San Francisco’s Fancy Food Show
showing their wares
I had no plans to write about my experience at the Fancy Food Show that recently took place in San Francisco; I intended to incorporate what I discovered in future posts, but after receiving many requests to identify what I tried, I reconsidered. After all, is not food something of an ambassador of a county’s culture? If so, based on my time spent in the International section, there is some rumblings, literal chest thumpings as countries showcased the best and the brightest of their culinary products. So here’s a quick overview, of what we might expect to find in our grocers and specialty stores in the near future.
First, if you have never been to a Fancy Food Show, any description I provide will certainly not prepare you for the real thing. Its H-U-G-E! It filled both halls in San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center, which is no small feat – hundreds (some claim over 1,000) of food related vendors showcasing their wares. I attended expecting that the attendees would be somewhat jaded to this sampling and having plates of food handed to them, but that was certainly not the case, they were as intrigued as any I’d ever seen to taste all that is provided.
where to begin?
Italy put on the strongest showing of all the countries, in terms of the the number of booths dedicated to wines, pasta, cheese, sausages, sauces, sweets…. ah, the memories.
One of the highlights for me was the bresaola. I was in Italy the first time I knowingly sampled it and I thought it delicious. Since then, I’d gotten some back in the States, most recently from Trader Joe’s, and while it was good, I could not help but think, was it the fact that I ate that first bit in Italy make it taste so much better. Thankfully, the fellow at the booth served it in a relatively traditional fashion, and like Emeril Lagasse, knew how to “kick it up a notch”. He topped off the slices with a drizzle of lemon olive oil, basil leaves and parmesan cheese shavings. I highly recommend those additions.
jamón ibérico
Judging by the number of legs I saw displayed, jamón ibérico is going to make its presence known. This free range pig that eats acorns is a smooth buttery snack that is as yummy as they come, but with the price tag. As I understand, this fancy ham can sell for $200/pound. I discovered to my delight, that several vendors offered this pocine product.
The French contingency, I’d have to say, put in the second largest showing. I could not tell about the UK, as they chose to aligned themselves to food types rather than by country so their booths were scattered.
French Sea Salts – wow, talk about sexy packaging. I’d put these in my bathroom or boudoir (if I had one):
I'm too sexy for your cupboard
The French offered up similar samples as the Italians, and I am looking at a pamphlet that asks “Parlez-Vous Fromage?” “Mais oui, bien sûr, does the Golden Gate Bridge start in San Francisco?” The French cheeses, well the cheeses in general, were exceptional – I could dwell here, but that would be an entire post.
The Spanish were no slouches with the sausages, based on what I saw, I’d have to say this is the year of the chorizo – and thank goodness as far as I am concerned. Chorizo, your time is now. In addition to the sausages, olive oil, nougat, preserves and spices were well represented. They also had packages of sweet olive oil tortas, which I have seen at Whole Foods. The flavors were delicious. One preserve that stuck out for me was a sweet olive jam that they partnered with a feta like goat cheese. I was hesitant about sweet + olive, but one bit convinced me I was foolish.
cheese cake
Cheese curds look to be the new potato chip in that there seemed to be a million flavor combinations. I admit, I was disappointed that they did not squeak. I have to say that the rest of the cheeses from the midwest, mostly from Wisconsin, but with a booth representing Faribault, Minnesota had a broad array of tasting options, beyond my childhood memories of just cheddar.
English Cheese
The English cheeses were wonderful and can I say, do not hesitate to buy if you see “sticky toffee” cheese – this stuff was unbelievably tasty! So good, and probably so not good for you. A theme I found with the English cheeses, was not so much the cheese itself, but what went in it. There was one called the “Red Dragon” which was just tasty and consisted of mature Cheddar, with whole grain mustard and ale. Another, called the Tintern consisted of mature Cheddar, with onions, chives and shallots, or how about Black Mountain – again, mature Cheddar with wine, garlic and parsley.
The Japanese booths were wonderful, and I sampled some brown rice tea, dashi mix, and some delicious rice crackers. The gentlemen behind the counter were not going to let any opportunity pass them by. With clipboard in hand they asked me to pick my favorite between two types of dashi (one was spicier) and carefully tallied of the results. For the record, I preferred the spicier version, and judging by the gentleman’s comments, I think that was the consensus.
Japanese vendors
Another Japanese booth had something called “popping boba” which was a seaweed based product that looked like those large tapioca found in those sweet drinks. They only resembled them in appearance, taste and texture were something different. They served them on top of a frozen dessert, called snow ice of which I sampled a coffee flavor. The popping boba reminded me of caviar when you “pop” them in your mouth by exerting pressure with your tongue. I could definitely see this treat appealing to kids, or kids at heart.
The Peruvian booth was genius as far as I was concerned. They brought in an expert – the folks at the local hit restaurant, La Mer. They served cebiche and causas, and a host of other sample size nibbles, along with pisco sours, that made concentrating on the task at hand increasingly difficult.
Anything this colorful gets bonus points in my book, and the flavors were not something found at your neighborhood Baskin Robin’s. Imagine the tastiness of: avocado, azuki red bean, green tea, langka, lychee, mango, taro and ube. I have to say ube was my favorite, not least because of that wonderful purple color. It was tasty and refreshing without being overpowering. This Filipino ice creams are marketed under the name: Magnolia Ice Cream. The vendor, Ramar Foods International (the flavor of the Philippines) offered other foods such as lumpia, tocino, and longanisa – but I must say, the star of their offerings was the ice cream.
Filipino ice cream
Speaking of ice cream – I thought the folks at La Tourangelle, a California gourmet oil company had a great idea. They partnered with a famous San Francisco ice cream shop, Bi-Rite and made ice creams using their oils as a base. The roasted walnut oil ice cream was amazing. Nice and simple idea for a very refreshing dessert. They wanted to show the versatility of their product beyond salad dressing and I thought they succeeded. Funnily enough, many people turned down the offer of a sample – more fools them, as they did not know what they missed. Really exceptionally flavored ice cream, in my mind.
I could continue, but I think that would only achieve the sense that I felt, that this was information overload. All of my senses were attacked simultaneously, but yet mostly pleasantly too. A lot of fun and I look forward to reporting back on my findings at the next show.
If you did not get enough of the Fancy Food Show with this post, check out:
Cooking with Amy - who I was almost introduced to, but she was distracted by the goat milk caramels (not that I blame her)
Lick My Spoon – a fellow food lover who I me in some of the likeliest places (food venues of course)
Wasabimon – This brave girl was still battling the effects of food poisoning (from an unrelated event) and she was a trooper to show up and check everything out.
I’m jealous! The french salts are packaged beautifully and would definately hang out on the counter.
Who would pass up a free sample of ice cream?! Cool event. There looks to be some really great products there.
Everything sounds like something I’d want to try! So jealous – I will be there next year for sure!
You guys were lucky to attend. This seems like any food enthusiast’s dream daytrip.
So lucky to have this gorgeous food show. Chorizo time…mmm it seems that this sausage is very popular
Cheers,
Gera
Wow, I wish I could have been there, too. I would LOVE that toffee cheese…oh wow, just the thought of it makes me drool!
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Just love the idea of the sticky toffee cheese. There’s a little token of appreciation for you on my blog.
Your “parlez-vous fromage” comment really made me laugh. I wish I could have been there! Thanks for sharing, reading your post made me feel like I was.
Now, I’m so curious about sticky toffee cheese! Sounds like so much fun to see and sample so many things.
Isn’t the Fancy Foods show so much fun! I love the incredible samples. I grew up eating ube and avocado ice cream! I love it, makes me think of home.
Oh wow….I LOVEEEEEEE food fairs. The ice creams look fantastic! Wonder what the purple one tastes like!
This is more fun than I can stand. That cheesecake – oh my! I want a sampling of all. Faribault, MN actually does have a very credible blue cheese – smooth, fruity, creamy, earthy. It is my new “go to” cheese when I want local (which I want more and more). I cannot get to a food show – but am inspired to at least cross the Mississipi (a few miles away) and make it to the best cheese shop in Minnepaolis!
I’m an ex-Fancy Food Show addict. Went to several in Chicago (NASFT has given up on the spring show in Chicago now and chosen to keep only the winter show in SF and summer show in NYC) and last year in SF. What a perfect, perfect pasture for serious grazing! Great place to make business contacts as well.
The downside, though, is that you get to meet the real people behind the products you love and while most of them are great, a few are not as nice as you think/hope they are. Have to admit, now I hesitate to buy two of the products I used to adore before I met the CEOs at the show last year in SF. Very unfortunate, but true. Making mean, bigoted comments aloud in public with your name tags on is not advisable when you’re a high-profile entrepreneur. Ugh.
Other than that, Fancy Food Show = Heaven. The cheese aisle is hands down my top favorite.
Never been to such a HUGE food show. Actually we don’t have such food shows here.Wish I could visit one, I would taste the desserts first.
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What a fun event! The sea salts are very boudoir looking – and beach-ish. The sticky toffee cheese sounds excellent! As does everything! I’m glad you shared.
Sarah – I was a Fancy Food newbie, and had no idea what to expect – I gotta say, it was over the top. Yes, those salts would have a place of honor on my countertop.
Jenn – I know, free samples of ice cream always get the day off to a good start.
Gastro – We’ll have to go together and try to pace ourselves, it was intense. I’m on their mailing list so will give you a heads up on dates.
Duo – All I can say is that it was something else, and its probably a good thing it only happens here once a year.
Ruth – I’m still thinking about that sticky toffee cheese – someone was evil when they came up with that combo. Thanks so much!
Gera, that sausage was delicious. I’ll look to you for ideas on how to fix it.
Sophia, one of these days! I thought of you when I saw all those cheeses.
Jackie – you know how somethings just strike you as funny – that was one of them for me.
Lisa – you must seek out that sticky toffee cheese – I swear it may get you int trouble
Lisa – It as a blast – don’t know if you can find this brand yet, but hopefully it will make you feel closer to home!
KB – It was a lot of fun – the ube (purple) is delish – definitely my favorite.
Claudia – I did not see the Faribault blue but will be on the lookout.
Leela – I heard they really cut back in recent years. The grazing is truly amazing. I’m sorry to hear you had some bad encounters and I’d feel the same about using their products going forward. I met a lot of those CEOs, and thankfully I had a different experience. Sometimes, you cannot help but be amazed how people react. If anything I thought some of the attendees rather than the CEOs were a bit off putting – a sense of entitlement that was unexpected. You are right, good contacts.
Zerrin – If you ever plan to come to the States let me know and we’ll see about hooking you up. There is a Chocolate event next month that I am taking my husband too, but would love to bring you along as well.
Reeni- My pleasure.
I heard about it, but it didn’t sound that interesting to me. BUT now I so regret that I didn’t go! Thanks for the coverage. For sure I’ll be there next year.
I missed it this year. It’s always so much fun, yet so overwhelming, too. Those Filipino ice creams are crazy looking. The colors are like a box of Crayons.
Sorry I missed you! Sorry I missed the La Tourangelle ice creams too! I was indeed distracted by those caramels. Tasty stuff. This is a nice round up–I’m going to link to it in my post.
What a lovely food show to go to!! It must have been a grand experience,..taste some lovely food & create great ideas & invent recipes with the fab food products that you see,..This would be heaven for me!
Kitchen M- You should totally go if you never have – let me know and maybe we can connect next year!
Carolyn – I was on the lookout and hoping to spot you. The colors of that ice cream were what drew me in the first place. Great stuff!
Amy – No worries, I am sure we’ll be connecting at some point, thanks for the link love.
Sophie – I can easily see that this event would hold great appeal to you, although reading your posts has a lot of the same affects that you described for me! =)
This is an amazing blog, so full of interesting information and opinions. What is the best way to find out about such events that are happening all around the world? I live in Boquete, Panama and we don’t do much promotion of the abundant foods we have here. Actually, we grow the finest coffee in the world in Boquete. Thanks for the info, great job!
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So glad you covered the event. As mentioned it looks like a food lovers dream. One of those times that being overwhelmed is a very good thing, but a fast beforehand probably would have been a good idea.
I love that cheese cake, so creative. So glad you got to go!
Cora – Thanks so much for the compliments and stopping by. I have heard much about the beauty and bounty of Panama and would love to learn more. I look forward to someday trying that coffee you speak so highly of. Take care.
Lori – If I had known what I was in for, I certainly would have fasted more – seriously, I was not prepared.