[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hey, folks, thanks for tuning into Taste Radio, the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and I'm with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Mike Schneider, and Melissa Traverse. Just as a reminder, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Review us on the Apple Podcasts app. Melissa!
[00:00:40] John Craven: You're back! I'm so happy to be here. What Can pleasure and a delight to be with the three of you.
[00:00:46] Ray Latif: The pleasure is ours. I mean, we haven't missed a beat. We haven't skipped a step.
[00:00:51] Mike Schneider: No, no. Leave that for the audience to decide, Ray. You can't just go right there.
[00:00:55] John Craven: We don't want to feed them lines. There's so much pressure on Melissa. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's just okay that I'm here.
[00:01:01] Mike Schneider: No, seriously though, Melissa is such a pro.
[00:01:03] Ray Latif: It's good to have you back on the show.
[00:01:05] John Craven: The pleasure is all mine.
[00:01:06] Ray Latif: Yeah, loyal listeners of the podcast will remember Melissa's voice, know her presence on the show. Unfortunately, she's not with us at BevNET anymore. She's with Rodeo CPG, which is awesome. That's right. However, once you're part of the BevNET family, you're always part of the BevNET family. Unless, of course, you got canned and then you're a persona non grata. But that's not the case, clearly.
[00:01:24] John Craven: Right, you just pretend the person doesn't exist, which I think is fair.
[00:01:26] Ray Latif: Once a gunner, always a gunner. There's a joke in there, John.
[00:01:32] Melissa Traverse: I'm too incoherent right now. But I got to clarify though, at least, that there is no, if you get canned from BevNET, like that's not a thing that happens.
[00:01:43] John Craven: I thought you were going to say it's not a thing that you're always BevNET family. Once you're gone, you're gone. No, that's not the case.
[00:01:50] Ray Latif: No, no. But, you know, all in all, like, you know, this show, and I forgot to mention, folks, that we are at Expo East in Philadelphia, Expo East 2022, reunited with Melissa Traverse. And, you know, it's just essentially day one of all the halls being open. And obviously wanted to get everyone's perspective. And it's amazing to have your perspective, Melissa, on the podcast, talking about new products, trends, innovation that we're seeing here. I came here yesterday on Wednesday, and I saw a bunch of brands Eat The Harvest Festival, which was a one-day event that had a lot of early-stage and emerging brands, or featuring a lot of early-stage and emerging brands. And then today, we saw probably three or four times that as well. I mean, we can't talk about today without talking about having seen the folks from Just Ice Eat The new tea brand launched by the founders of Honest Tea, which is, Everyone Loves, has been discontinued by the Coca-Cola company. But Just Ice Tea, led by Seth Goldman, Barry Nelbuff, and Spike Mendelsohn, under the umbrella of their Eat The Change brand, is alive and amazing.
[00:02:59] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, I mean, it feels like, you know, watching Honest Tea launch all over again, it's kind of almost a little eerie. But, you know, I give Seth and Barry a lot of credit for, you know, Getting The beverage industry and now getting back in, you know, basically to fill the shoes that will be left by Honest Tea. Really solid product, you know, modern brand, feels like a good kind of update and evolution of RTDT. So super excited to have those guys back.
[00:03:29] Mike Schneider: How many founders do we hear say, if I only knew then what I know now, Seth and Barry are two of the few people What Can actually, you know, apply the knowledge that they have and do it again. That's, that's remarkable.
[00:03:43] John Craven: It'll be interesting to see what they do differently this time and what they do the same this time.
[00:03:48] Ray Latif: I mean, what they've done already is remarkable in that they have launched this brand in essentially three months. They went from concept to finished product line in three months. And I told Barry that he should do a case study or teach a case study on his own, his own feet at Yale's business school. So, but, um, the product tastes amazing. It looks great. And there was a ton of buzz about it Eat The show. Well, and already different.
[00:04:16] Melissa Traverse: glass, not PET. I think that seems to be something that they're going to try to stick with. So I'm sure it'll have its own kind of personality.
[00:04:24] Mike Schneider: And what we've seen is that, you know, Just Ice any great band, they're coming in with the greatest hits right now. You know what to expect from Seth Goldman, Barry Nailbuff, T Brand, and that's what they're doing right now. So the flavors are extraordinary. My favorite so far is the mint.
[00:04:42] Ray Latif: Yeah, the Moroccan mint is fantastic, but I think they just dialed up the flavor and the smoothness and the cleanness of all the products that Honest Tea had, and just did it at a level that... I mean, Honest Tea was already a high-quality brand, and this just took it to another level. I mean, I guess we've sung the praises of Just Ice Tea as much as we can, but it is an amazing, amazing line. Yeah, I mentioned yesterday that I went to the Harvest Festival part of Expo East and I saw some really interesting brands, including a brand that is maybe familiar to folks who attended Nosh Live Winter 2021. That is Munchrooms. Munchrooms was a participant in the Pitch Slam Eat The show. They have undergone a complete package revamp and it looks amazing. You know, Munchrooms is a maker of mushroom jerky. And I think one of the hardest things about mushroom jerky is that people don't want to try it. You know, Getting The trial is one of the hardest parts. But I think as you guys can see here on the packaging, the new packaging is a complete departure from what they previously had, which was a much more of a of a farmer's market type of product. This is exciting. It's fun. It's approachable. It is trial-inducing and it just makes you feel like you want to pick it up and try it. This new tagline of snack smarter is a good one as well. I think, you know, mushroom jerky is, I believe, a significantly healthier alternative to traditional snacks like pretzels and chips. And well, frankly, I shouldn't say beef jerky, but probably beef jerky.
[00:06:18] John Craven: And it's fun. So the packaging matches.
[00:06:21] Ray Latif: Totally. Just sticking with the Harvest Festival for another sec, I was really impressed with what Loopy is doing with their new Lupini Bean Pasta. Loopy is a maker of Lupini Bean bars. They've expanded into this pasta category with three varieties. They have a penne, they have a rotini, and they have elbows. These are launching soon. They call them Mighty Lupini Bean Pasta. Great to see the founders and really think they're going to knock it out of the park with this.
[00:06:49] John Craven: High protein, I assume?
[00:06:51] Ray Latif: Exactly, Melissa, and also packed with fiber. One other brand I want to mention from the Harvest Festival is a brand called Good Food For Good. They are a maker of condiments, sauces, all kinds of things like that. They're a Canada-based brand, and they're launching their bolognese sauces in the United States, finally, because these things are amazing, and I think people have been waiting for them. The one I tried is their creamy bolognese, which Just Ice mean, you know, a bolognese is a really rich, delicious pasta that you feel like needs the protein element to give it that creaminess, to give it that sort of, well, not creaminess, but to give it that sort of oomph, for lack of a better word. And how they formulated this just using plant-based ingredients was really impressive to me.
[00:07:38] John Craven: That's a stretch. I mean, you're right. A bolognese is really like this delicious, meaty, unctuous sauce. And that seems really difficult to replicate with a plant-based product, but sounds like they nailed something.
[00:07:51] Ray Latif: Yeah. Again, available in Canada, but coming to the U.S. soon.
[00:07:56] Mike Schneider: We were just talking about protein and we're talking about meat and speaking of odd new protein, Melissa, what's this pepita egg stuff you discovered?
[00:08:05] John Craven: Don't knock it till you tried it.
[00:08:07] Mike Schneider: I'm definitely not knocking it. I just am curious. I didn't see the booth yet. We need to go try this.
[00:08:13] John Craven: I think you do need to. So there's a brand called Spiro. They have two different lines. So there's a pepita egg line. So it's an egg replacement product that uses pepitas as the sort of like meat, if you will, of the eggs.
[00:08:30] Mike Schneider: And pepitas are what again?
[00:08:31] John Craven: They're pumpkin seeds. I mean, they scramble nicely. The ingredient panel is clean, which is so hard to do for a product like this. And then they also have a line of plant-based cream cheeses. The smoked salmon is amazing and it's made out of sunflower. Definitely worth checking out.
[00:08:51] Mike Schneider: Sounds pretty delicious.
[00:08:53] John Craven: High protein, plant-based.
[00:08:58] Mike Schneider: So there's an off-the-wall idea. Maybe not an off-the-wall idea, but some definitely pushing the envelope marketing was I tried a brand called Dulce, which is Nigel Kahn's company, and it's a brand of brownies, and their tagline is, moist vibes only. They said you have to whisper it.
[00:09:16] John Craven: No. Whispering it is way worse.
[00:09:20] Mike Schneider: Way worse. Yeah, I'll take some. I'll take some. It's so tasty. But I mean, it is it's it pays off like the moistness is there. And I know that's a bad word, but it's so delicious. So tasty.
[00:09:32] John Craven: And although all of the buying has already been done for the holiday season for, you know, retailers and everything, I did see a number of kind of seasonal products that were exciting. So I am such a sucker for Elmhurst. Again, their ingredient panels are so clean. It's so hard to find plant-based creamers that don't have gums in them. And they're doing an oat nog that I thought was really tasty. I also had a pistachio latte there that was simply delightful. And then for other seasonal products, Small Batch Organics has a peppermint granola bark that is definitely not to be missed.
[00:10:07] Ray Latif: Yeah, it's interesting you bring up the seasonal products because Nitro Beverage Company, which is known for their nitro coffees, recently introduced a line of kombuchas, nitro kombuchas that are fantastic. Now, when we Eat The Nitro Beverage folks a few years back, they had already talked about a pathway to launching these types of products, but they said the timing was right now to bring them to the market. They found the right co-packer, and these things were fantastic. They did launch, along with the new line, an Apple Cinnamon, I'm sorry, an Apple Spice seasonal product.
[00:10:38] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, and Nitro Beverage actually originally had kombucha in kegs back pre-pandemic.
[00:10:43] Mike Schneider: And they brought it to our office. They drove the trucks.
[00:10:46] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, which is great. So kegs, no more, but they moved it into RTDs, and they're really good.
[00:10:53] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I mean, they brought us their Peach Kombucha, Nitro Kombucha. They came in. It's like legendary. The rest of the team didn't know that Kareem was driving the truck up from Brooklyn.
[00:11:05] Ray Latif: It's incredible. Yeah. Just a reminder, folks, if you ever want to do that, drive on up in your truck to our Newton headquarters. We welcome, welcome guests and visitors. One more thing on the brownie front before I forget, and I don't know why I would forget this company because it's fantastic, is a company called The Supplant Co. They make sugar. out of plant-based fiber. It's a really innovative process. They have a patent on their process, basically, and I'm going to read from their little flyer here. They say, supplant sugars from fiber behaves like traditional sugar in food, has less than half the calories of sugar, a low glycemic response compared to glucose, and is prebiotic, Good Food gut health. And from that, they make these chocolate bars, which taste incredible, but are low in sugar and low in calories. They're also launching soon these new brownies and oat bars in a single serve format. Mike and I got to try these products ahead of time. I'm not even sure I'm supposed to be talking about them, but here we are in the podcast talking about them. My mouth is watering, as it does when I'm really excited about something. Their oat bars in particular, now their brownies are great, but the oat bars in particular, we tried a cranberry and orange oat bar. You would think this thing is fresh, out of the oven, served at like some high-end, you know, bakery. I don't know how they did it, but it's amazing. And of course, it's low in sugar and low in calories. So great stuff. This is the Plant Company.
[00:12:36] Mike Schneider: We do love it when somebody brings out something secret to have us taste, and we can't help but talk about it on the podcast.
[00:12:43] John Craven: Yeah, Everyone Loves it's not going to stay a secret.
[00:12:46] Mike Schneider: They know it's not going to be a secret.
[00:12:47] John Craven: They're like, wink, wink.
[00:12:48] Mike Schneider: Don't talk about it.
[00:12:49] John Craven: Wink, wink. Yeah, right, right.
[00:12:50] Mike Schneider: So we did. But Ray is spot on about the oat bars. Those are delightful. One of the better things I've tasted Eat The show so far.
[00:12:57] Ray Latif: Melissa, what else did you see that really piqued your interest?
[00:13:01] John Craven: So if we're going to be talking about plant-based and plant-based milks, I don't think I can help but mention Better Mood, which caught my eye because I was walking down the... Is this the tomato milk we were talking about earlier?
[00:13:14] Mike Schneider: Melissa's here Eat The show trying to figure out what you can milk. That's how she started in podcast prep. She's like, I'm here to figure out if we can milk everything.
[00:13:23] John Craven: Every single time I come to one of these shows, I realize you can milk something else. You can milk a jicama. You can milk a flax seed. You can milk sunflower seeds. You can milk an iPhone. That's right.
[00:13:36] Melissa Traverse: I mean, basically anything What Can be milled into a powder, you can add water to and then you have milk.
[00:13:40] John Craven: That's exactly right.
[00:13:41] Melissa Traverse: I mean, that's pretty much it.
[00:13:42] John Craven: So I found, I think, perhaps my plant-based milk of the show as I was walking down the aisle. I stopped and noticed a picture of Bryan Adams. Now, the younger folks in the audience will not remember Bryan Adams.
[00:13:56] Mike Schneider: It's going to take you right back to the summer of 69.
[00:13:58] John Craven: It's going to take me right back. And it cuts like a knife, Mike. And it cuts like a knife. So anyways, I saw the photo of Bryan Adams had to stop and there's a brand called Better Mood that is making a plant-based milk based on the idea almost of terroir. So if you go to France, if you go to Italy, the things the cows are eating influence the flavor of the milk. So they're using, you know, a variety of herbs and other flavors to sort of flavor the milk.
[00:14:22] Mike Schneider: And who better to be their spokesperson but Bryan Adams?
[00:14:26] John Craven: Everything he does, he's doing it for Better Mood.
[00:14:34] Melissa Traverse: Wait, so is he just a spokesperson or is this like he became a co-founder sort of situation?
[00:14:41] John Craven: Yeah, exactly. So I think he's helping bring awareness to the product and he's also a vegan. So kind of trying to bring more awareness to the vegan movement and spread that around. Yeah.
[00:14:53] Ray Latif: Speaking of vegan products, I came across a brand called I Eat My Greens, and these are chef-crafted soups. They come in pouches, in large multi-serve pouches. They launched a couple of years ago, and I was really impressed by the branding. On one half of the label, you see Eat The top, I Eat My Greens, and then underneath you see the soup variety. They have five varieties. I tried their carrot, sweet potato, and turmeric soup, as well as their pea, ginger, and coconut soup. These are really fantastic. They taste amazing. I love the fact that they're using this type of pouch packaging, which is so underutilized, I feel like, in this country. We see it a lot in Europe and other parts of the world, but not so much here. In addition to these products tasting really good, they use upcycled produce and organic ingredients. They're completely vegan. And once again, I mean, I feel like When you are in need of a good fresh tasting soup, this is the kind of product you want to reach for.
[00:15:52] John Craven: Those are some nice certifications too. Non-GMO and Whole30. They're a fairly new brand. Is that right?
[00:15:57] Ray Latif: They've been around for a couple of years. So I think they said that they launched right in 2020, right around when the pandemic launched.
[00:16:02] John Craven: Yeah. It's so interesting to see brands as they grow, invest in these certifications and the processes, because they can be lengthy and take a good amount of time. But we find that it really does help pitching to retailers and it can really Eat The over the finish line in that regard.
[00:16:17] Ray Latif: Yeah, I just want to clarify Eat The pandemic wasn't launched. I said the pandemic launched, so listeners are going to be like, the pandemic wasn't launched, dummy.
[00:16:25] John Craven: We launched the pandemic in 2020.
[00:16:27] Ray Latif: It's not like Mother Nature is this entrepreneur who launches viruses out there. She did not launch the pandemic.
[00:16:33] Melissa Traverse: She's a cruel mistress.
[00:16:35] Mike Schneider: Speaking of vegan products, you have one in front of you, John, that you hadn't tried before that came through the office. I definitely took it and ate it all.
[00:16:43] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, these are the Pocket Latte Choco Nuts, which are basically chocolate coated almonds. I think there's some oat milk in here. This one's a black sesame flavor, which is not something you see all that often. Personally a fan of the black sesame flavor. I think they have a couple other flavors, but I just hoarded these since, as Mike said, he didn't share them with me, which I will note at least it's not Ray who's snubbing me on samples this time, so... Well, it was my daughter who was interning with us.
[00:17:13] Mike Schneider: It was she and I and our designer Amanda definitely enjoyed those almonds very much.
[00:17:19] Melissa Traverse: But Ray probably told her to do it, so it's okay.
[00:17:22] Mike Schneider: Probably. The flavors of Pocket Latte Nuts are Vietnamese coffee, mango, black sesame, and matcha.
[00:17:30] Ray Latif: While staying on the theme of vegan, I came across a brand called Fabolish, which makes plant-based dips and sauces from chickpea aquafaba. Aquafaba is the water that is leftover from when you soak dry chickpeas. What aquafaba is typically used for is replacing egg, dairy, and other common allergens, according to Fabolish. I tried their two falafel varieties. They have a zesty zucchini and a spicy carrot variety that are both fantastic. I happen to be someone who knows falafel pretty well. And I know good falafel when I try it, and these were fantastic. They also make these plant-based dips. They make a queso, a ranch, a tzatziki, and a fava dip. I'm not sure Eat The fava dip is. Well, it says a smoky special sauce. But I got to tell you, I'm not a huge cheese dip person, and their queso was fantastic. It's made with agafaba, tomato, salt, garlic, distilled vinegar, red pepper, et cetera, et cetera. And I was really impressed with what they're doing. I think, you know, in terms of making You know, plant-based dips taste really, really good. I feel like it's harder than it seems. I've tasted a lot of these products and it seems like they're always missing something. But fava-less, you're missing nothing in terms of the taste or the texture that you expect from these products.
[00:18:52] John Craven: Ray, you're, you're, you're background, you come from a Lebanese background and you're familiar with the chickpea, right? I mean, that's like a, right? Did you know that you could whip chickpea water into a substance like aquafaba?
[00:19:06] Ray Latif: You know, I did, but I feel like there was a lot of excitement around Agua Faba, like a couple of years ago, two or three years ago. And I didn't necessarily, I haven't necessarily seen that kind of excitement, that kind of energy for it recently until I saw it with Fabolish, obviously the name coming from that key ingredient. But we had seen it in a couple of products. There's actually a butter alternative brand called Faba, Faba Butter, I think is what they called it. I think we saw that Eat The fancy food show. a couple years back. 2018 or 2019. And then I started to see it on cocktail menus actually as a replacement for egg whites for flips.
[00:19:41] John Craven: Interesting.
[00:19:42] Mike Schneider: Melissa's glad they're just not milking the chickpea.
[00:19:45] John Craven: I would milk a chickpea.
[00:19:46] Mike Schneider: But they went to the next level and made it into butter. Another brand that we got to meet up with Eat The show here is not Sarilla, S-A-R-I-L-L-A, it's actually Sarilla, which is, I don't know, how would you explain it? A sparkling tea brand?
[00:20:03] John Craven: Their marketing seems to kind of revolve around the non-alc category, substituting alcohol with something like this.
[00:20:11] Mike Schneider: And some of the flavors that you get are, you know, have that bitterness to them too, where you could either, I don't know, they might be additive to a cocktail or replace the cocktail too. So I was pretty interested in that. The brand is actually called Cirilla. It's pronounced Cirilla. Yeah.
[00:20:25] John Craven: Rhymes with gorilla.
[00:20:26] Ray Latif: Exactly. And they launched a couple new varieties, including the one I'm holding in my hand, which is their vanilla rooibos infusion. A really great tasting product that I feel like we don't see these types of flavors too often in any kinds of beverages. And I think they nailed it, especially with the vanilla. I mean, you can go overboard with vanilla and it is not a pleasant experience in a beverage. But John, I think you'd agree this is a pretty darn tasty product.
[00:20:52] Melissa Traverse: Pretty darn tasty product. Good way to describe it. And you know, one of a handful of different like sparkling tea brands that were here, which is pretty cool to see that, you know, it's kind of not exactly a new concept, but something that hasn't really gotten a lot of attention before. But I think now that there are a bunch of brands doing it, that should certainly help.
[00:21:14] Ray Latif: Yeah, absolutely. You know, and I was asking the founders of these companies, of these sparkling tea companies, including Sarah Delaney from Cirilla, about how retailers are considering these types of products, how they're merchandising them on shelf, where they belong on shelf. And, you know, I think it's still up in the air as to the best place for them. Is it next to sparkling water? Is it next to RTDT? Is it next to kombucha and probiotic drinks? We don't know yet, but As John mentioned, it's really exciting to see this sort of premium level of sparkling teas that hadn't necessarily existed before, including another brand called Rishi, which has a line of sparkling botanicals. Yeah, they have a bunch of different varieties, including the one I'm holding in my hand, which is their Bergamot Oolong. It launched a little bit earlier this year. I was talking to one of the founders of the company and the process that goes into making this product. I mean, I don't know how you would explain this to consumers, but it is complicated, complex, but worth every ounce of energy they put into it, because what's inside the can is unlike anything you've had before. I also really enjoyed speaking with the founder of a brand called Tama Tea, which also makes sparkling teas as well. They position themselves a little bit more on the energy side of things. They have a few mate products, which are really delicious. And I feel like between Rishi, Tama Tea, and Cirilla, we have a nice foundation for this new subset of, or this, I guess, new and emerging subset of sparkling teas. Reishi Sparkling teas, that is.
[00:22:48] John Craven: I feel like all three can play in two different areas. One in the sort of non-ALC space because they have really adult flavor palettes, but then also as a sparkling tea or ready-to-drink beverage.
[00:23:02] Mike Schneider: Ray, you mentioned the process that it takes to make it. How would you explain that to a consumer? You definitely should not try to explain your process to a consumer on front of pack or unless it's like the key differentiator that's going to blow their mind. I would save that for tertiary content, put that on your website for your super fans. I mean, it's content that they're going to want, but not until they've really gotten intimate with your brand.
[00:23:26] Ray Latif: Totally. Staying on the beverage front, Melissa, I see you have some notes about a brand called Inner Love in front of you. We actually met with the founders of Inner Love as part of a recent episode of our Elevator Talk series.
[00:23:37] John Craven: So interesting. So Inner Love has a water kefir that uses an ingredient called Blue Magic. It's an extract of spirulina that gives it this gorgeous blue color. And the flavor is really, really tasty as well.
[00:23:52] Ray Latif: And the branding feels very younger for a younger consumer too, which is great because I feel like, you know, they're reaching out to that younger consumer to introduce them to WaterKeefer, to Eat The to drink Better For You beverages. It tastes good. I think that blue color, I know there's some division around, not division, I think there's some, well, I'm specifically mentioning this to John because he thinks blue colored beverages don't typically work.
[00:24:19] Melissa Traverse: I mean, well, to be fair, I'm talking about where there's blue coloring, like Pepsi blue. Didn't work.
[00:24:27] John Craven: Maybe they should have used blue magic.
[00:24:29] Ray Latif: Well, the blue in this, yes, comes from blue magic, comes from spirulina. And yeah, really like what Interlove Foods is doing. You know, kids' beverages are tough, but I am excited when brands attempt to introduce a better-for-you kids' beverage, Just Ice the folks from Aquaviti Kombucha are doing. They just launched here Eat The show a new kids' kombucha. It's called Tim Tam Tummy. And they come in 222 milliliter cans. These are short cans. They have four varieties. Pineapple Party, Apple Happy Dance, Grape Day to Shine, and Mango for It. I like Mango for It. That's a good name. I didn't even notice that until I saw it as a flyer here. They each have about 20-25 calories per can, about 3-4 grams of sugar per can, and they all include vitamin C, about 70-85% of your daily value. I'm really impressed with this, and I tasted all four. They're great for adults, but I really feel like this will play well with a kid's audience. I guess it's just a question of how you explain kombucha to kids, or is that even really important?
[00:25:40] Mike Schneider: Also wondering how soon, when I saw the paper sitting in front of you, Rae, and I saw Tim Tams, and a Tim Tam is like a very famous Australian cookie, as you probably know. I don't know what's a Tim Tam. You don't know What Can Tim Tam is?
[00:25:53] John Craven: No. Are you kidding me? I don't.
[00:25:54] Mike Schneider: Oh my God, you guys haven't had Tim Tams? So we'll see what happens there. Maybe there'll be a bit of confusion for the the Australian audience. Definitely can't wait to try this, but wondering if maybe somebody will tell them they have to change their name at some point.
[00:26:11] Ray Latif: All right, we've mentioned a ton of brands and products. I want to mention a bunch more, but let's do them as quickly as possible. Can we do that? All right. Rip Van has launched these new... Rip Van, which is known for their Stroopwafels, has launched a new line of cream cookies, I think Oreos, but they are very low in sugar and very low in calories, but they taste Just Ice you would expect them to taste without all the junk. It's incredible.
[00:26:34] John Craven: Eastern Standard provisions. Their pretzels are not to be missed, in my opinion. They kind of embody that very obvious food proposition that it has to taste good. The products taste fantastic. They do chocolate-covered waffles and bake-at-home pretzels as well, and they are just fabulous.
[00:26:55] Mike Schneider: Filipino hospitality personified is definitely Fila Manila. The nicest people you could possibly meet first thing in the morning. Jake DeLeon and his team gave us some banana ketchup and adobo barbecue sauce to try on rice. It was like real warm food, which you don't normally get. and a trade show. It was incredible. That stuff was super good. It was For Good. We got to try another Filipino brand called Naro, which is a pre-launch latte shot, and the strawberry matcha is going to blow your mind. That was really great. Oathouse, the granola butter, brownie batter, and pumpkin spice. Oh my God. I mean, that is just crazy. I could Just Ice go nuts on that stuff.
[00:27:37] John Craven: In terms of booth game, Kali Powered's booth was off the hook. There was Neon, there was a VW bus, I believe, and they were showcasing their new pasta frozen meals and their breakfast scrambles, which were both very tasty.
[00:27:51] Mike Schneider: And in the simple but great ideas category, Julie's has new date toppers. So that's really smart. I mean, you know, bits of dates to put on your salads or whatever and Chubby Snacks. I mean, it's packaged peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. How can you go wrong there? Unless you have peanut allergy, of course. bars. But and then the best bucking thing I tasted was definitely Cluster Bucks.
[00:28:11] Ray Latif: Yeah, I want to mention one more product, one more brand. It's called Oba. Oba is O-B-A. It stands for organic baked apple. They make these light and crunchy apple snacks. They're made with only four ingredients. These snacks kind of look like croutons, but they're very easy. They just basically break down in your mouth as soon as you Eat The. They're really tasty. Again, only four ingredients, 100% flour-free. Yeah, really impressed with those.
[00:28:36] Mike Schneider: Hey, Ray, this is also a great time to talk about our new Nosh podcast that you can also get on the Apple Podcasts app. Get Nosh editor Carol Ortenberg and editor-in-chief Jeffrey Klineman's takes on what's happening at Expo East.
[00:28:48] Ray Latif: Well, Melissa, you know, I've been so nostalgic for the old team to get back together. It's so great to have you with us again. Certainly love having our usual co-host, Jackie Boulayer, with us. Unfortunately, she wasn't here with us at Expo East. She didn't make the trip. But having you come back and join us on the microphones has been really, really fun for me. So thanks so much for joining us again.
[00:29:07] John Craven: This was the highlight of my show so far. Thank you so much for having me. Anytime you need a substitute, you let me know. I will be right here.
[00:29:14] Ray Latif: Fantastic. And I just want to mention one other thing. I'm sure there are a bunch of brands that are like, how come, you know, I wasn't mentioned on that podcast. We love all the brands we interacted with. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to the entire show. We only got to a few, like literally a few aisles here and there on Wednesday and Thursday. We're going to see a lot more on Friday and Saturday. We'll be talking about them in future episodes as well. This is not the end of our coverage from Expo East. All right, thank you all for listening. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio.com. On behalf of our entire Taste Radio team, thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
