JFG Nation, it’s time to look back at the Summer Fancy Food Show, 2016! I’m so excited to…what? Wait. Wha?

<off stage murmuring>

…What do you mean the show was two months ago?

<off stage murmuring>

…stale? What do mean, stale? You think people don’t want to hear about this?

<off stage panic, insistent whispering>

…C’mon, this stuff is gold! After all, where else can you see stuff like this:

That’s right, folks, that is a Barbie dressed up in a meat dress. I can’t remember what this was presented for; I’m guessing some booth in the Spain section was using this to pimp Iberico Jamon or something. Well, mission accomplished! I’ll never forget this Lady Gaga figurine.

Ok, I know the Summer Fancy Food Show was approx. two months ago, but trust me – if you saw my email inbox, you’d think the show never ended. I’m still getting emails from budding new companies, so I wanted to just highlight two things I saw at the show – a high and a low.

My low was this dessert hummus from Delighted by Hummus. Now, here’s the thing – Delighted by Hummus, a gluten-free, all-natural, vegan dessert hummus company, got a TON of buzz at the Summer Fancy Food Show. After all, it was probably the ONE THING I’d never ever seen before. I would never look at something that has ground chickpeas and olive oil and think: How do I make this sweet?

But Delighted by Hummus did, and the people I spoke to at the show either LOVED it or HATED it. Their flavors: Chocolate Chip, Brownie Batter, Orange-Ginger, Vanilla-Bean, and Snickerdoodle Hummus. I tried the Brownie Batter Hummus. I didn’t love it – there was no flavor of savory tahini, of course; instead it was a not-super-sweet sort-of-brownie-tasting hummus. It spread like hummus. To me, because of the chickpea base, the brownie flavor never quite got off the ground. The rest of the JFG crew weren’t huge fans either. My friend Jen tried the chocolate chip version – her face said it all.

BUT, despite my personal opinion, some people thought Delighted by Hummus was the most buzzworthy of the entire show. What do you think, JFG Nation? Let me know in the comments below.

And now, a high: Bushwick Kitchen’s Bees Knees Salted Honey. Honey was HUGE this year at the show, with lots of companies making lots of variations – honeys flavored with spice were very popular. But this was the only SALTED honey I saw, and, to be honest, I never ever contemplated adding salt to honey. And I have no idea why – I’ve had salt on caramel, on chocolate, on fruit – all to make it sweeter on the tongue, right? So why NOT add salt to nature’s sugar?

The result appealed to me a great deal – the flavor of the honey was deep, tinged with a bit of saltiness that made my mouth water as soon as I placed it on my tongue. The sweetness of the honey fought immediately with the slight but noticeable saltiness causing my tastebuds to go wild. Really really good. Usually I look for my honey to be pure; the complexity of this honey made me rethink things. Thumbs up, Bushwick Kitchen.

So that’s that – a slight peak into my Summer Fancy Food adventures. What’d you think of these two products? Sound off below. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Sincerely,

The JFG