Fancy Food Show: Part One

The 53rd Summer Fancy Food Show was nothing less than utter madness, but really, what do you expect when you combine food, free samples and thousands of people?  After sifting through the newest wreckage in gourmet junk foods, olive oils and chocolates, we managed to stumble upon quite a few notables that just may change the face of food as we know it:

1) Artisanal Chips – The British are coming…one potato chip
at a time.  Tyrrell’s home-grown & home-fried potato chips are damn
tasty and while not healthy (at all), they do boast 20% less fat
& all-natural ingredients.  But the real clincher here are this endearingly
small Herefordshire farm’s seasonal flavors: asparagus-seasoned chips
in celebration of summer and game chips for autumn/winter, of course.
Yep.  Duck, orange & ginger-tweaked chips apparently serve as the
perfect cold weather snack.  For dessert, Food Should Taste Good
(that’s the brand’s actual name) has launched a line of gourmet
tortilla chips, which oddly enough include chocolate tortilla chips,
simultaneously salty & sweet.

2) Vineyard Vinegars – At-home chefs can now toss and even
pair their salads with a little vino.  If you tend to top off your
local greens with a little manchego cheese, Casa Pons’ Merlot
Bittersweet Vinegar will pair perfectly.  Or perhaps you’d prefer goat
cheese, then Bittersweet Chardonnay might be better suited to the
occassion.  Oh yes, food just got even more complicated.

3) Gummy Gross-out – What used to be fiction has become a
curious and slightly foul reality, thanks to Jelly Belly’s new line of
Harry Potter-inspired flavors.  Not so appetizing flavors include:
booger, dirt, grass, earthworm and vomit.  Trust me, they for better or worse hit the nail
on the head.

4) Olives On The Run – Oloves exclusive & admittedly
ingenious little grab n’ go bags come replete with exactly 14 olives.  This
Barcelonian company boasts black Aragon olives from the northern region of Spain,
available in both original flavor & habanero chile.  While not yet
available to the general public, Oloves intends on lining both gourmet
& convenient store shelves.

5) Beyond Extra Virgin – In the not so distant future, you may find yourself dipping into an entirely new realm of oils.  High blood pressure?  Dip your bread in flaxseed oil.  Do you long to stop the signs of aging?  Drizzle a little hemp oil over your arugula.  Who knows?  We may soon be seeing this little trend in restaurants sooner than you think.  Please don’t replace the bread basket with carrots & celery.  No, seriously.

Until we eat again,
Restaurant Girl
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