A Look At Expo West’s Best Flavors, Trends And Brands

Who else is still recovering from Expo West? My gut sure is. But I’m teeming with ideas and inspiration from fresh tastes. There are also a few tastes I wish I could forget.

I’ll have a lot of coverage coming out in the next few weeks that started with interviews I did at Expo, and others I have done since getting home after trying a brand’s samples for the first time. In the meantime, here are my takeaways.

My biggest surprise: Who else clocked the Make America Healthy Again booth, funded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nonprofit, that was, from what I saw, the only booth that was actually selling anything on the floor: $20 MAHA hats in camo or green. $50 sweatshirts. $60 embroidered polos. There was even a branded yoga mat. And the frenzy around the booth, and the juxtaposition of that with the cuts happening across the government—from USAID to food safety to local food for schools, and the chaos that has ensued—was a lot to take in.

Trends: It’s more than just global flavors hitting the mainstream (especially with some retailers backtracking on DEI), though there was a lot of that. High-protein was everywhere. As were the brands trying to fit in with GLP-1 lifestyles. Tallow was also relishing in its moment, from hand cream to ingredient lists. Pistachio was also popular, which I can appreciate, though I didn’t love the pistachio coffee I tried. There were a lot of squeezable, on-the-go packages, which have long been a big thing for kids, but now they are being marketed for adults struggling to find convenience. The regenerative organic certification trend is going strong, whereas B-Corp certification doesn’t have the weight it once did.

My favorite bites: Coyotas cassava-based tortillas. Maazah mango chutney and cilantro sauce. Brazi Bites’ gluten-free cheese bread and waffles had an impressive crunch and chewiness. Heyday canning black beans. Solely’s organic fruit jerky. Good Culture cottage cheese. Pitaya Foods sorbet. Fresh Vintage Farm’s new 100% pure almond mayo. Honey Mama’s protein crunch bars. Flanagan Farms’ organic sauerkraut. Moss’s sea moss beverage. Jonny Pop’s popsicles. Cocojune sour cream and tzatziki. Lundberg Farms’ new black rice. Gelato Festival’s gelatos, both the non-dairy (I love the Pistachio) as well as its full-dairy lines. Soom tahini. The warm grilled cheese I had from 4th & Heart ghee. Some of the best pizza I had while walking the floor was from St. Louis-based Katie’s. But I couldn’t resist Caulipower’s dill pickle pizza, either. Sun Noodle ramen. Once Upon A Coconut’s drinks. Willamette Valley Pie Co.’s frozen pies (that started because the family farmed Oregon’s marionberries and wanted to create products with the regional fruit). Date Better’s treats. Killer Brownie. Grillo’s Pickles. Bezi labneh dip.

My favorite moment witnessed: A horde of attendees on Friday pushing and shoving as the one booth with adult toys was dismantling its display and giving away its products for free.

Final thoughts: With some noticeable absences this year (I’m looking at you, Poppi), the show underscored the tumultuous time ahead for the brands trying to get what they deem as healthier food to break into the mainstream. It’s going to be a rough year for many. But the leaders of the industry are doubling down on the idea that better made, healthier food will always be in demand.

— Chloe Sorvino, Staff Writer

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FIELD NOTES

Grillo’s Pickles brought me the zest and crunch I needed to keep powering through the halls of Expo West.

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Chloe Sorvino leads coverage of food and agriculture as a staff writer on the enterprise team at Forbes. Her book, Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat, published on December 6, 2022, with Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books. Her nearly nine years of reporting at Forbes has brought her to In-N-Out Burger’s secret test kitchen, drought-ridden farms in California’s Central Valley, burnt-out national forests logged by a timber billionaire, a century-old slaughterhouse in Omaha and even a chocolate croissant factory designed like a medieval castle in northern France.