Back from NYC with my Report on the Fancy Food Show

This weekend I went to NYC with my husband Ed to go to “The Fancy Food Show”. This is a trade show for people in the specialty food business. This year I went with a focus on what’s new out there that’s diabetes-friendly, low-carb, and healthy. I found a few products that I thought were terrific. (none of these are in any way connected to my husband’s company).

The Kitchen Table Bakers won the gold in the “Diet/Lifestyle” category for their “Aged Parmesan Gourmet Wafer Crisps”. The only ingredient is Parmesan Cheese. They looked like tiny round cheese crackers and melted in your mouth with super cheesiness. Zero carbs! Well-deserved award. (www.kitchentablebakers.com)

I tried the “Roasted Vegetable Souffle” from Garden Lites Brand made by Classic Cooking, LLC. These souffles are low calorie, vegetarian, gluten-free, and come frozen in single serve size. The carb count on this one was 18. It was very good, and I’d like to try the many other flavors.

Wild Veggie calls themselves “The Souper Drink”. They come in four flavors, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Edamame, and Red Bell Pepper. These come frozen, and can be thawed and served as a cold drink, or heated up as a soup. I can see many possibilities adding other ingredients to make a delicious vitamin-packed soup. The Red Pepper (11gm carb) was wonderful cold. I also enjoyed the edamame (6 gm carb), and would use it as a low-carb substitute in a bean soup. (www.souperdrink.com)

I saw two vendors showing their low-carb, sugar-free ketchups and barbeque sauces. The first, Schumann’s, had a nice ketchup with a bit of a spice kick to it. Much much better than the sugar-free Heinz. (www.thesauceguy.com). The other is from “Chef Hymie Grande,” and was really outstanding. Chef Hymie’s barbeque sauces come in three levels of hotness, New Mexico, Polapote, and Cascabel. I tried the polapote, and it had a complex, fantastic mixture of spicy-goodness of Ancho and Chipotle chilis, all for only 7 gm carb in 2 Tbl. No artificial sweeteners or weird aftertastes. He had the ADA logo displayed prominently on his booth, and I gave him a TuDiabetes postcard. His sauces are available online. (www.chefhymiegrande.com)

Lastly, but certainly not the least, you must try Bacon Salt! Their slogan is “everything should taste like bacon”. It’s no calorie, vegetarian, kosher, and yes, low-sodium seasoning. The ingredients are wheat, soy, and milk. You may have seen them on Oprah recently, or mentioned on the Daily Show. They have some pretty funny videos on You-Tube, and I’m following them on Twitter. I came home with some samples of their bacon-flavored lip balm, which is very enjoyable, and wished that I’d had room for the Baconnaise, the bacon-flavored mayonnaise. (www.baconsalt.com)

It’s such a huge event, you couldn’t possibly try everything, or even see everything. It’s a tough day to figure out bolusing, but I managed to keep things halfway reasonable with my blood sugar. Can’t wait to go again next year!

Wow! Sounds like fun! And you made some great discoveries too :slight_smile:

I am off to Fresh Market to buy some Wafer Crisps. The “everything should taste like bacon” motto is a riot. it reminds me of The Sweet Potato Queen’s books and is a nice reminder that we are not denied everything that is wonderful in life as diabetics!

Sounds like you had a great time! Thanks for the review!