The New York Fancy Food Show exhibits some of the best and tastiest food from around the world. I go to the show looking for interesting, innovative and tasty kosher products.

This year, the first thing I noticed at the Fancy Food Show in New York was the number of Dubai Chocolate products being featured due to their popularity at this time. However, none of the products that I saw were certified as kosher, so I was unable to try them. Pistachio, an important ingredient in Dubai Chocolates, was also highlighted by many exhibitors. Pistachio based products included pistachio cream which is the ingredient in Dubai chocolates, pistachio milk produced by Elmhust Dairy and flavored pistachios from Setton were kosher.

Other trends that I saw included interesting labeling of foods as: real, no-junk, hot sauce, high fiber, plant-based, vegetable-based, pro-biotic, fermented. pickle, clean energy, real butter;, and having clean ingredients.

Fermented foods included pickles or pickle flavored foods including kimchi and fermented beverages including kombucha, kefir and yogurt products. Hold the Pickle showed a pickle spice without the pickle. In the fermented foods category, Cleveland Kitchen had kosher kimchi in mild and spicy versions.

Functional beverages were a prominent category at the show. Beverages were highlighted that provideding clean energy, i.e., providing energy but no caffeine, gut health and good nutrition. Other beverages claimed to help people sleep or help their digestion. Many of these companies emphasized that the products contained little or no sugar, using stevia and monk fruit as replacements for sugar.

MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) current oil or fat trends were highlighted. Avocado, a non-seed oil, was highlighted if it was an ingredient. This included potato chips fried in avocado oil. Another trend which is not good for the kosher consumer is the use of meat-based fats including tallow which is made from beef fat. A potato chip company advertised that they fried their potatoes in tallow.

There were innovative kosher products at the show. Wayfare, a company that makes plant-based cheeses and butter-like spreads, told me that they were coming out in the fall with a vegan butter that will taste and bake like butter. This product will be certified OU pareve. This can be a useful product for the kosher baker. Strive lactose-free milk is made from casein produced by fermentation and never saw the inside of a cow. The bio-fermented casein and flavors in the product are pareve. All ingredients are vegetable-based, and it is certified as dairy but according to the OU it is DE because it is produced in a dairy plant. The microbially produced whey is a dairy protein so the product has a dairy protein designation. The product can be used like any other DE product such as almond milk with the DE designation. Sh Mallow A makes a kosher pareve sprayable marshmallow topping which was cool and fun. Farmer Foodie showed a cashew -based parmesanParmesan cheese. A number of companies showed plant basedplant-based milksmilk.

Mon Cuisine, a division of Alle Processing, a kosher meal company showed their vegetarian soy basedsoy-based products Including kosher pParkeve chicken fingers, mini tacos made with soy- based ground beef substitute and for a chicken soy -based ground chicken-like product that was soy based. Manischewitz will be selling jarred chicken and mushroom barley soup. Bens Best CharcutterieCharcuterie showed tasty glatt charcuterie.

A number of companies showed tasty pareve chocolates. Ziebart'sZiebart's chocolate included oat milk chocolate products.Tcho whose products are soy-free dairy-free and gluten-free, farm to bar. chocolate included oat milk chocolate products. Tcho products are soy-free dairy-free and gluten-free, farm to bar. (Earth Kosher Pareve),Other pareve chocolate companies included Paccari Chocolate, and Guittard Chocolate that now makes pareve chocolates.

A company at the show demonstrated why even clean plant protein products need certification. When I asked about the kosher status of this, company they freely admitted that they were producing the products in a pork plant, and did I know any kosher product companiesco-packers that could accommodate them. A number of the startup companies expressed interest in kosher,. however, they are being made in a shared kitchen so that at the moment this is not feasible for them to do.

The Fancy Food Show visit once again showed me that there are many delicious, innovative and healthy products available to the kosher consumer.