Fancy Foods

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, read more

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!

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,  read more

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!

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."

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 read more

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.

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!

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