Natural Products Expo West 2012: Food Reviews

This weekend is the Natural Product Expo West convention in Anaheim and once again I had the privilege to attend this huge event. On the drive up I felt a little tired and thought I could use a nap but that went right out the window once I stepped foot on the convention floor. The amount of energy and excitement in that place is amazing! I felt no need for a nap and couldn’t wait to get started. There is so much area to cover and not enough time. I knew I had to start with my favorite area and that’s the food courts! The only problem this year was there are way too many healthy yummy foods and I didn’t have enough stomach to try them all. I am especially excited for all the new tasty gluten free, vegan, organic and vegetarian foods that are going to be coming out. The first company that I really liked is Solterra Foods. They got an award for the best new vegan product. This company makes a gluten-free, wheat-free, soy-free and egg-free pizza. It’s very convenient because it bakes in a bag. The ingredients are very clean and it taste great!

Starlite Cuisine makes rolled tacos and taquitos that can easily be made into an enchilada dish. This product taste amazing and I probably gained a pound just trying it. This is a vegan, non-GMO, no trans fats food and gluten free. Starlite Cuisine won a 1st place award for best North American Entrée.

Comfy House Foods makes an outstanding vegan pudding that is definitely one of my favorite new comfort foods. They have a “Brown & Wild” vegan multi-grain rice pudding, Quinoa Bleu (blueberry) pudding, Banana Coconut pudding as well as some other good flavors. My personal favorites are the Coconut and the Brown & Wild pudding.

Avery Trading Company has a delicious lentil pop chip called “Popadom” that is gluten free,vegan, non-GMO, no eggs, non dairy and high in protein. On a scale of 1-10, I give it a 9 in taste.

B&R Liquid Adventure makes a very good carbonated Kombucha drink. Kombucha is a tea that is created from the fermenting process that produces bacteria and yeast that are known to have health benefits. Normally it taste very sour and is difficult to drink but B&R have created a beverage that is very refreshing. It’s called Butcha Live Kombucha and it comes in a variety of flavors. I personally love the Verbena Rose. It really taste like I was drinking a sweet rose.

Those of you who are fish lovers or pesco-vegetarian like myself, Blue Horizon Wild makes an outstanding variety of seafood products that range from Tuna Bites, Clam Strips, Crab Cakes and my favorite the Alaskan Salmon Surf Burger.

Amy’s has a new gluten free pizza that does contain cheese as well as a gluten-free and dairy free pizza that is a must to try.

I was excited to see a company that makes a gluten-free chicken pot pie that really taste good. The name of the company is Blake’s All Natural Foods. They also make a Shepherds Pie and some other products worth trying.

For those of you who have a hard time getting in all your veggie servings, Snapz and Glories Sweet Potato Chips is the food for you. Snapz makes all natural veggie snacks that are fat free and low in calories. They have Crunchy Carrot Crisps and my favorite the Crunchy Redbeet Crips. Glories has a Sea Salt and Maple Chipotle Sweet Potato Chips that are exceptional. My personal favorite is the Maple Chipotle.

I had my share of cookies and other sweets yesterday but I really liked Mrs. May’s Premium Chocolate Fruit & Nut Rounds. They make a variety of chocolate covered fruits with or without nuts. Since I had not had all my servings of fruits I thought this would be a good time to have try the dark chocolate blueberry almonds. I was glad I did!

I have not had any vegan hot dogs that I’ve tried and liked except for the new Tofurky Jumbo Hot Dogs. They use organic tofu, non-GMO and they are kosher certified. The regular hot dogs are good as well and the calories are 100 per serving with 4 grams of fat and 0 saturated fat.

Need a quick food for kids that is nutritionally reasonable? Try Allergaroo! They make a variety of pasta dishes for kids that are low in fat and contain some vitamins.

Nature’s Path makes very good wheat free waffles that contain Chia seeds, quinoa and amaranth. One is the Chia Plus Quinoa & Amarantha and the other is Ancient Grains. The taste is really good; I personally would be fine just popping it in the toaster and eating it without anything.

Below I posted some links and hope you would try some of these great tasting foods and support the companies who are trying to make eating right tastier and with cleaner ingredients. It’s nice to pick up a food item and be able to recognize all the ingredients listed and the best part is, it’s good for your body. Next blog, I am going to spend time blogging about a company who I found to be very impressive with their supplement and sports nutrition line. They’ve been around for sometime but I was really impressed with their new sports nutrition line.

www.solterrafoods.com
www.starlitecuisine.com
www.comfyhousefoods.com
www.averytrading.com
www.mybucha.com
www.bluehorizonseafood.com
www.amys.com
www.blakesallnatural.com
www.snapzcrisps.com
www.mrsmays.com
www.tofurky.com
www.allergaroo.com
www.naturespath.com
www.goodhealthnaturalproducts.com