WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2019 The Boston Globe G3
ByLizaWeisstuch
GLOBECORRESPONDENT
These are the thingsI
learnedat the 2019 Fancy Food
Show: Plant-based is the new
vegetarianfood, and a vegetari-
an diet is the new normal.And
whether you wantto blameor
credit the increased gluten in-
tolerance, nut allergies, and
trepidation around all things
meat and dairy, there is an al-
ternative to everything.
Earlier this summer at the
Jacob Javits Convention Center
in Manhattan, as I wandered
throughaboutsix football
fields’ worth of displays helmed
by producers, entrepreneurs,
chefs, farmers,bakers, cheese-
mongers, fishmongers, activ-
ists, importers, I spotted all
sorts of things that weren’t
what they seem. By design.
There was Avonaise, the avoca-
do-based veganalternative
mayonnaise. There was hemp
milk, an alternative to oat milk
which has becomethe stand-in
for soy and almond milk, which
is an alternative to cow’s milk.
There werenut crumbsfrom
San Diego-based Appel Foods
and porkrindcrumbsfrom
Pork KingGood out of Ohio,
both gluten-free substitutes for
breadcrumbs. There were
crackers and doughs made
fromground-upcauliflower, an
alternative to flour. There was
Oaté, an oat milkfrozen des-
sert, an alternative to ice cream
and the creationof a trio of
young friendswhoconceived
their idea while studyingat
Boston University. They’ve
growntheirbusinessout of
CommonwealthKitchen, the
Dorchester incubator. (More on
that in a minute.)
And there was snackfood —
lots and lots of snack food, each
purporting to have moreamino
acids or fiber or probiotics than
the last. MudLrk’s Shiitake
MushroomChips, whichcome
in ranch, Sriracha,and Kansas
City BBQflavors,have five
grams of proteinand 10 grams
of fiber per serving. (And it’s
vegan, glutenfree, etc.) Second
Brain Foods’ Barley Crunchand
Barley Bars, created by Kokeb
Kassa whowas inspired by a
staple in her native Ethiopia,
pack a probioticspunch. There
was high-protein,magnesium-
packed, gluten-freesprouted
buckwheat from Lil Bucks, a
Chicago startup, and several
people withnew brandsof
popped water lily seeds. The
protein-rich bites, traditional
to ancient India, have the shape
and consistency of Kix cereal
and a slightly sweet earthiness.
Plant-basedsnack food is al-
ready makingwaves in big in-
dustry, too. Rob Ehrlich, who
madehis fortune as creator of
Pirate Booty, was showcasing
his new line of snack food:Veg-
an Rob’s, which encompasses
sorghum-flour-basedpuffs in
flavors like beet, probiotic cauli-
flower, and jackfruit.
But you hardly needa dis-
patch fromthe Fancy Food
Showto learnthat healthy eat-
ing has become de rigueur. Ac-
cordingto a report from the
United Fresh Produce Associa-
tion, sales of organic produce
grew 8.7 percent to $5.6 billion
in 2018over 2017.And a Niels-
en study revealed plant-based
foodsare up 20 percent in dol-
lar sales in the United States to
more than $3.3 billion from
2017 to 2018.
News headlines during the
past months show the real-time
effects: The world came danger-
ously low on its supplyof Im-
possibleBurgers, the plant-
based patty engineered to look,
feel, and taste like meat, after
fast-foodrestaurants put it on
theirmenus. The meat lobby is
up in arms.They want to put a
moratorium on veggie burger
producers using the word
“burger” in theirbranding. The
dairy lobby is also in a state,comingdownon soy and al-
mondmilkmanufacturers, de-
manding they take “milk” out
of their products’ names.
Andfor thesealternative-
food makers, even bad PR is
good PR. Americans want more
excitingand diverseways of
eating. And they’re getting it.Accordingto data compiled by
the Specialty Food Association,
the member-based trade orga-
nization that producesthe Fan-
cy Food Show, specialty food
and beverage salesaccount for
16 percent of the food and bev-
erage market. Among the top
10 specialty food categories
with the highest dollar growth,
refrigerated plant-basedmeat
alternatives, rice cakes, and fro-
zen plant-based meat alterna-
tivestake the top threespots.
Water clocksin above bottled
tea and coffee.
Massachusetts madeits
presence felt with a mix of long-
standing indie brands, small
companiesthat have under-
gone growthspurts in the past
few years, and imaginative
startups. Perhapsit has some-
thing to do with New England’s
legacy of immortalizingregion-
al desserts (see:Boston cream
pie, whoopie pies,Toll House
Cookies,Fluff), but many local
businesses at the show aim to
satisfy yoursweet tooth.
Amongthem,the second-gen-
eration-owned Chelsea-based
GoldenCannoli ShellCo. The
biggest supplier of the crunchy
shells is “bringingcannolisinto
the 21st century,” a spokeswom-
an told me, with new iterations
of the confection, like Cannoli
Chips, crumbs, and “Chips and
Dips,” a packaged deconstruct-
ed versionof the dessert. The
46-year-oldHarborSweets, a
chocolatier in Salem, is also
busy innovating. CEOPhyllis
LeBlancwas showcasingGath-
er, her chocolates madewithhoney. But she scored a sofi
Award, the show’s prizefor top
products, for her new Kashmir
Spicevariety of Cocoa Santé,a
hot cocoa mix. The bean-to-bar
Goodnow Farms Chocolate,
fromSudbury, took home three
sofis, includingtwo for its Spe-
cial Reserve 77 percent Dark
Chocolate withPutnamRye
Whiskey, a spiritmadeat Bos-
ton Harbor Distilling.
Breakout localbrandswho
madean appearanceas part of
CommonwealthKitchen’s dis-
play werevery on-trend.“Se-
niorpreneurs” Nanci Gelb and
Terri Tsagaris,for instance,
showcasedtheir fledgingOff
Our Rocker Sweet Potato Cook-
ies, a vegantreat that they’re
lobbying stores to placein the
produceaisles.
There was one thing missing
fromamongthe keto food,low-
glycemic sweeteners, and re-
sponsibly sourced cacao, coffee,
and meat: edibles.Representa-
tionof products containing
CBD was very light. But accord-
ing to a few conversations I had
— particularly with people who
are creating individually-pack-
aged snacks — the coming years
will likely be very different.Liza Weisstuch canbe reached
at [email protected].PHOTOS BY LIZAWEISSTUCH FORTHEBOSTONGLOBEAt this year’s Fancy Food Show,
vegan and vegetarian foods dominate
PhyllisLeBlanc(left),
CEOof HarborSweets
in Salem,withhersofi
Awardforherspiced
hotcocoamixat the
Fancy FoodShow(top)
in New York City.
Below:TerriTsagaris
(left) andNanciGelb
showcasedtheirOff
OurRocker Sweet
Potato Cookies.The top3 specialtyfoodswithhighestdollargrowtharerefrigeratedplant-basedmeatalternatives,ricecakes,andfrozenplant-basedmeatalternatives.FANCYFOODASSOCIATIONCAStateFair WineCompetition
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