Fancy Foods Show

[Carolyn Tillie]

Out of curiosity, is there anyone else attending the Fancy Foods Show next month in San Francisco? I've got my badge and am wondering if we should start planning a get-together of some sort...

If I'm the only one attending, I'll certainly offer a report, but if there are several of us, perhaps a group effort will make for fabulous eGullet coverage!

[badthings]

Caroline, my friends at the cheese diaries were talking about going, but I don't know if anyone's followed through. How stingy are they with the badges?

Based on your cool report from World of Flavor, I think many will demand equivalent coverage of Fancy Foods from you.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Caroline, my friends at the cheese diaries were talking about going, but I don't know if anyone's followed through. How stingy are they with the badges?

Based on your cool report from World of Flavor, I think many will demand equivalent coverage of Fancy Foods from you.

Aw shucks... Thanks for the compliment (I'm kinda proud - My First Piece!)

The badges are pretty easy to come by - for $35.00 (you have to have some form of affiliation).

If you don't pre-buy your badge, day-of registration is $60.00

You can pre-register here: Fancy Foods Show

Shawn and I attended the one in Los Angeles two or three years ago but he opted out this year (it isn't worth thirty-five bucks for someone who is just a cursory bystander of the food industry...)

[elyse]

You can always say you're a consultant. they don't check up on you.

[Carolyn Tillie]

You can always say you're a consultant. they don't check up on you.

I put down that I was a Food Writer!!!!

and now I am!

[elyse]

You'll get EXTRA stuff!

[JAZ]

Every year, I get the mailing and I think I'll go, and then somehow I never do. But maybe this year I will.

[essvee]

Ya know, I've been to the show a couple two three times, and it always bored the shit out of me. Lots of wholesale stuff, and equipment, and new convenience and snack and weird confectionery. Not a lot of stuff to actually eat. Sometimes the presentations are good; I saw Marcella once, and she was mean to me (sigh). But I think you pay extra for those.

Just sayin.

[Sweet Willie]

Ya know, I've been to the show a couple two three times, and it always bored the shit out of me.

same here, but not because of the reasons you stated.

For me the boredom/disappointment lay in the fact that most items that we tasted just never came close to being as "fancy" or tasty as I thought they should be.

Just because something is wrapped nice/has neat packaging does not mean it will taste good.

But I sure look forward to hearing if people that are going do discover a "hit" item.

[Carolyn Tillie]

At this point, I'm thinking of only giving it a single day -- I can't see driving into the city, dealing with traffic, parking, and eating for more than a single trip (I'm about an hour east of the city, in Napa).

I have to agree about the disappointment - when we went to the L.A. version, I think I saw all I needed to see in less than six hours so doing four days of the show is hardly worth it.

But I will look for that 'extra special' new product...

[Suzanne F]

I always go to the one in NYC, even though I say, "not again this year." It's fascinating to see what the trends are, whether they're edible or not (I mean to food; some of it is disgusting). But if I had to travel an hour, I probably wouldn't go; the hassle isn't counter-balanced by the great discoveries.

[FoodZealot]

I'll be attending, and I would be interested in meeting eG peeps...

~Tad

[psage]

I've gone to the SF show a few times, most recently last year.

I find that the amount of free edibles seems to decrease every year, and companies are gettting pickier and pickier about who they give things out to.

It used to be that I'd get SO many samples forced my way that I'd have to refuse most of them. Now, getting a sample from many of the booths seems to require giving them a business card and chatting with them for at least a minute.

There are still many booths that are easy to deal with, but it is seeming less fun lately, somehow.

I may still go... so far undecided.

[FoodZealot]

This was my first year at the Fancy Food Show. It's much larger than other food shows I've been to. We spent about 6 hours in the South Hall on Sunday and 2.5 hours in the North Hall on Monday. Being the systematic type, I walked by every booth except the wine section.

I can't compare to previous years from personal experience, but there was still a fair amount of pate, prosciutto and decent cheese to be had. Two people mentioned that they thought there were fewer meat samples than previously. One booth offering baby back ribs had a sign saying, "Please, ribs are for not for exhibitors." Personally, I can't blame the vendors for trying to make a better connection with people that are potential customers - they're there to drum up business, not feed people out of altruism. There was no shortage of candy, toffee, chocolate truffles, dipped apples, etc., as far as I could tell.

From my perspective, chocolates, jams & jellies (especially those containing wine), chipotle and anything with meyer lemon seemed to be everywhere. There were also many, many olive oils on display.

Highlights for me were the balsamic vinegar tasting bar (publicizing the leaf grading system), Crocodile gourmet chips from England, Spanish black truffles, waffle mix with malt in it, vermouth and sage flavored pate, Tuscan herbed ham, prosciutto of various kinds, pate of several kinds, the Sid Wainer booth, and Williamsburg Foods wasabi peanuts. I'm sure there are others that I have forgotten to mention.

For celebrity chef sightings, I only saw Nancy Silverton of La Brea Bakery and Judy Rogers of Zuni Cafe, just walking the floor. I did not see any actively hawking products or doing demos on the floor.

I had expected that some of these products would not taste appealing to me, but even so I underestimated how many IMHO were mediocre or worse. The show seems to be directed toward small goumet shops/basket assemblers/gift stores - where a good amount of the appeal is novelty of the flavor combination, novelty of the product name and how the packaging looks.