marketed for adults
Tea - especially a "blooming" tea
Goat milk products - move over little cows!
Infused liqueurs and easy drink mixers
Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate - actually seems that dark isn't a trend anymore, it's more of a standard

I'm working on posts for some of the big trends, so stay tuned. Also, we lured our amazing Sugar video producer with promises of free cured meats and candied apples, so stay tuned for some great video footage too! Now if only we had smell-o-vision, or better yet, taste-o-vision!

Meet Martin Yan

YumSugar — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 08:58:17 -0800

When I decided to go to the 2007 SF Fancy Foods Show, I had no idea that I would run into celebrity chefs. First there was Paula Deen and then a few minutes later, why look, it's Martin Yan.

Martin took time from his busy presentation schedule to answer a few of our questions. Check it out and let us know what you think! And boy does he look "maah-valous!"

Guess Who?

YumSugar — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:35:15 -0800

Guess who we saw at the SF Fancy Foods Show today?
To see who, just

Do You Buy Organic Foods?

YumSugar — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 09:08:11 -0800

Yesterday marked day one of the 2007 San Francisco Winter Fancy Foods Show (I'll be spotlighting my favorite finds throughout the week). And although I'm not a morning person, I somehow managed to get my butt in gear in order to be seated for the 8:30am keynote by Eric Schlosser (author of Fast Food Nation). During his keynote, which even Schlosser noted as depressing for an early Sunday morning, he talked about the state of our nation's eating habits and how unfortunate they are. We live in an era where (according to Schlosser's research), one of every five children eat french fries every day, and most of us consume what is quick and available. Overall, it was quite bleak, and mildly depressing (9am is really too early to learn about obese chickens grown for McNuggets). However, even when faced with all of his sad statistics, Schlosser manages to stay optimistic because: It's not the fast food in the title that I care about, it's the nation.

He also remains optimistic due to the growth of consumer awareness. In the last 5-10 years, he has seen many more consumers become concerned with what they're eating, as well as a larger interest in organic and local foods.So reader, how about you? Do you buy organic foods?

Do You Buy Organic Foods?

I'd buy organic, but it's too expensive.

I sometimes buy organic.

I buy organic whenever possible.

If I can't buy organic, I just won't buy it.

What's organic?

Organic is a meaningless marketing term.

Other - Let us know what you think below.