During this year's Natural Products Expo East, White Leaf Provisions' co-founders Meghan and Keith Rowe were interviewed about the process of building a biodynamic food company for a video segment by New Hope Network.
Max Goldberg of the popular organic lifestyle website Living Maxwell shared his five favorite products from this year's Expo East, and White Leaf Provisions' Biodynamic Apple & Pear sauce was included on his list.
I just got back from a fantastic few days in Baltimore attending Natural Products Expo East, the organic industry’s second largest trade show of the year.
In all of my years attending Expo East, this might have been the best one yet.
There was an abundance of excellent innovation, and many interesting up-and-coming brands exhibited for the first time. Furthermore, both the crowds and the pace of the show were not overwhelming, as is often the case at Natural Products Expo West.
In today’s Organic Insider, I give a recap of the show and discuss the three trends that really stood out to me.
To read this analysis, just sign up for a free trial of Organic Insider (no credit card required), and I will send it right over to you.
As I do after each show, here are My Top 5 Organic Products of Natural Products Expo East 2017.
As I have written about before on Living Maxwell, it is my belief that Biodynamic foods are the best-tasting organic foods on the market. Why?
Because of the way that they are grown. Biodynamic farming practices go beyond what certified organic rules mandate.
When I tasted White Leaf Provisions’ Biodynamic Apple + Pear Sauce for the first time, it was apparent that this was a super-high quality product and given what I know about Biodynamic, I was not surprised in the least.
Certified Biodynamic by Demeter USA and regeneratively farmed (grown in an ecological manner that that helps to regenerate the soil and planet), While Leaf Provisions’ Biodynamic Apple + Pear Sauce is made with seasonal fruit, which includes Jonagold apples and Red Bartlett pears. It contains no added sugar or salt, and is made with BPA-free and recyclable packaging.
The product can be purchased online and is available at select retailers throughout the country.
If you’re not familiar with Biodynamic, please make sure you read this article.
When I visited the Mozza Risella booth, one of the guys working there immediately handed me a cup of rice-based ice cream and said “Are you ready for the best thing in the entire show?”
After looking down, realizing that the company was launching a line of vegan sushi and then tasting it, I told him “You have it all wrong. You need to be saying that this sushi is the best thing in the show, not the ice cream.”
Called Mozza Sushi, this was the very first certified organic vegan sushi that I had ever come across. Even though it has been many years since I have eaten sushi or any type of fish, I was completely blown away by both the taste and texture of this vegan sushi.
One of its key ingredients is the sprouted brown rice, which is grown in Italy and is arsenic-free. This vegan sushi also uses the Mozza Risella plant-based cheese and contains no sugar.
Launching in January, the assorted vegan sushi will come in 4, 8 and 12-piece packs, and it will ship frozen when ordered on the company’s website. Retail is also expected in 2018.
With a few hours left on the final day of the show, Barry Nalebuff, professor at the Yale School of Management and co-founder of Honest Tea, greeted me with a tray of his overnight oats. After sampling his great-tasting product and hearing his pitch, it was obvious to me that he has something very compelling with Maker Overnight Oats.
Given that overnight oats are becoming an emerging trend, Maker is capitalizing on this with very clean ingredients, beautiful branding and smart packaging. The single serves come in glass jars while the boxes contain five single-serve packages to take with you on the run. And this part is critical.
When going to the office, I may want to bring the jar but when traveling, I’d rather take something that I can easily throw in my bag or suitcase, without worrying about it getting crushed or breaking. Maker Overnight Oats understood this and designed its products to be both functional and versatile, fully taking into account in a person’s varied lifestyle.
The company will be launching with three flavors – Mulberry & Chia, Banana & Coffee, and Apple & Coconut. My favorite flavor of the three was the Banana & Coffee, and it is made with oats, dates, bananas, dried coconut, chia seeds, coffee, cinnamon and nutmeg. No sugar added.
Maker Overnight Oats will be launching direct-to-consumer on its website in January and in retail throughout the U.S. beginning in February.
Growing up, bagels and lox were a staple at weekend brunches and during certain holidays.
Since that time, I have stopped eating bagels and all white bread. And I have also given up fish, although I am not a vegan.
While I no longer eat those foods, the fond memories associated with them have not disappeared in the slightest.
Maybe that is why I was so drawn to Miyoko’s “un-lox your dreams” vegan cream cheese, which I thought was the best cheese of the many that the company was sampling at its booth.
Miyoko’s, a leading name in the plant-based cheese category, really nailed it with this one. The smooth texture was fantastic, and most importantly, it tasted just like lox.
Expect this product to be rolled out to stores nationwide in the second quarter of 2018 and available for purchase on the company’s website in January.
Taking a back-to-basics approach to health, brands across food, beverage, supplements and personal care continue to meet consumer demand for products with pronounceable ingredients and minimal or alternative processing.
Blogger "Nutrition Unplugged" included WLP as an example of regeneratively farmed products in her roundup of top food trends from Expo East 2017. Read the full post below.
]]>Taking a back-to-basics approach to health, brands across food, beverage, supplements and personal care continue to meet consumer demand for products with pronounceable ingredients and minimal or alternative processing.
Blogger "Nutrition Unplugged" included WLP as an example of regeneratively farmed products in her roundup of top food trends from Expo East 2017. Read the full post below.
One of the biggest trade shows for the natural and organic food industry is happening now in Baltimore. Oh how I wish I could attend the Natural Products Expo East — it’s an amazing place for trend tracking. In fact, the brands exhibiting at this show are at the core of trends and consumer values — such as transparency, social purpose and environmental stewardship. More and more mainstream grocery stores are stocking these products, and that’s why these startups and niche brands are on the exhibit floor — to get national distribution.
Even though I wasn’t able to attend, I’ve been monitoring the coverage and watching the posts of some of my nutrition colleagues who are walking the exhibit floor or staffing some of the booths. Here’s a look at the major food trends from Expo East, including the 18 macro trends identified by the New Hope Network, organizers of the Expo, that are driving innovation in the natural and organic industry.
White Leaf Provisions' Apple & Pear Sauce has been nominated for a 2017 NEXTY Award at Natural Products Expo East in the Best New Pantry Food category. Read more about why New Hope Network chose WLP for this honor.
"White Leaf Provisions Biodynamic® Apple & Pear Sauce.This ambitious family focused brand debuts with its Demeter-certified Biodynamic fruit sauces. The individually packaged four-pack consists only of U.S. grown organic apples and pears with no added sugars. Focused on regenerative farming practices, the company brings to market a mission-forward and quality-made option."
- New Hope Network]]>
Total Biodynamic acreage in the U.S. increased by 16 percent in 2016, from more than 18,700 to nearly 22,000 acres. And more than 25 national brands offer Biodynamic products, up from just a handful five years ago, says Elizabeth Candelario, managing director of Demeter USA.
The Rowes hope to help continue that upward trend. With White Leaf Provisions, they're creating a one-stop shop to make it easy for families like theirs to find Biodynamic products from a range of suppliers. They're also producing their own products. The first, an apple and pear sauce made from fruit grown on a Biodynamic farm in Oregon, will launch this year, followed by Biodynamic baby food.
They believe the market is ready for the concept. Organic product sales have been growing by double digits, surpassing $43 billion in 2016, according to the Organic Trade Association. "A lot of people are very familiar with organic and are looking for the next thing, the next level of purity," says Keith, who grew up in Ireland surrounded by organic farms. Organic products in the U.S. are held to the United States Department of Agriculture's guidelines of factors such as animal raising practices, pest control, use of additives and soil quality. "So Biodynamic fits right in."
Consumer interest in health and wellness has soared in recent years as research advances our understanding of our bodies and what keeps them in tip-top shape. The global "wellness" industry, including healthy eating, nutrition and preventive medicine, was a $3.7 trillion market in 2015, according to the Global Wellness Institute and the research firm SRI International.
That's showing up in our digital footprints: In its 2016 Food Trends report, Google identified functional foods as a major search trend. Top search terms included turmeric, a root in the ginger family thought to aid everything from arthritis to Alzheimer's, and kefir, a vitamin and probiotic-rich yogurt alternative.
Entrepreneurs are rushing to provide the next generation of healthy products, from the Rowes' Biodynamically grown produce to meat alternatives to meal kits that can make it easy for harried families to assemble healthy meals at home.
Meat alternatives, in particular, are shaping up to be a massive trend. One of the buzziest new products of the last year was a veggie burger that "bleeds" like meat, thanks to the addition of heme, an iron-rich molecule produced from fermented yeast. The burger, made by Impossible Foods, is featured on the menus of restaurants around the country. Others are creating meat alternatives based upon jackfruit, an Asian fruit that can grow up to 100 pounds and is being hailed as the latest miracle food. Worldwide sales of meat alternatives, such as tofu and textured proteins, are expected to close in on nearly $6 billion by 2022, according to one projection by market research firm MarketsAndMarkets published in 2016.
"We know now that a plant-based diet is the healthiest diet of all," believes Dr. Neal Barnard, the founder and president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a research and educational organization that promotes preventive medicine and good nutrition. Dr. Barnard claims that plant-based diets featuring vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans and excluding meat and dairy products have been shown to help people lose weight, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and potentially live longer, he says.
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