ExpoWest 2022
I quite honestly haven’t known where to start when it comes to posting about #ExpoWest! The delight of the confirmation that I haven’t been catfished by an entire industry coupled by the great conversation and laughs have been quite overwhelming!
It was such a full on week and still coming down from the high of being surrounded by so many inspirational, positive and kind humans! My heart is bursting! 💗
I thought I’d break it down into 3: old favourites; new discoveries and behind the scenes… Buckle up!
First, the food pics I know you’re waiting for:
Featured LtoR; VFC, Daring Chicken, Nuts for Cheese
Les Nouveaux D’Affineurs, Plant-It, Elmhurst (and a proper coffee!)
SmallHold Mushrooms, Hooray Foods Bacon, Miyoko’s Cottage Cheese.
I’ll start by confessing that I love events. I started my career as a recruiter hiring for the events industry and my love was born! These days, I’m proud to work with Plant Based World Expo and KindEarth.Tech and have really missed the buzz of excitement you only get from being live and in person with a bunch of people, centered around a common theme. And when that theme is promoting planet-friendly, slaughter-free products; the effect is heightened to dizzying realms!
Even before the show started, I got to hang out with my friend Indy from Plant Futures - a brilliant strategist who is possibly even more geeky about food than I am! We had fun eating vegan pizza in Anaheim and whizzing about in the convertible Mustang I’d somehow ended up with. We were off to a great start…
It was such a joy to see old friends again like David Yeung (who I first met back in HK in 2018) showing off OmniFoods with his terrific team (particularly Lonica and Massimo!) winning over visitors' taste buds with their unique luncheon meat and fish fillet offerings. I couldn’t resist a cheeky wonton on my way past!
Next up were British VFC whose crispy chicken tacos were well worth getting in a flap about! They threw a great party on Thursday night which gave us all plenty of time to rest and sample more of their wares - even chicken alfredo was on the menu!
Daring Foods are also giving the poultry industry a run for its money with their gluten free breaded chicken tenders going down a storm both on their stand and their food truck, handily poised between halls to tempt hungry passers by. The yummy noises could be heard just walking past….
Speaking of food trucks, my favourite of these was Wicked Foods - strategically positioned to make a massive impact as you walked into the grounds of the event - offering all sorts of delicious goodies, from berry oatmeal, to coconut korma curry, to late night noodles. A feast for the senses and their team are second to none - their energy and commitment is ever-present. Shout out to Jennifer Paulson, Ira Chute and Sarah Gilliland for a brilliantly executed event experience! You couldn’t miss Wicked and it made for the perfect meeting spot to find old and new friends.
I spent time walking the floors with some of my favourite people too - Alessandra from Green Queen (we missed you, Sonalie!) and Chef Proof who I’m more used to seeing whipping up samples than tasting them! It was fascinating to hear his insights of the products at the show and some of the chef secrets behind them.
Great seeing friends from across the pond taking on the North American market.
Willarooos (aka Jack & Bry) were showcasing their jackfruit pepperoni, and just a few stands along, Tofurky had theirs - let the sausage wars begin! I first met Tofurky founder, Seth Tibbot at Lunch 2018 in London - introduced by Willaroos co-founder, Jen Pardoe. It’s a small world after all! Like Willaroos, another British brand has changed tack for a much racier US branding - Bon Devil 😈 aka Coconut Collaborative in the UK. Their stand was 🔥!
It wasn’t just the Brits surfing the wave across the pond - top Danish plant-based brand, Naturli were also there, with Henrik Lund bringing the noise and insisting that ever passerby try their signature Naturli butter. If you haven’t tried it yet - you must!! It’s the #1 plant based butter in the UK already and seems destined for stardom wherever it goes. I’ve spotted it on many people’s “stars of the show” lists from this event! ⭐️
The new (to me!) and up and comers were out in full effect and I got to try Dream Pops which I’ve been dying to. Verdict? Excellent - creamy and luscious with great flavour - particularly recommend the bites and their newly launched chocolates. Yummy! Also high on my list of must tries was Nuts For Cheese - and they delivered. Some brands would have been reluctant to showcase themselves next to Miyoko’s monolithic wheel of cheese, (whose liquid mozzarella I was floored by!) but not only were they holding their own on the taste front, I could barely get close enough to snap a picture but for the crowd around their stand! Great job, folks.
This was my first time getting to try the precision fermentation offerings powered by Perfect Day - with great curiosity! I tried the new kid on the block: Betterland milk, which tasted oddly like pineapple juice; and Brave Robot’s ice cream which was much creamier than lots of the plant based offerings out there. It’s the cheese I’m most interested in using this technique though… bring it on, Change Foods! It was great to meet Veronika Fil from Grounded Foods (cheese made from hemp and cauliflower) walking the floor and will be picking up some Grounded before I leave California, for sure. Watch this space!
Alessandra and I had fun winning vegan fish sauce on the wheel at 24 Vegan stand and tasting Elmhurst’s pistachio barista milk in a proper espresso - delicious! Eclipse Foods had a lipsmacking caramel butter pecan ice cream which gave Nubosha a run for its money - a nut butter based ice cream which I thought was also really good! Green Girl’s ice cream sandwiches were little bits of yumminess too. Plenty of room for all these plant based ice-creams brands to find their niche and thrive…
Showing off a fresh new look and enviably-sustainable packaging were the brilliant No Evil Foods, who stood out as a brand who know their values and are proud to communicate these in all their merchandise and messaging. In a room where there were companies who I had to check whether or not their products were vegan, there is no doubt here - their message of “Do No Evil” shines from all they do. Thanks for the t-shirt, Sadrah! Love you guys!
One of my intentions at the show was to take stock of which brands were making the most impact with their stands and how creatively they were approaching communicating their message.
One of the smartest brands at doing this are Mid-Day Squares. They focus on energy - a side effect of their functional chocolate bars - and bring it by physically embodying their products!
They are SO consistent in communicating their values and transformed their small stand into a hub of action in the middle of the aisle with a pumping soundtrack, Hershey’s biteback video and bags of enthusiasm. Every visitor was made to feel part of their tribe and welcomed like old friends. It was great to see this disruptive brand that I’ve been following online for so long, bring to life the energy that shines through their socials.
100% authentic and 100% themselves.
One of the more creative booths, Liquid Death, had a coffin used as an eski and proclaimed Death to Plastic - it created quite a stir! Almost everyone I saw was drinking their canned water so it shows the impact that risky creative can have!
Another special mention has to go to Hema Reddy whose hustle is to be admired - she walked the show and delivered her taste-sensational WunderEggs to anyone that she could, whilst sharing a spot at Rebellyous Foods stand.
They were a revelation and the most impressive innovation I tasted at the show. One to watch (and for investors to invest in!) for sure! I have a great reaction video from Wicked Kitchen’s Cathy Cochran-Lewis proclaiming, “That’s AMAZING!!”
Les Nouveaux D’Affineurs had Noor there also walking the show and hustling - offering tastes of their V2 of their delicious Camembert - easily the closest thing I’ve tasted to the original dairy version and really wowed me! For all artisan cheese-makers out there, this is the brand to beat!
I was invited to a world’s first cut of Plantcraft’s bologna deli slice whilst at the show. Having never tried a bologna slice in my life, I wasn’t the right taster but the excitement is palpable! Thank you, Kati for tackling the meatier side of alternative deli products - they all looked exactly like their counterparts.
Also making their debuts were Eat The Change’s Cosmic Carrot Chews for kids - chef Spike Mendelson making kid treats healthier; and Miyoko’s cottage cheese made from watermelon seeds. Now that’s innovation! I also got to meet the lovely Sri Artham whose bacon by Hooray Foods, was proclaimed the best pb bacon at the show by everyone I spoke to who tried it. Current Foods salmon also got high praise from those who tried it (I’ve never eaten salmon in my life so not one for me to sample!). It’s about time we had some great plant-based, fish fillet alternatives as well as sashimi and sushi options. Well done, Jacek and team!
Good Catch’s fish sticks took me right back to my childhood showing it’s possible to recreate those nostalgic moments using plants. Vevan’s cream cheese I thought tasted JUST like cottage cheese and made me long for a jacket potato to add to it…. yum! I hadn’t tried Somos’ brand before, but loved the idea of making Mexican food convenient, tasty and plant based. Please come to the UK!
Behind the scenes, I went to parties hosted by VFC, Wicked Kitchen, Allen Zelden and TheTri and saw some brilliant musicians perform live, got to dance, eat delicious Cali vegan food and socialise with strangers. After the last 2 years, I was quite overcome at times, but I’m so grateful that I could travel to attend, meet so many old friends and make so many new ones.
Cheers to next year!