Feed Me, I’m Cranky –

Hey guys!

This past week, I had the opportunity to attend and cover the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, CA—a mecca for anyone interested in where the $99B natural products industry stands currently and where it’s headed. You can check out my preview post here to see what I was most excited about.

I attended the Expo with several goals: to represent my employer HUMAN (we had our HUMAN Touch machine at the Hint Water booth) and to cover the event for our franchisees, to cover the event as part of the Expo’s We.Blog editorial board, to cover the Expo for this site (and all of you reading who could not attend), to make connections with other bloggers and product companies, and to eat my way through the newest vegan foods. Phew! It was a lot to take on, but I tackled the challenge head on…so much so that my colleague Travis remarked that I must’ve been carrying a documentary crew in my back-pack and vegan athlete and Vega founder Brendan Brazier said I looked like a Sherpa.

Case.In.Point.

Alrighty then! Let’s start with the food (of course that’s where I’d start, right? ;))

The Cranky One’s Favorite New Vegan Products (in alphabetical order):

• Field Roast‘s new “Hand-Formed Burger” was delicious! I don’t typically like fake burgers, but this one had a great texture and taste that I’m 100{967bf23b37ec6a673a83041540b3f904a815b4119ddf673afb961c1e7592ebdd} on board with. It’s so new that the product info. isn’t online, but I’ll link you when it is.
• Hail Merry Snacks‘ new chocolate chip cookie dough macaroons. Holy macaroon, they are good. I didn’t think anything could top their dark-chocolate-covered almond butter tart, but I was wrong. What I love about this brand is that they truly use the most pristine ingredients possible so that even though it’s a dessert, it’s satiating and nutrient-dense. *Stay tuned for my video interview with founder Susan O’Brien*
• Hint Water‘s new fizz drinks. What I love about Hint Water is that there are no added sweeteners, even non-caloric sweeteners, but you still feel like you’re drinking a treat because of the natural fruit essence that’s added. At Expo West, Hint launched its “Hint Fizz” line in PET (plastic bottles) with new flavor Grapefruit. They also launched new Hint Water Blood Orange, Crisp Apple, and Peach. They are the first new flavors that they’ve launched in three years! If you have a hard time drinking your water, try Hint. I even heard via Twitter that a friend would drink it when she was pregnant because she knew she needed to get plenty of water but was bored with regular water. *Stay tuned for my video interview with founder Kara Goldin*Here’s part of the Hint team with HUMAN‘s “HUMAN Touch” 46″ healthy vending machine front and center. 
• Love and Hummus‘ hummus is amazing for several reasons:  one, it doesn’t have any fillers, two, it’s sold in recyclable BPA-free glass containers so no nasty chemicals leach into the product, the founder Donna is a goddess and the company is recently a certified B Corporation, which means the company is contractually obligated to act in a socially- and environmentally-responsible way. Oh yea, the hummus itself is delicious, too!
• Lovebean Fudge is like Nutella only more healthful, vegan and made with coconut oil. I’m not gonna lie, I ate both sample tubes (the original flavor & raw version) like a ravenous animal. I would spread this on fruit and bread, use it as frosting and pour it directly into my mouth (I’m very classy). It’s good stuff!
• Mamma Chia‘s launched two new Chia Squeeze Vitality Snack flavors—Mango Coconut and Wild Raspberry—as well as convenient four-packs, which I loved! Additionally, Mamma Chia debuted a new organic bagged chia, for those who’d like to use it as they please. Janie Hoffman, founder, was on hand to discuss Chia Vitality, her book debuting in April, and her chia-based cookbook being released in September of this year. All Mamma Chia Squeezes are Non-GMO Verified, gluten-free, vegan, kosher and Certified Organic by the USDA.*Stay tuned for my video interview with founder Janie Hoffman* [screen grab below as a teaser]. I absolutely fell in love with Janie and know you will, too.
  
• Mr. Dewie‘s vegan frozen desserts. The founders of Mr. Dewie’s explained just how many almonds go into their almond-milk-based ice cream and how many cashews go into their cashew-milk-based ice cream—apparently so much more than anyone else’s that even the Almond Board was taken aback. The texture and taste of both varieties were outstanding!
• Neat‘s meat-alternative mix in the Mexican variety is a favorite. This is a meat-replacement starter made with a pecan and  garbanzo bean foundation that you can then add a “chia egg” to (any vegan egg replacement will go; or regular eggs if you’re not vegan) and voila! you have mock meat. And it actually tastes GOOD. Faux meats are typically chemical-laden with ingredients lists that read like the periodic table, but Neat’s ingredients list is as wholesome as they come. Plus, it’s owned by a husband-and-wife team and I love that!
• Pure Bar‘s new Peanut Butter Chocolate bar in its Ancient Grains line up has found its place in my small but coveted list of top snack bars. The bar includes Pure’s exclusive ancient grains blend of quinoa, amaranth, flax seeds, and hemp; is certified organic, gluten-free, non-GMO verified, whole-grain, vegan and kosher. The Ancient Grains bar contains complete vegan protein, provides fiber and antioxidants, has 8g of sugar, 5g of protein per bar, and is low in sodium. It’s also delicious. My picky boyfriend (now fiance *gasp* more to come on that in a separate post) said he loved it. So did my mom. They are the two people I aim to please most in this life, so thanks, Pure bar!
  
• Vega‘s new chocolate maca bars are heavenly superfood bliss. Each bar of Vega Maca chocolate combines 4,000mg of premium organic gelatinized maca—renowned for its ability to balance, invigorate and energize—with 70{967bf23b37ec6a673a83041540b3f904a815b4119ddf673afb961c1e7592ebdd} cocoa dark chocolate. According to Vega, ancient, native Peruvians used maca for thousands of years as both a food and a tonic. They believed it increased energy and stamina, improved fertility and enhanced libido. *Smiles uncomfortably*
  *Stay tuned for my video interview with founder and vegan athlete Brendan Brazier* [screen grab below as a teaser]
  This must be my face after he says, “it’s complicated” when I ask what you guys peer-pressured me into asking: “are you single?”

Since I have to choose my top three as part of the We.Blog editorial board, I spent a great deal of time thinking about it and it came down to this question: which of these products would I want a year subscription to? (not the most riveting question, but perhaps the most strategic; hey, companies are you listening? ;)) and that’s how I chose my…

Top Three Products of Expo West a la Cranky One:

1. Hail Merry’s chocolate chip cookie dough macaroons
   
2. Vega’s Maca Bar
3. Pure Bar’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Ancient Grains bar

In between grubbing and interviewing, I paid close attention to new trends and this is what I found…

Top New Trends in Natural Food Products

• Coconut everything. There were at least four new coconut waters on the market. Coconut oil is the new go-to oil. Coconut chips are everywhere. Coconut yogurt is in. There’s even vegan coconut “bacon” (see Phoney Baloney‘s). I don’t dislike this trend *licks chops*
• “Ancient” grains. Attune Foods, Pure Bar and Purely Elizabeth are three of several brands now touting ancient grains. I’m ambivalent about this trend. While calling something “ancient” outside of food products tends to be insulting, calling a grain “ancient” seems to lend credibility. Let’s use this as a case study in marketing, shall we?
• Social good. I saw at least four newly certified B Corporations, including Sweet Riot, Hilary’s Eat Well and Love and Hummus. This trend makes me so happy! I know all about B Corps because the company I work for is one and I know the people behind the movement. It’s a beautiful thing to see companies taking stewardship so seriously that they are willing to have it incorporated into their Articles of Incorporation. Additionally, hundreds of companies exhibiting participate in 1{967bf23b37ec6a673a83041540b3f904a815b4119ddf673afb961c1e7592ebdd} for the Planet, including Mamma Chia. I also saw a vegan snack bar line that has a one-for-0ne model (see Kutoa). Social & environmental good is my favorite trend from the Expo
• Chia seeds aren’t going anywhere. Chia is in cereals, bars, oatmeals, yogurts, candy, drinks and chips. Ch-ch-ch-chia is here to stay.

Another fun part of Expo West was getting to make new blogger friends and meet blogger friends in real life. I loved meeting Beth from Tasty Yummies. It was great to see Alyssa from Double Chin Diary again, to finally meet Jody from Truth 2 Being Fit, to see my pals Alexandra and Kymberly from Fun and Fit and to meet one of my blog heroes, Hemi from Fooducate.
Me and Alyssa from Double Chin Diary

I also loved meeting Lauren, the PR master behind Dr. Bronner’s. Pretty sure she and I are kindred spirits. Here’s a screen grab from my interview with her. You can tell I’m loving her by how stupid I look:

Stay tuned for additional information on Raj Patel’s key note, my video interviews and some awesome give-aways I have for you guys.

Check out all of my pictures from Expo West here.

Did any of the products mentioned above pique your interest or maybe they’re already in your pantry? If you attended Expo West, what were some of the trends and products you paid most attention to?

<3,

The Cranky One

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