Highlights and Key Takeaways from the 2023 Summer Fancy Food Show and Good Food Mercantile

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Last week, I attended two fantastic events in New York City — the 2023 Summer Fancy Food Show and Good Food Mercantile.

The Fancy Food Show attracts food companies from all over the world and is a massive, three-day exposition held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, while Good Food Mercantile is a one-day event focused on smaller brands that operate throughout the U.S.

Regardless of the difference in size, both shows presented phenomenal innovation and inspiring work.

Here are my key takeaways, impressions and thoughts.

KONJAC

If there was one single ingredient that made the biggest impact on me, it was konjac, which is also known as shirataki.

I first learned about this popular Asian root vegetable at Expo West 2011 and have seen it sporadically in the supermarket since then.

Even though konjac hasn’t really taken off in the U.S., it is very possible that will change over the next few years, especially since it is so on-trend with its gluten-free, grain-free and keto-friendly attributes.

In addition to the organic shirataki pasta from Caloless, a young konjac brand out of Brooklyn called MOYU was sampling absolutely delicious superfood bread cakes and brownies that I could not stop eating. (Thanks to Gillian Christie for alerting me about this great find.)

I would not be surprised to see many more organic food brands utilizing konjac moving forward.

BAKED GOODS, BAKING PRODUCTS AND CRACKERS

Nowhere Bakery (above), which uses mostly organic ingredients and has organic certification in its plans, drew one gasp after the next for its cookies, brownies and baked goods.

But it was hardly alone, as many companies in the baking mix category really stood out, including Jesha’s, MOYU and Long Table — a company that drew rave reviews (deservedly so) for its pancakes on Shark Tank.

When it came to crackers, two brands really made an impression on me — Cult Crackers, which uses organic cassava, and the chili & coriander crispbread from Norwegian Baked,  a small batch, organic and wheat-free bakery in Brooklyn.

FOOD CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

I was deeply moved by the stories of two different brands that I met at Good Food Mercantile — Maine Grains and the Appalachian Beekeeping Collective.

The cornmeal from Liberation Farms is a traditional, stone-milled, medium-grind cornmeal that supports over 200 Somali Bantu families who grow fresh, culturally relevant produce in Auburn, Maine to build food and economic security for their community.

When people purchase this product, Maine Grains contributes 5% of the proceeds back to the Somali Bantu Community Association, which provides new American farmers access to and culturally appropriate resources for the means of sustainable, chemical-free food production for themselves, their families and their communities.

Equally as inspiring is what is taking place in Virginia and West Virginia with the Appalachian Beekeeping Collective, a non-profit organization that trains, supports and provides bees and equipment — at no cost — to partner beekeepers in economically distressed Appalachian communities.

The Appalachian Beekeeping Collective purchases the honey from the beekeepers at above wholesale prices, which it then turns around and sells to the general public. Since 2016, the organization has helped more than a hundred partners get started in beekeeping for profit.

In many of these rural communities, where coal mining jobs have disappeared and employment opportunities are few and far between, the effects of the opioid epidemic are also severe. Yet, natural land not treated with synthetic pesticides, fungicides or herbicides is ample — which makes it ideal for beekeeping.

These are two incredible stories, and you can watch short videos about them here and here.

MOST INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY

Cometeer is a fellow Boston-based company that I have known about for several years and experienced the product for the first time at the Fancy Food Show.

The company starts with brewed coffee, utilizes its proprietary extraction process and then freezes this coffee at -321 degrees. What consumers receive is a frozen, 100% recyclable capsule of coffee that can be put into hot or cold water.

Cometeer partners with different organic coffee brands around the country and essentially acts as a technology provider, providing an entirely new and efficient way to enjoy and drink coffee.

The product was excellent, and Cometeer has the potential to be a massive player in the coffee industry.

ORGANIC WINS THE PITCH SLAM

It was very gratifying to see a social impact, organic food brand take home the top prize of A Fancy New York Pitch Slam at the Summer Fancy Food Show, which was presented by Naturally New York in partnership with the Specialty Food Association.

Jasberry is a regenerative organic rice company that not only offers consumers an incredibly nutritious product, but it aims to transform the lives of farmers in Thailand. The brand provides seeds and technical assistance to the farmers, as well as paying them prices of up to 200% more for their organic rice harvests than they would otherwise receive if they grew conventional commodity rice.

Launched just last year, Jasberry is already in 515 Whole Foods Market stores throughout the country, and its dark purple rice has 40 times more antioxidants than brown rice.

“Big change starts with a tiny grain of rice,” said CEO and co-founder Peetachai “Neil” Dejkraisak.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

* Dr. Bronner’s is expanding its vegan, organic Magic All-One Chocolate line to include three new oat milk flavors — Creamy Mocha Latte, Golden Milk Chai and Crunchy Hazelnut Butter. They will be available later this year, and all of the chocolate bars are on the path to becoming Regenerative Organic Certified®.

My favorite was the Golden Milk Chai — phenomenal!

* Despite the fact that Barnana has been around for so many years and is now such an established brand, I believe that its Plantain Scoops — which use the entire peel, resulting in zero waste — are without question the company’s best product and will soon become its signature product as well.

These Scoops, which are both USDA certified organic and Certified Upcycled, are raising the standard of living by up to 4x for the farmers in Ecuador that grow these plantains. Available nationally at Whole Foods Market.

* Native Forest has introduced an entire organic Asian collection, which includes a baby corn and both an original and sodium-free jackfruit. Finding organic jackfruit at the supermarket is not an easy feat, and this is a unique and hard-to-find offering for people who want organic Asian products.

* At the Fancy Food Show, I had a heated “discussion” with a company using Perfect Day’s GMO 2.0 synthetic biology animal-free whey protein, and the person got annoyed when I said I didn’t want to try it because it was genetically engineered. He refuted my accusation and claimed it was Non-GMO because all of the genetically-engineered material had been removed in the final product.

For companies who use genetic engineering to produce their products — and have the audacity to claim their products are Non-GMO — ask them to show you their Non-GMO Project verification, the leading 3rd-party Non-GMO verification service in the world.

They won’t be able to show you because the Non-GMO Project refuses to certify all of them.

I experienced a similar episode at Expo West, and unfortunately, we should expect to see more of this going forward, especially with the explosion of gene-edited foods.

* Over my several days at both shows, I had several conversations with young companies who are using all-organic ingredients but were not USDA certified organic. They asked my opinion if it was really worth it to get certified because they had been hearing that the USDA organic seal was watered down, with the agency not enforcing the rules.

Clearly, I do think brands should get the USDA organic certification, but the USDA and the National Organic Standards Board seem to be myopic about the damage they are causing.

Even many of the most reputable organic certifiers in the industry are pushing back against the USDA.

* Lastly, on Living Maxwell, here are My Top 5 Organic Products at the 2023 Fancy Food Show and Good Food Mercantile.

(Pictures from Good Food Mercantile)

With gratitude, Max Goldberg, Founder