{"id":3247,"date":"2022-03-24T14:44:57","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T21:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/?p=3247"},"modified":"2026-08-30T22:00:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T05:00:39","slug":"fancy-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/fancy-like\/","title":{"rendered":"Fancy Like..."},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Aromi<\/span><\/div>

Fancy Food Show photo courtesy of SFA<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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FANCY LIKE...<\/h1>\n

THE SPECIALTY FOOD ASSOCIATION HAD EVERYONE EATING OUT OF THEIR HANDS AT THE FANCY FOOD SHOW IN LAS VEGAS!<\/p>\n

By Stacey Gualandi<\/p>\n<\/div>

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As far as culinary cuisine goes, I lean more casual than connoisseur. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I enjoy a good meal, but let\u2019s just say I don\u2019t have an adventurous appetite when it comes to trying new and different foods.<\/p>\n

So when I got an invitation to attend The Specialty Food Association\u2019s 2022 Winter Fancy Food Show this year in Las Vegas, I thought, \u201cWhy not expand my epicurean horizons?\u201d<\/p>\n

Founded in 1952, the SFA represents importers, retailers, and distributors and has helped companies launch name brands like Ben & Jerry\u2019s, Popchips, and ZICO Coconut Water. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n

Open only to buyers and the food and hospitality trade, the \u201cFancy Food Show\u201d is the beloved bi-annual convention highlighting all things new and exciting within the $170 billion specialty food industry.<\/p>\n

In February, this year\u2019s 46th Winter Food Fest marked the first \u201cin-person\u201d show in two years and a return to Las Vegas after nearly 50 years in San Francisco!<\/p>\n

It was a veritable feast for the eyes\u2014and stomach\u2014as over 800 exhibitors worldwide, including countries like Turkey, South Africa, Taiwan, and Thailand, offered everything from cheese, chocolate, and chips to pizza, pasta, and prosciutto.<\/p>\n

But before I bit off more than I could chew, I partnered with a professional gastro globe-taster: my fancy \u201cfoodie\u201d friend Patranya Bhoolsuwan. As the host of the YouTube food and travel show \u201cPatranya Plates,\u201d she recommended we divide and conquer one country at a time.<\/p>\n

As we craved our way around the world (through each Pavilion including International, Startup, Cheese, Plant-based, etc.), we opted for olives from Egypt; ate agave rosemary lamb from Australia; indulged in dried cod and chips from Iceland, and sampled \u201csandwich seaweed\u201d snacks from Thailand (where Patranya was born and raised). We also dined on dim sum (and then some); fell in love with \u201cFrooze Balls,\u201d and bagged a lot of tea (my personal favorite was The Teabook. Obvi.).<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Stacey Gualandi in Teabag Hat<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

In one afternoon, we sampled, sipped, and savored what we could and what we couldn\u2019t, we saved for later. Speaking of saving, on the third and final day of this eating extravaganza, exhibitors donated 20,000 pounds of unused, surplus specialty food to Three Square Food Bank, Southern Nevada\u2019s only food bank and largest hunger-relief organization, and FREE International, an anti-human trafficking organization.<\/p>\n

In addition to the food rescue program, SFA\u2019s team of taste Trendspotters said there were several takeaways from this year\u2019s show involving health, comfort, and sustainability.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Trendspotters Panel photo courtesy of SFA<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

\u201cWe continue to see the effects of the pandemic through the popularity of comfort food and snacks. Innovations in environmentally conscious products like up-cycled foods and hemp are increasing, and plant-based meat and dairy alternatives are going strong, as are global flavors across categories,\u201d said Denise Purcell, SFA\u2019s vice president, content & education. \u201cWe\u2019ll be looking for these to show their prominence at the Summer Fancy Food Show (in New York) in June.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2022 Winter show was so successful the SFA just announced that their moveable feast would return to Las Vegas in January. (Eat your heart out, San Francisco!) That will definitely give Bhoolsuwan and me plenty of time to dig into our bags and digest. Can you say Jelly Belly?<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Patranya Bhoolsuwan and Stacey Gualandi with Jelly Belly<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

But before we do that, we offer this final food for thought: Don\u2019t come (too) hungry.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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In February, this year\u2019s 46th Winter Food Fest marked the first \u201cin-person\u201d show in two years and a return to Las Vegas after nearly 50 years in San Francisco! Founded in 1952, the SFA represents importers, retailers, and distributors and has helped companies launch name brands like Ben & Jerry\u2019s, Popchips, and ZICO Coconut Water. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2360,4519],"tags":[3668,3667,3526,3665,3669,267,2816,3666,3128,3265],"class_list":["post-3247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-dining","tag-fancy-food-show","tag-fancy-foods-show","tag-fine-dining","tag-food","tag-fsa","tag-las-vegas","tag-nevada","tag-novelty","tag-stacey-gualandi","tag-tradeshow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11364,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3247\/revisions\/11364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}