Last week we attended the country’s largest natural, organic, and healthy products trade show, the “Natural Products Expo West 2008” in Anaheim, CA. More than 52,000 retailers, manufacturers, and industry professionals attended.
While products labeled “Organic” & “Gluten-free” were the rage, the words “Vegetarian” & “Vegan” seemed few and far between to me. Nor did I see the words “plant-based” at all, even though some friends had speculated to me that it would be the buzz word of choice this year. It was a bit discouraging to me that many companies went out of their way to create new products that were: gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, wheat-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, and YET contained eggs. In the few isles that were designated “Vegetarian” I found a hodge podge of products of which only partially were vegetarian and many had labeling that was confusing.
However, a few new products did leave a great impression with me, so much so that I wish to share their info with you so you can look out for them when they arrive in stores.
First off, is a vegan cheese company from Europe, producing “Cheezly” cheeses. They make a wonderful mozzarella cheese that melts, and melts again when reheated. They also have a crumbly mature cheddar cheese that tastes great and has no after bad taste. Cheezly, produced by The Redwood Co., is available in Europe and the East Coast of USA already. Soon to be available West Coast USA.
http://www.redwoodfoods.es/cheezly.php
Next, I was very impressed with a “Smoked Apple Sage” vegan sausage, by the company “Field Roast”. Texture & flavor is great and as it’s made with grains, it feels to be easily digestible unlike many of the processed soy products available at the market.
http://www.fieldroast.com
One other new product I was impressed with is a (soon to be*) vegan-friendly pro-biotic drink called “Verb: GoodBelly” by NextFoods (a division called WhiteWave Foods). Developed in Sweden, this is a new rival to “Bio-K” and guarantees 20 billion organisms per serving. What’s great about this product is the taste and presentation. It’s offered as a fruit drink and a yogurt. The flavors were absolutely delicious. Not sure about the price point yet, I’ll have to look out for it in the health food stores, at the right price I would drink this everyday.
http://www.verb-goodbelly.com
(Vegans take note: At the show, their booth banner and staff told me that all their products were vegan which I just learned is not true. Only by looking at their websites did I find a note about vitamin D3, lanolin, which is a sheep’s wool derivative. I wrote them about this and just received a response: “…given the results of two different promising studies showing D2 has similar efficacy as D3, we will be converting to D2 by late spring/early summer and then we will make the full Vegan Claim.”)
Finally, one more worth looking out for and trying… products from the 100% vegan company, “Vega”. They’ve had a great protein powder out for some time now and just recently launched an organic oil omega 3-6-9 supplement “Vega Antioxidant EFA Oil Blend”. It tastes great straight and is a “balanced, full spectrum, ultra-virgin and ultra-pure oil blend with optimal nutritional properties”. Additionally, Whole Food Energy Bars and their Smoothy Infusion Mix are also new this year.
http://www.myvega.com
Possibly many new vegan products that are yet to arrive in stores are from companies that decided not to spend a fortune at the Expo and this vegan wonders if we’ll still have many new treats to look out for in 2008.
If you find out about any, please share the news.
2 Comments
Tatiana (20 comments)
March 25, 2008 at 7:33 amI’m a huge fan of Field Roast, glad they were they to represent their products. I like their spicy Mexican Chipotle sausage as well, but be warned: it is quite spicy! They also carry celebration roasts for holidays, etc. I have not tried those yet but have heard great things about them. I buy my Field Roast at Whole Foods Market, but I’m sure there are other suppliers.
I’m excited about Cheezly, it sounds awesome!
It’s too bad the expo didn’t have a larger population of veg products. Especially when we know they are out there.
One positive thing is that more companies are becoming aware of food allergies (which is most of the focus of -free foods) which hits very close to home for me, as I have to help my mom, who has Celiac’s Disease, with finding appropriate foods.
Sounds like overall there is much room for improvement in the “Natural Products” industry. I’m glad you were there to make the veg voice heard!
xetvx (26 comments)
March 28, 2008 at 2:12 amWow, as exciting as this event seemed, it must have been that much more frustrating. I know I would have been. I am truly sickened by the false advertising made by companies who claim their products are vegan when in reality they are not. As if it isn’t hard enough for some people to turn vegan, issues like this are likely to turn them off from it completely.
An excellent example would be anything with Casein (Caseinate) in it. Caseinate, one of the two types of protein found in milk, is simply not vegan- though many products which contain the substance are advertised as dairy-free. They should all be sued, in my opinion.
Thanks for sharing your story with us, webmaster dude. :o)