Reporting by Leah
The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) 56th Summer Fancy Food Show took place Sunday, June 27, through Tuesday, June 29, 2010, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. It is the country’s largest specialty food and beverage event, and the only place you will find everything you need under one roof with 180,000 specialty foods and beverages, 2,400 exhibitors from 81 countries, and 24,000 attendees.
The Summer Fancy Food Show, the World Cup of food shows, is a marathon of culinary delights, new products and old favorites in the food world. Anyone who has any connection to anything food, be it an importer, exporter, distributor, manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, restaurant, or foodie, should put this on their “to do” list for next year. The exhibitors spanned two floor levels at the Javits Center and displayed delicious food and products while generously providing tastings such as pasta, cheeses, hummus, chocolates, desserts and beverages.
Some food products were reminders from childhood, such as Bachman Pretzel Stix Boxes from Bachman, in business since 1884, to newer products such as smoothies. As I was walking through the Food Show I heard a roar from a crowd and went to see what the hullabaloo was all about only to see a crowd watching a World Cup match up on a big screen TV. However there were booths drawing crowds such as the line waiting for Rao’s pizza (Rao’s Specialty Foods, Inc.), to another line by Bindi Dessert Service (www.bindiusa.com) with samples of their delicious and refreshing sorbetto which comes from Milan, to admirers waiting to examine and take photos by the 4 foot by 6 foot Mona Lisa portrait, comprised of 14,212 Jelly Belly Candy Company jelly beans, and took three months to complete. For you chocolate lovers, a decadent find was the hot chocolate sticks, by Hot Chocolate Sticks of Belgium (www.hotchocolatesticks.com.) On a healthier note, Melissa’s World Variety Produce (www.melissas.com) had a delicious sampling of their fruits, a favorite was black velvet apricots. The Tribe Origins booth (www.tribehummus.com) drew a hummus loving crowd where it debuted one of its kosher products and later threw an after party at the American Museum of Natural History, which included live music, authentic Mediterranean food, and an exclusive sampling of Tribe Origins new line of delicious all-natural hummus. Products promoting all natural, organic, and environmental friendly were popular and in keeping with the desire to balance a more healthy life style and included Peanut Butter & Co. (www.ilovepeanutbutter.com), Mary’s Gone Crackers (www.marysgonecrackers.com) and Icebox Water (www.iceboxwater.com).
Attendees did not have to go far or overseas as representatives from countries such as Italy, Spain, Greece, China, Canada, Africa, Germany, and France, were among the exhibitors from 81 countries providing an international flair, an eclectic crowd, and buzz at this Food Show.
Since 1955, the Fancy Food Shows have been North Americas largest specialty food and beverage marketplace. Between the Winter Show in San Francisco and the Summer Show in New York City, the NASFT events bring in more than 40,000 attendees from more than 80 countries to see 260,000 innovative specialty food products, such as confections, cheese, coffee, snacks, spices, ethnic, natural, organic and more.
Only NASFT Members can exhibit at the Shows, where retailers, restaurateurs, distributors and others discover innovative, new food and beverage products. The Shows are attended by every major food buying channel, influential members of the trade and consumer press and other related businesses.
For more information please visit www.specialtyfood.com/fancy-food-show
