At the Winter Fancy Food Show

This is my second day at the San Francisco Winter Fancy Food Show after a gap of a few years. It's larger and busier than ever and loud, colorful and tasty.

I'm posting this with Blogger mobile for iPhone so I am not writing a full report here due to technical limitations, but some highlights:

Cultured non-diary cheese from Miyoko 

Full leaf tea in a bag from Silk Road Teas

Smoked soy sauce from Igeta (not yet available in the USA)

Roland Foods seasonings and sauces (unfortunately mostly food service)

More as I explore further and get home to a real keyboard. In the meantime as a sign on one display says: It's raining chocolate.

Green Tea Diaries - Oh What's in My Cup

My favorite green tea in my favorite tea thermos, both from China

I like to start morning off with a cup of green tea.

For years that tea was blended by Gypsy Zen Tea, a California company known for its creative blending of teas and other natural ingredients that has done me wrong twice. First I had to stave off its discontinuance of my beloved Cocaberry blend by mail order and Grocery Outlet shopping and then I had to go through that all over again when Gypsy Zen ended production of pomegranate green tea replacement I compromised on.

Now I'm just playing the green tea field, brewing up individual samples of tea bags I've collected at Fancy Food shows and elsewhere as well as going through my own substantial stash of loose and bagged teas. (FYI - for more serious tea drinking I prefer full leaf brewed teas without added flavors - but my morning tea is different.)

Below is a list of the teas I've sampled with any notes. I'm sure eventually I'll fall in love with another tea and eventually that tea will become unavailable but at least this way I'll have a lot of tasting notes to call on to find a replacement. Watch for Facebook and Twitter status updates for additions to this list.

Most of these teas are bagged, I'll note when they are not.  These teas tend to taste best and not need additional sugar when brewed with just under boiling temperature water and steeped for only a few minutes.

Many bagged green teas in this country look like sweepings from the processing room floor - tiny bits of chaff and dried leaves.  I've indicated when a bag seems to be filled with full leaves.

My favorite morning green tea of all time is the loose leaf jasmine blend I brought back from China.  I keep it in an airtight container and just need a pinch to make a lovely cup. 

• Stash Moroccan mint (a stand by - I think the mint helps the taste)
• Te sweetest jasmine pearls (the best so far -- nice fabric tea bag and nice leaves)
• Stash fusion green and white tea
• Harney tropical green
• Te Shangri La (nice leaves, nice bag but didn't care for added flavor)
• Republic of Tea Pineapple Ginger (doesn't seem to go bitter, nice pineapple taste)
• Harney's Bangkok Green Tea (silk "sachet" with slighter larger tea leaves but still bits and pieces. Very strong coconut and ginger flavor, seems more like a Thai sauce than a tea.)
• Lahaha Jasmine Green Tea (sachet type tea bag with full leaves.  Very perfumy, but nice, no bitterness at all.  Organic, all natural.)
• Lahaha Lemon Green Tea (same sachet, decent tea leaves, dried lemon peel pieces). Not so good. No lemon flavor.  More bitter than the jasmine.  Would not have again.
• Tea Tibet "Kindness" Green Tea.  Just green tea -- but the best cup of plain green tea I've ever had from a tea bag.  Quality tea leaves (maybe a bit broken rather than whole).  This is a non profit company that supports Tibetan educational projects and orphanages created by Kombucha Wonder Drink.  The tea itself is from northern India.  www.teatibet.org
• Ahmed Green Tea with Mint - first one that needed sugar -- tasty with it, not so without
• Numi Gunpowder Green - a superior taste, would definitely get again
• Republic of Tea Honey Ginseng Green Tea -- not bad, but I kept thinking I was drinking a melted cough drop.  If I had throat issues or a cough I'd drink this up.

More to come!

My Lemon Mint Tea Story - From Hammam to Tea Cup

This the first in an occasional series highlighting some of the many teas I regularly drink  (or at least sample).  Since I just inventoried my decaf and herbal teas I know I have 27 boxes or tins of these types alone so this could be a very long running feature.  In addition, I have another few dozen individual leftover and sample tea bags, too.  I haven't begun to inventory the black, green and white teas  I've accumulated.  Plus I have a lot of tea strainers, pots and other equippage to blog about. Oh, and the Fancy Food Show is next month and I always find new teas to try there.

I first learned about the wonderfully refreshing powers of lemon mint tea while I was laying half naked on a small towel on a large marble platform surrounded by billowing, hot steam in a Turkish hammam looking up at the intricately carved domed ceiling and feeling languid in the heat. Christina, one of my traveling companions, was telling me how she was able to find this tea, a favorite of hers she has bought all over the Middle East in Istanbul and encouraged me to seek it out.

"I can't believe Lipton makes it and you can't buy it in the States," she said.

I'm a big fan of both flavors and was intrigued enough to buy a box of Nane Limon Tea (once I had my fill of steam, cold water pool plunges, massages and brisk body scrubs at the hamman) at a Turkish grocery store to bring back with me.

Back in California, I brewed a cup and took a small sip. It was as marvelous as Christina had promised. It is more of an herbal infusion than a tea since the ingredients are pretty much just fruit flavor and herbs such as lemon grass and mint. I found it warming in the winter, cooling in summer.  It was a good pick me up yet it also was a good tea to relax with. It was great iced. It was great hot. Because it was herbal and had no caffeine I could drink it any time.  Only one problem -- I only had 20 tea bags of the stuff.

I hoarded my supply and stopped sharing it with friends and relatives. I searched all the local ethnic and gourmet markets -- no Lipton lemon mint tea, or even any substitutes.

I checked the U.S. Lipton website. Not there.  (But you can see it on the Turkish site.) I thought about mixing a lemon tea with a mint tea and making my own but before I could begin to experiment, I found a replacement brand in a local market specializing in Jewish and Israeli foods.

That's where I found my current lemon mint tea crush -- Wissotzky Nana-Lemon Tea. It's not exactly the same, but very close and wonderful in all the same ways as the Lipton version.  Wissotsky is made in Israel and is available through mail order as well as in some stores here in the U.S.  It's only $2.99 for 20 bags -- a whole lot cheaper than another trip to Istanbul, but of course, the hammam experience is not included.
----------------------------------
The Lipton's box lists ingredients as: lemon grass, mint, lemon peel, lemon flavor, citric acid and chicory root. The Wissotzky tea ingredients as per the box are: Mediterranean spearmint leaves, rosehip, orange and lemon peels, citric acid, spearmint and lemon flavors. I haven't tasted these side by side so I can't say which I like better.

Blog Appetit Goes to the Winter Fancy Food Show

Opening day crowd. Photo by NASFT, used with permission

My feet are sore.  My belly is bulging.  My mind is full of great recipes I'd like to create, products I'd like to highlight and human interest stories I'd like to write.  That's because I spent two days at this year's National Association for the Specialty Food Trade's Winter Fancy Food Show here in San Francisco.  

That's a convention center full of goodies to sample, discuss, photograph and ponder.  I can't believe I covered so much and still missed the guy in the bacon costume or the cheese company making free flip books with participants costumed as over endowed milk maids or saucy cows. 

The place was packed and more than a little overwhelming with more than 80,000 products, so I tried to concentrate on just a few subjects and just take the rest in.

Here are just a few of my favorite new-to me products. I'll be featuring more in the coming weeks, but these made a mighty good first impression on me:

Numi Organic Tea's new savory tea line:  These are flavorful light vegetable broths I think taste amazingly good and are nice restoratives or refreshers by themselves, I think they would be interesting to work into recipes for everything from soups to curries to aspics.  I hope to play with these veggie teas a bit and develop a few recipes.  The line is not listed on the website yet.  The beverages just use vegetables and seasonings for flavor and do not contain any tea so they are naturally caffeine free. Each variety has five calories or less.  Introductory flavors are Tomato Mint, Carrot Curry, Fennel Spice, Spinach Chive, Beet Cabbage and Broccoli Cilantro.Watch for more info from Numi (and me) on this.

Brad's Raw Kale Chips: Kale chips were not hard to find at the show, but these were raw, relatively unprocessed and addictive.  I also liked Brad's raw flavored onion rings and the company's zucchini sticks.  At some point I realized I was eating an inappropriate amount of samples because they were so tasty.  I rationalized it by saying I'd mention them on my blog, so here you go.

Coconut Bliss:  This company managed to combine two of the biggest themes I saw on the convention floor -- coconut and salted caramel flavor.  Unlike many of the flavor combos involving these trendy tastes, though, Coconut Bliss pulled them off in an amazing vegan ice cream. The flavor is so new it's not on it's website yet, but watch for it in local stores.

Oh, and a special shout out to Hudson Valley for it's rich and delectable foie gras product and for the generosity in which they welcomed (repeat) samplers. (Please go to their site to read about their cage free and other innovative methods of humane raising of the ducks that provide the livers they market.)

Watch for me from me on the show and related goings on.  Below are excerpts from the NASFT news release for what it's "trendspotters" saw as up and coming at the show.  To see the complete news release, please go here.

Fancy Food Show Time Again

It's like Christmas in January for food lovers.
It's an annual feast of new and imported delicacies meant for the retail trade but like manna to food bloggers.
It's the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco's Moscone Center.

Sponsored by the National Association of the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT), it's a convention center full (more than 80,000 products) of fine foods (pates, cheeses, chocolates, teas and so very much more from the U.S., Argentina, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Asia and more) and new product introductions ranging from the unexpectedly wonderful (such as beet, Parmesan cheese and cashew dip) to the I'm sorry I stopped to taste it (tasteless grey-looking noodles in a gritty glop of a sauce).

Biggest crowds at booths at the show:

1. Cypress Grove Chevre's goat cheese and beer tasting (I liked the stout with the Humboldt Fog cheese and the miniature beer glass they used to serve the beer in.)

2. Republic of Tea's new loose leaf tea introductions.  Wonderful teas for a company that never compromises on quality or taste.  The fact that they were giving out individual tea presses probably accounting for the 30 people deep lines on both sides of the booth.

3. The booth that had mounted a TV showing the football playoff game.  I couldn't see what they were sampling, but the crowd was so dense I had to elbow my way past them.

Want to read about Fancy Foods past? Click here.

I'm going back today for more.  Watch for a full report here at Blog Appetit.  Meanwhile, what NEW food product do you wish would be introduced? 

-------------------------
Graphic credit:  NASFT

Back to the Future (of Food Products) - Fancy Food Shows Prelimminary Report

In just a few minutes I'll be off for my second day at the Fancy Food Show.
Some quick impressions (admittedly I've only seen have of the exhibits so far, though)

Year of the Organic Munchie -- Natural, good for you, good for the environment treats seem to be big -- lots of nuts, crackers, seeds, bars, dried fruit, etc. I was joking that it seemed to be the year of sticks and twigs when I saw a product labeled "Twigs and Sticks." Bonus karma points for high fiber, organic, fair trade and gluten free. Following up on the munchie theme -- a big display for "Hippie Chips" with lots of tye-died adorned hippie chicks handing out samples.

Year of the Rain Forest -- Lots of products from the Amazon, South and Central America

Best thing I put in my mouth -- Pistachio oil ice cream and VoVo's chocolates (details to come)

A sign of the times: Appears that there are less exhibitors, sample sizes seem smaller, and so far I haven't seem many luxe foods.

Update for day two

I did the South Hall, and there were all the truffled pates, rich cheeses and chocolates of my dreams missing from yesterday's trek through the North Hall, which had an organic and health focus. They were yummy. (FYI -- if you walked every section of the North Hall you covered 1.3 miles. I did it twice.)

Two of my favorites today were the goat cheese macarons at Fabrice Delicacies and the roast pork porchetta at Petite Porchetta. Info and links to come.

If my first day was the Year of Natural Munchies, the theme of the second seemed to be the Year of the Pig. Lots of observations and comments on that to come.

I also attended the independent Food Fete media event which featured Sub Rosa's wonderfully mysterious saffron vodka and other lovely products. More on that later as well.

Special shout out to my food blogging friends An Open Cupboard, Wasabimon, Heat Eat Review, Cooking with Amy, Candy Blog, The Picky Eater and others I spotted at the Fancy Food show or the Food Fete. And special thanks to the glamourous, marvelous and generous food writer Marlena Spieler for letting me stalk her the past few days.

More later!

Coming Attractions: Tamale Party, Fancy Food Show

Since I made my tzimmes tamales a few weeks ago, I've been wanting to try making them again. A few friends came over to help form the roasted green pepper and cheese tamales and chicken mole tamales. As we filled and formed, wrapped, stuffed and tied, a kind of grace descended on us; the timeless connection of women working together in the kitchen from Chessy, age 9, to me, well, the oldest. Secrets were shared, stories told, connections made. Time (and the pile of tamales) grew. While eating the tamales was tasty, the time we spent making them was even more special. (to be continued ...)

Today is the first day of the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. I'll be attending it and related events over the next few days.

Look for my tamale party write up (with recipes for the fillings and a NEW posole recipe, too) and my dispatches about the food show.

In addition to the above, I have some other, new recipes to post as well as some of the items I promised here.

My Well Fed Report on the Winter Fancy Food Show

Here's a reprint -- My Well Fed report on yesterday at the Winter Fancy Food Show.

This was featured on Well Fed on the Town and the Well Fed "front page." Check it out there to see any comments and the photo of Linda and her laktes.

---

Life was sweet in San Francisco this Sunday. It was also salty, sour, saucy and very tasty. It was the opening day of the Winter Fancy Food Show, sponsored by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, Inc.

About 17,000 food buyers and other attendees swarmed the more than 1,200 exhibits featuring everything delicious, at least to someone. Most booths offered some kind of sample. Rare cheeses, serrano ham, and caviar with flavored popcorn, salsa and chips, chocolates and candies, teas, coffees, cookies, and much, much more. In my first relatively quick walk through (which took about five hours) of the 198,000 square feet of exhibit space at SF’s Moscone Center I began to process a bit of what I was seeing and tasting. Some first impressions:

Elvis Lives — Flavored and gourmet peanut butters and bacon-flavored products (including smoked salts and mayonnaise and dips) were in evidence at several booths. One brand of bacon-flavored products was even kosher, a mind boggling thought. Elvis might have especially liked the banana-flavored peanut butter. I know I did.

Sugar and Spice — Flavored and gourmet salts were well represented, besides the bacon-flavored salts. I was intrigued with a chocolate-flavored salt. With all the chocolate caramels I tasted at the show made with sea salt, grey salt, fleur de sel, Hawaiian salt, wine-infused salt, etc, it seems like a natural match. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to sample that. Flavored sugars, spice mixes and spice rubs were also well represented. One exhibitor that caught my eye was The Spicy Gourmet which offers a “grind-it-yourself” assortment of spices (including a spice grinder).

Tea Tease — Each year I attend there seems to be more and more tea vendors. While there are still plenty of traditional tea bags out there, loose teas and more “authentic teas” are gaining favor. I spent some time at the Dragon Pearl Whole Teas booth, learning about the benefits of organic tea. I also noticed that oolong tea seems to be becoming more of a sought-out ingredient, perhaps because of its association with weight loss. Besides Stash’s oolong blends, I also saw other vendors offering bottles of oolong iced tea, oolong energy and antioxidant drinks and more. Puerh tea seems to be coming into its own, too, especially at the Numi booth.

Children’s Hour — Motherhood seems to be the motivation for some gourmet products from Linda’s latkes (potato pancakes) to whole grain porridge. I also saw a number of exhibits with baking or cooking kits aimed at the young. For the young at heart there were jars of buttercream just waiting to be spread on cupcakes, gourmet lollipops and homemade marshmallows.

Around the World — While vendors from around the world were scattered through the show floor, there were some national groups — Canada, Chile, Italy, Spain, France come to mind. I also saw some exhibitors from Tunisia (a lot of olive oil and tuna fish) and even Egypt (frozen vegetables).

Chocolates — The trend toward single “vintage” or single source chocolate continues, as does flavoring chocolate with wines, spices and chilies. I didn’t notice as many sources of hot chocolate as I had in the past, but the one I tried I nearly swooned over. Belgian chocolate ganache on a stick you swirl in hot milk. (I also tried swirling it in my coffee for a luscious mocha.)

Downsizing — I saw some cheeses and even a pate that were boasting they now come in smaller serving sizes. I don’t know if that is a price issue or a way to get into the single serving market, but I thought it was interesting.

Health Matters — Lots and lots of drinks and teas promoted for your health, but I saw a lot fewer mangosteen and pomegranate options than in the past. Flavoring goodies with agave nectar (for a lower glycemic impact than sugar) and offering gluten free products seemed to be new trends. There were also a few booths promoting products to freshen your breathe.

Mix It Up — I saw lots and lots of mixes ranging from packs for slow-cooker dinners to the ubiquitous chocolate lava cake. One I won’t be trying soon is the carrot cake whoopie pie. When I make whoopie, I want chocolate.

I’ll be digesting everything I saw (and tasted) for a while and look forward to writing more about the companies, products and trends I discovered
-------------------------
Food Fete Update -- I attended a "media" event designed to showcase sponsored brands at the Fancy Food Show called Food Fete on Monday night. As usual, it was a great time (thanks Jeff and Dave and staff). I tend to use the event as background info for future posts not the stuff of a post on it's own. But Ben of Cooking With the Single Guy did a fabulous write up over on his blog, so I'm linking to it here so you can see what we ate, who we met, etc.
Thanks, Ben.
-------------------------

About the photo — Special for Blog Appetit readers -- Choco-O-Lait's Belgian hot chocolate on a stick.

Winter Fancy Food Show -- San Francisco Treats

Spent the day at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco.

I wrote a post on my first impressions for Well Fed on the Town. As soon as it posts (which I hope will be first thing tomorrow), I'll link to it or repost it here so you can read all about my adventures in fine (and not so fine) food.

The best thing I ate today was perhaps Choc-O-Lait's Belgian hot chocolate (ganache on a stick you swirl into hot milk). If I wasn't such a chocoholic it might have been some of the wonderful cheese, sausages or other savories I sampled, but I have my priorities.

Things I wished I hadn't put in my mouth -- tofu jerky (original flavor, maybe one of the other variations would have been better, but I just couldn't taste another), a vegetarian "roast," and a chocolate-covered Asian rice cracker (small but deadly).

The best non-chocolate drink I sipped today -- a tie between Zhena Gypsy's Cacaoberry tea (which is good for you, too), Tea Forte's lemongrass mint infuser for spirits and cocktails and Fever-Tree's bitter lemon soda.

The drink I wished I had skipped today -- a bright pink, sugary kid's drink I had been curious about. Amazingly the blue one wasn't that bad.

Food that most surprised me -- Laxmi's Delights' organic golden flaxseed spread with dates and orange juice. It had a taste something like a chutney crossed with halavah and almond butter. I immediately started thinking how I would use it in grilled sandwiches, crepes and dosas.

Biggest thrill -- Getting to meet Paul Prudhomme, who is one of my sister's favorite chefs. (I got his autograph for her, really nice guy.) My sister swears by his blackened redfish spice mix which she uses for everything from dips to, well, blackened redfish.

Watch for the Well Fed piece for my not-to-serious take on some trends and other products I liked.

The best part of the show for me was getting to meet the people who make the different food products. I hope to research and feature these producers and their products in the weeks to come.
--------------------
About the photo: Chef Paul Prudomme at the show today

Tea and Me

Several years ago the now no-longer published Veggie Life magazine asked its readers what childhood books inspired their imaginations, particularly if there was a connection to food. It seems I was the only reader that responded and they excerpted a large chunk of my letter and created some recipes to go with my remembrances.

I received pride of quasi-authorship and a few copies of the magazine. Not much, but I was out of the closet with my passion for teas.

Earlier today, I was channel surfing when I caught a bit of the 1994 movie version of A Little Princess and it reminded me of my letter to Veggie Life and I thought I would share it with you.

If you have a tea memory (or a recipe using tea or to accompany tea, please feel free to leave a comment below with the info and/or links).

Edited excerpts from my letter:

Thanks to an English cousin, I developed quite a thirst for English literature and tea, both the beverage and the meal. One birthday she gave me copies of Jane Eyre and A Little Princess. The books were different than any others I had read and the people in them different than those in my suburban experience. My fascination began with the simple, nourishing teas of Jane Eyre and the tea and suppers that appeared as if by magic in the attic of Sara, the Little Princess.

The affection for and restorative powers of tea intrigued me and as I read more of English literature and contemporary British novels, I began to be fixate on what the characters had at tea. I felt let down if it was just beans on toast, which, if you ask me, the characters wouldn’t want either, if you could ask them.

I have to admit in the beginning I didn’t quite “get” tea. One memorable teen-age attempt at sophistication ended up with me curdling my own tea after adding both lemon and cream. Unfortunately there were witnesses.

But tea soon became a way of life for me. At college in New York City I discovered “loose” teas and a world of tea flavors other than Lipton’s. With a tea ball, mug and an illegal heating coil to boil the water in my dorm room I felt quite the sophisticate and discovered the delights of Russian caravan, fine oolongs and herbal blends.

My mother and I also began a tradition of having teas wherever we traveled. With her I had some memorable “cream teas” at Harrods and other British institutions as well as throughout America. Tea became another way to bond with my mother and later my mother-in-law.

Return visitors to my house know better than to ask what kind of tea I have. They just go to the cupboard and make their own selection -- caffeinated to the right and herbal to the left.

I’ve also begun to use tea as an ingredient in other recipes. Some favorites: Moroccan Mint sorbet, herbal tea spritzers, tea “gelee” and recipes using an infusion of tea for flavoring.

I even celebrated more than one important birthday with tea at local cafes. I’ve been trying my best to interest my two sons in my passion for the beverage. The older one seems immune, but younger one has on more than one occasion asked me to buy him his own tin of a favorite tea. Now if I can only get him to read Charlotte Bronte and Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Note: To read Jane Eyre or A Little Princess on line for free from the wonderful non-profit Project Gutenberg, please click on the links.

-------------------------------------------------
About the photo: At the last Fancy Food Show in San Francisco I met the owners of TeaSpot, a tea distributor and manufacturer of this nifty tea brewing cup. No bag needed, put your loose tea in the ceramic basket and brew. When the tea is ready, you can rest the basket on top of the upside down lid to prevent a dripping mess. Or use the lid to help keep the tea warm. TeaSpot gave me one on the spot and I use it all the time. The company refers to this product line as "steepware" and also offers covered mugs and teapots. I especially liked their Meditative Mind tea (white tea with rosebuds and green jasmine pearls). The company donates a percentage of its profits to various causes and buyers can select where the money is to be donated.

It's Hard to Keep My Matronly Figure ...

... After three days of attending the Fancy Food Show and eating every chocolate truffle, black truffle and other goodie I could. Today was the last day. I only went for a few hours to wrap up a few things I didn't have a chance to do the other days. I tasted something like eight different hot chocolates, reshot some photos that didn't come out right, did a "focused tasting" of chocolates and kept bumping into other Bay area bloggers.

Once Amy, Elise and Heidi (among others) have posted their reports, I'll be sure to provide the links so you can see what they saw, tasted, experienced and thought as well as me. It was such a huge show and everyone brings something different to it (and expects something different) that I thought it would be fun to share our perspectives.

I need time to digest what I saw and did, so give me a little time to cogitate and I'll be posting lots of tasty bits.

-----

In other news, please click on over to
Sweetnicks to check out her popular Antioxidant Rich Food recipe roundup.

Also, click on over to Sugar Savvy to see my "teaser" post about chocolate at the Fancy Food Show.

Glutton for Punishment

Dear Blog,

Well, I went back to the Fancy Food Show today. Even though I promised myself I really would be more in control, I still just sampled and sampled. Part of it was my overwhelming desire to taste and report, but most of it was gluttony.

Did I really NEED to taste three (no, actually four) kinds of caviar? No. But it was there. And it was free (well, except for the time lost from work and the killer parking fee.)

If I was keeping a Weight Watchers style food journal (yeah, right, I just gave up my diet for the duration) and writing down every bite I would either be put away for my very bizarre eating combinations (following up an artichoke garlic dip with a chipolte caramel immediately before trying a kosher wine from Spain) or for the sheer idiocy of attempting to eat the equivalent of perhaps half of the world's supply of chocolate in one day.

Needless to say, I am going back for more tomorrow. I still haven't gotten to the focused chocolate tasting (a must on my list) and there are still hot chocolates to sample. I also must go back for more of the Persian ice cream.

Another trend I spotted today -- antioxidants in teas and some other foods. It did seem that every booth that didn't have chocolate had tea, but that is most likely an exaggeration caused by fatigue due walking around all day and my sugar high finally crashing after hours of non-stop chocolate eating.

I have lots more to report and loads of photos and some recommendations. I'll also do a few mini-profiles on some interesting food artisans and manufacturers I met.

Sincerely,

Faith

P.S. -- Yes, I am drinking my water. Today I had (among others) water fortified with calcium, flavored with peppermint, infused with wild berries, and somehow magically transformed by aromatherapy techniques (cinnamon rose flavor.)

Your Reporter at the Fancy Food Show

Spent the day at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, tasting, looking, occasionally sniffing (and once or twice spitting out, discretely and into a napkin) and asking lots and lots of questions of the people who are coming up with new or better and improved or in some cases just different food products.

I'll share lots of this info with you in the posts to come. I'll also be posting round ups in the next weeks on Sugar Savvy especially about the hot chocolates I tried and loved (to be honest, so far all of them) and candies for Valentine's Day.

One observation. There was not one exhibit on low-fat OR low-carb food or health food options. There was coffee with roasted soy (bleech), organic gin, sugar-free chocolate (tend not to eat it 'cause the sweeteners they use don't agree with me) and lots and lots of granola, but there wasn't a whiff of health concerns in the air (which smelled like chocolate, Thai noodles or Spanish ham, depending where you were standing in the Moscone Convention Center). Full fat, full carbs and full taste seemed to be the order of the day. I ate it up (yes, literally.)

I'm going back in for more tomorrow.