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Expo East 2017 and Our 21 Vegan Favorites

Expo East 2017 and Our 21 Vegan Favorites

We are back from Expo East; a Natural Products Expo put together by New Hope Network and OH MY GOODNESS was that an experience.  There are so many adjectives swirling around in my head… Fun! Amazing! Inspiring! Humbling! Tasty! Fantastic! Delicious! … I could go on and on!  The premise of the expo is for companies to showcase new products that will be launching in the coming year and to connect with current customers and prospective clients in the industry.  We had a blast as part of the press/influencer team and put together this recap of Expo East 2017 and Our 21 Vegan Favorites.

So why did we go? Well, as a vegan lifestyle blog, we want to be able to provide you with the scoop on awesome vegan products on the market now and excellent products to come.  It is our mission to be your go-to resource for all things vegan!  We uncovered so many new to us products and tasted products that will be launching in the coming months.  If you haven’t already,  please visit our youtube channel for a recap of the event and see some of the products via video that we tasted, snacked upon, and fell in love with!

Trends

I am pretty sure I have never had so much cold brewed coffee and protein bars as I did at Expo East.  We have concluded the following hot trends in the natural product industry:

Nondairy Milk – and they are milking everything!  EVEN PEANUTS!

Cold Brewed Coffee – I am pretty sure this might become my favorite drinking beverage.  It was smooth and delightful.  I learned a bunch about cold-brew coffee; my coffee drinking will never be the same.

Protein-protein everywhere – popcorns, snack puffs, bars, nut-butter, nuts, soups, burgers, etc.  Protein was a hot topic!

Snacks, snacks, and more snacks – We enjoyed every type of snack you could want, and then things you’d never thought of turned into snacks.  We enjoyed infused peanuts, puffed lilypad seeds, ice cream, gelato, and more ice cream (and I am not complaining!), seaweed, hummus, and chips, and puffs made of everything! Holy wow is the creativity flowing in the snack industry!

Favorites

New to Us

Now to the part you’ve been waiting for, our 21 favorite NEW TO US products of the Expo in no particular order (because honestly selecting only 21 favorites was hard enough).

Snacks- Salty

  1. Vegan Robs – I can’t get over the creativity! These puffs, chips, and chickpeas are tasty, crunchy, and everything you want in a snack  And they are vegan!  We loved them so much; I snapped a pic with Vegan Rob.
  2. Brami Snacks – All of them are scrumptious, but the Garlic & Herb is my fave.  These lupini bean snacks are flavorful and healthy.  They have no oil and are a fantastic whole food snack!
  3. Nuttin’ Ordinary – This was one of the most delicious things I tasted at the expo.  The tang of the cashew cheeze was incredible!  We were able to snag some full-size samples to use in some upcoming recipes, so be sure to subscribe to our email list!
  4. Bitchin’ Sauce – Holy deliciousness!  We haven’t stopped talking about this since we tasted it.  Every damn one was delicious!  Totally Bitchin’ and a top on our list!
  5. Ithaca Cold Pressed Hummus – Flavor explosion in my mouth!  I am such a snacker, and the lemon dill hummus we tried was incredible.  Fortunately, we visit NY often so we will be able to grab some of this tasty hummus in our travels until it makes it to Western PA.

 

Snacks-Sweet

  1. Luna and Larry’s Coconut Bliss – I didn’t try a flavor I didn’t like, including the tasty cookie sandwich.  Perhaps I need a bigger freezer so I can keep all these delicious treats on hand (we can place that right next to the treadmill I will need to purchase too – yikes)!
  2. Unreal Snacks- The crispy ones – Dark Chocolate Crispy Peanut Butter Cups – in the green wrapper.  These are amazing!  Grab yourself a bag!

Meal Time Fun!

  1. No Evil Plant Meat – We were fortunate to be able to enjoy pulled pork style sandwiches, as well as Italian Sausage donut sliders, and their plant meats did not disappoint.  Juicy and flavorful, these might become our new favorites.
  2. Sweet Earth Breakfast Burritos – We were pleasantly surprised at both the flavor and heartiness of these breakfast burritos.  Be sure you grab the vegan ones since there are some that are vegetarian.   We would certainly keep these on hand for busy mornings!
  3. Alpha Burritos – Philly, Pizza, Mexicali – OH MY!  The flavor and convenience of these burritos make them a perfect go-to for folks on the go!
  4. Good Catch – Ummm, fish-free tuna and fish?! These are super tasty and launching in early 2018! I can’t wait to get my hands on them.  They will make the perfect lunch, snack, dinner… ya know – everything!
  5. Made Good Foods – So, they were sampling regular and chocolate crispy bars.  They were amazing and totally allergen free!  When we got home we tried one of their other samples, Strawberry Granola Minis and those were incredible too!  Can’t wait to find more of their delicious products!
  6. Good Seed – These oil-free, good for you veggie burgers top our list of things tried.  In fact, I had several – since I needed to taste it and then taste it again for our video, lol (at least that is what I kept telling myself #snacker).
  7. Qrunch – Surprisingly tasty, the quinoa-based maple toaster cake was so flavorful; that we talked about this product for days after.  Even checked to see where we can get it in our area.  It could make for some interesting recipes in the future.
  8. Sunshine Burgers – Another oil-free product.  They were full of vegetable flavor!  Definitely going to get my hands on some of these!

Condiments

  1. Yondu – Whoa!  Talk about flavor! This oil-free liquid vegetable essence is perfect for plant-based cooking!
  2. Yellowbird – The VegInspiredChef is in love with their hot sauces.  He wants the Blue Agave Sriracha on everything… everything!

Beverages

  1. Elmhurst – Milked oats… this was my favorite non-dairy milk of the show.  The rich, creamy flavor, and the health benefits… I can’t wait to get my hands on this for my A.M. smoothies and oatmeal bowls.
  2. On-Time Mixers – Good for you drink mixers! YES PLEASE!  Most drink mixers have loads of crap – not these! I’ll have another!
  3. Koia – Yum!  Full of flavor and packed with plant-based proteins.  This beverage was delish!

Lifestyle Products

  1. My Magic Mud – This coconut oil/charcoal toothpaste is a tasty surprise, and it works.  I started using it immediately and have already noticed a whitening and detoxifying difference!

Long-Standing Faves

We also got to meet and taste new products from our favorite brands:

  • Upton’s Naturals
  • Miyoko’s Kitchen (I tasted a cheesecake made by Miyoko and got my picture taken with her #fangirl)
  • Field Roast
  • Justin’s
  • Dandies
  • Bob’s Red Mill (umm, I got my picture taken with BOB! 🙂
  • Beanfields
  • Follow your Heart
  • Hippeas
  • La Croix
  • Kite Hill

We had such a blast exploring these products.  Please be sure to subscribe to our email list (scroll down) and head over to our YouTube channel and subscribe.  We have plenty of excellent videos and blog posts coming your way, and we don’t want you to miss a thing!  We hope this gives you a glimpse of Expo East 2017 and Our 21 Vegan Favorites.

Now, I am going to hide these snacks and grab some buddha bowls for a few days! #expodetox Hahaha! Be sure to tune into our Instagram Stories for additional products we love once we start snacking and sampling the takeaway snacks!  Let us know in the comments if you have tried any of these or what you want to try!

Until next time, Eat More Plants & Live VegInspired!

XO,

Kathy

This post is not sponsored, thoughts are my own, and links are for your reference. This post does contain affiliate links.