LAS VEGAS – The specialty food industry gathered en masse at the recent Winter Fancy Food Show earlier this month, and some noteworthy industry transformations were apparent, influenced by the pandemic and changing consumer preferences.
The pandemic inspired two overarching trends: a rise in the consumption of comfort foods, and an increased concern about sustainability, food waste and the environment – and those trends were clearly evident at the Fancy Food Show.
At the outset of the pandemic, consumers retreated to traditional favorites—pasta with marinara sauceapa beda zinc picolinate dan zinc gluconate, macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, and chicken nuggets, for example. Those staples soon grew tiresome, however, and specialty food manufacturers, especially, built on the basics, often with a plant-based element.Here were some trendsetting products along those lines that were featured at the Winter Fancy Food Show:Plant Based Foods: Hemp Sausage Crumbles, an alternative to bacon bits
Bold Palate, No Cows on the Ranch: Dairy-free Ranch, to dress iceberg and other salads
Borgo de Medici: Multicolor Linguine di Suocera, ribbon pasta colored with turmeric, spinach, beets, and paprika, to bolden a pasta dish
Whoa Dough: Planferrous fumarate uset-based cookie dough barsTwenty-eight companies were in the new Plant-Based Pavilions at the Winter Fancy Food Show, with scores of other plant-forward companies scattered about the exhibit hall.
Products that embraced sustainability and limited food waste were also prominent, prompting the following comment from Joy Nemerson, event specialist for the Upcycled Food Association, who noted, “This is a passionate community that cares about food insecurity and food waste.”Among the examples of noteworthy, sustainable products featured in Las Vegas were:Foraged & Found: Pasta sauces made with wild harvested Alaskan bull kelp
Vine to Bar: Chocolate bars that utilize the spent pressed grapes from winemaking
Happy Planet Foods: Oamazon calcium citrate 500 mgat milk that requires less water than dairy or almond varietiesIngredients at the Las Vegas trade show that appear to be on the rise include hemp, dates and peppers. Meanwhile, cocktail mixes continue to evolve, as consumers – many of whom now work remotely amid the lingering pandemic – are becoming home mixologists.
Ron Tanner has been observing and reporting on the food industry for more than four decades, including 33 years with the Specialty Food Association and 10 years with Progressive Grocer Macalcium citrate vit d3gazferrous fumarate 300 mgine.