Fancy Food Show fun

If you've never had the pleasure of witnessing the insanity that is the Fancy Food Show, picture the Javits Center in Manhattan filled hundreds upon hundreds of food vendors, all giving out what seems like an endless array of samples. It's a chance for industry types to see the latest food-product trends and try food from all over the world. (Note to self: next time, get to the France and Italy sections before Hour 4, or at least before I'm already stuffed and waddling.)

The show wound up yesterday. Some of my highlights, local and otherwise:

-Meeting the South Hackensack company launching a new product, My Special Tea, which is "Japanese Gourmet Powdered Green Tea," soon (they hope) available in stores.

-Meeting Louis Bivona, the Tenafly resident who co-founded the local branch of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who is now raising money by selling some marinades, oils, sauces and and salad dressings under the Tavern on the Green name.

-Learning about a new boxed product for the cheese clueless, launched at the show by Hoboken-based Of Course Foods. The Cheese Ambassador "takes the guesswork out of selecting the perfect combination of exquisite cheeses" - it's a box of three pre-selected cheeses in a "complementary array of textures and flavors" like aged gouda, 3-year-old cheddar and cave-aged blue. (President Sara Kahn said she used focus groups to help pick the cheeses, and was surprised that popular cheeses like manchego and comte were axed.)

-Tasting some of my favorite products at the show: the honey lavender fromage blanc from Nettle Meadow Goat Cheese and Farm in Warrensburg, N.Y., the Jansal Valley anise honey at the booth of Massachusetts-based Sid Wainer, the uncured duck hot dogs from Newark-based D'Artagnan, a Naipis yogurt drink (a Chinese product) and avocado oil from, I think, here, but truthfully I neglected to write the company down in my food haze. And, five different kinds of Jamon Serrano.

-Noting tons of products in these categories (none of which will surprise anyone who knows their way around a Whole Foods): ginger, pomegranate, cocoa nibs, flaxseed, multigrain. 

-Drinking Metromint water, which is indeed mint-flavored water. No, actually that reminded me more of watered-down mouthwash. If for some reason someone ties you up and forces you to drink it, pick the lemonmint flavor.

-Getting hugged by famed San Francisco chocolatier Joseph Schmidt, who turns out to be a nice guy as well as a great chocolate guy.

Comments

[Kyate]

You cant complete a fancy food blog with out mentioning miracle fruit! How could you!!! You can find more info or buy Miracle Fruit from www.MiracleFruitHut.com

[Huggles]

What was also great is that all of the leftover food was donated to City Harvest to feed the homeless. Kudos to City Harvest for the huge effort they put into recovering all of this food.

[Kwame]

Buyer beware: Miracle fruit hut.

I've ordered tablets from this vendor and they arrived without any issues. However, I ordered berries on July 10th and at this time I don't have any berries, no responses from the vendor and no refund.

Buyer beware. for more info see my post here:
http://www.miracletaste.com/index.php/topic,67.0.html

[JillL]

Just tried the tablets of these. Got them from Miracle Fruit World http://www.miraclefruitworld.com. It was fun. Ate grapefruit, lemons, limes, lemon yogurt, tonic water. Orange juice was almost too sweet. You'll have fun.

[Danni]

There fantastic for definate, i bought mine from http://www.miraclefruithut.com also, the plants look great indoors and i found myself searching through my house cupboards for more food and drink to try under its taste bud changing effects. I am sure you will also!

[Michele]

Dear Second Helpings,
Well, a few of our consumers have let us know that Metromint is not for everyone...and we hope no one forces any of their friends to drink it, but starting with Lemonmint is a good, subtle choice.

And if nothing else, mint does help kill the bacteria on the tongue...and keeping the breath fresh could be a very good thing, especially after the Fancy Food Show! Stay Hydrated!

Michele
Wellness & Outreach Director
METROMINT