For the past three days, the Moscone Center has played host to the Fancy Food Show marketplace. Producers showed off their new edibles, including noodles and crackers made with everything but wheat and corn (hello, red wine, yams, kale, and kelp!), specialty cured meats, and a ton of chocolate. Think hot cocoa on a stick, chocolate tea, and, representing SF, bars with olive oil and sea salt from Poco Dolce and rocky road clusters from Droga Confections. The handmade marshmallows (covered in salted peanuts and chocolate) were probably the best I’ve ever had—more like nougat, not too sweet, and far from gummy, which usually ruins anything with “rocky road” in the title for me.
With 80,000 foods on display, it was surprising to see just a handful from the Bay Area: Cowgirl Creamery, Golden Gate Meat Company’s juniper-berry spiced Spanish lomo from Olli Salumeria, Bellwether Farms new hand-dipped ricotta, and Dave’s Gourmet masala marinara among them. According to the show, these and yuzu-wasabi sauces, aloe and cucumber drinks, and ghost peppers are making the food trend lists—but we’ll have to wait and see what actually makes it to market shelves.
