Last week, I headed out to Anaheim for Expo West 2019! I had such a fun time last year and couldn’t wait to attend again. You can check out last year’s reap here, plus the 2018 trends here. I joined Erica again this year, along with Kaila and Ashley. Three jam packed days of food and fun in the California sun!
Expo West 2019 had a few changes. The Expo shifted up earlier in the week, open Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I really enjoyed having Sunday to decompress, especially because my dad was able to coordinate a business trip out to LA so we could overlap. After Expo, he and I got to spend the entire Sunday exploring LA (check last week’s Run Down to see more). Hopefully next year the Expo’s schedule will stay like that and we can coordinate again!
Expo West 2019 Recap
I met Erica and Kaila at the breakfast tent on Thursday morning. Each morning the Expo hosted a free community breakfast featuring some of the brands inside. This year, attendees packed a box of food for a homeless shelter before entering the tent. It was a great use of our time!
The “Hot Products” were only open Thursday and Friday so we started there. These are smaller companies who are just getting started, or who have innovative products. I saw friends from Health Warrior, Thunderbird, Phyter Foods and Banza, all brands I had worked with in previous years. Meeting their teams in real life and getting hugs was such a treat!
CBD and hemp-infused products was a major trend this year. I met with the team from CBDistillery to discuss how CBD could benefit athletes. I sampled hemp-infused drinks – my favorite was a CBD turmeric blend from Organic Traditions and CBD infused wellness shots from Navitas Organics. Some companies also put hemp and CBD in food products as well. I dried a variety of bars, bites and granola throughout the expo. CBD and hemp certainly created a lot of conversation!
Walking around the expo, I also noticed another big trend: mushrooms! Throughout the weekend, I tried delicious mushroom infused drinks from OM Mushrooms, and Four Sigmatic among others. In terms of food products, reishi, chaga, turkey tail, and cordyceps mushrooms all made appearances. From bars, jerky, bites, smoothies, I tried all the vegan options. Standouts were the savory mushroom jerky from Pan’s, and mushroom chocolate from Four Sigmatic. The best was the reishi infused chocolate gelato from Green Girl Bakeshop. THE BEST.
After a full day of sampling products, Erica and I went to LMS’s happy hour, just like we did last year. We enjoyed pizza from Cali’flour Foods and hemp infused drinks from OKI. We also got an awesome swag bag that included some CBD gummies from Sunday Scaries, and cauliflower and lentil pasta from Cali’flour. It was an evening to remember!
Friday morning started with the Nuun 5k. I’ve now been on Team Nuun for two years and it was nice to see some familiar faces. Kylie from November Project LA was there, as well as a few other NP tribe members. We ran on a golf course so it was all on grass. I hadn’t done that since high school cross country and it was a blast! I came in first female and snagged a picture with Jesse Thomas, the first place male finisher AND co-founder of Picky Bars. Day made.
Nuun was also debuting a new recovery drink called Rest. I loved the taste and will be adding it to my routine! This fell in line with another big trend from Expo West 2019: functional foods. I think that society is growing more health conscious. Companies are responding with designing products that fulfill specific purposes.
B.O.S.S. Foods had three bars called Move, Smile and Think, all designed with different ingredients for different intentions. Peak Chocolate sampled chocolates meant for either focus, activity or recovery. I sampled various functional protein balls from Health Labs, and varieties of popcorn and superfood cereals from Living Intentions. WTRMLN Water debuted an electrolyte drink. I drank the beet mix from Sunfood Superfoods, designed for pre-workout energy. Your Super had about a dozen different drink mixes for various occasions. And TONS more functional food products!
The proliferation of plant-based meat and dairy alternatives also continued at Expo West 2019. How exciting! There were meat alternative many standouts here for me. Sweet Earth’s new Awesome Burger blew me away. I tasted Beyond Meat’s new meat crumbles in a vegan empanada and can’t wait to see it in stores. Sol Cuisine also had a large line of very flavorful alternative meats. Just Foods vegan egg mix is already available to buy. It looks like a mustard bottle but cooks up IDENTICAL to eggs. So many new, creative and delicious plant-based options!
As far as dairy alternatives, two big standouts. The first was Wildbrine’s vegan brie. It was smooth and creamy, exactly like I remember brie to be. The second was Miyoko’s beta test of a new creamy potato-based cheese. They made quesadillas and asked for feedback – I went back for a sample each day of the expo!
On the final day of the Expo, I hit up the major halls to see the big name brands before heading to the Natural and Specialty sections. The explosion of oat milk was quickly apparent. Oat milk seems to be the new “it” milk for dairy alternatives. It uses less water than almond milk or dairy milk, and has a much more neutral taste. Happy Planet, Elmhurst, Oatly, even Quaker had oat milks to drink. Nancy’s had an oat milk yogurt that I had previously tried. I really like it for baking. Oats were added to tons of bars and bites as well.
The final trend I noticed is a much bigger focus on environmental sustainability and giving back. These companies made my heart sing! Many of you know that I first became vegan for the athletic benefits, but the real reason I remain vegan is for environmental reasons. I also strongly support companies that use their platform to give back to the community.
Two standouts here for me. First, Sun and Swell had completely compostable packaging. It’s designed to completely decompose in 180 days in an industrial compost facility (PSA: you can drop compost off at Whole Foods!) The second was a bar company called Regrained. They upcycle the grains from breweries and turn them into nutritious bars. Bonus that their packaging is also compostable! In addition to these two companies, there were many B Corp organization, 1% for the planet companies, and others committed to giving back.
PHEW! Expo West 2019 certainly had a lot to it! Are you all still with me? Good because now it’s YOUR TURN to experience the expo! I’m going to send three lucky winners a combo pack of some of the brands I sampled at the Expo! Each box will be unique, with a variety of 10-15 products.
Want to enter to win?
- Leave a comment below and tell me which trend or product you are most interested to try.
- After commenting, use the RaffleCopter form to unlock additional entries.
Winners will be selected using Rafflecopter’s random drawing on 3/22. Winner must be a US resident, 18 years of age or older and the offer is void where prohibited. Please note: This post is not sponsored by any of the brands mentioned above or pictured. All opinions are my own.
Good luck!!
Becca
Linking up with Fairytales and Fitness for the Friday Five.
I’m thrilled by the increase in various mushroom products! I’ve actually been meaning to try the FourSigmatic products ever since I heard Tero on the Rich Roll product over a year back. I had never really delved into the world of mushrooms until I abandoned animal products, and now I absolutely love them. I’m also all about the sustainability aspect of food production. All efforts for sustainability are great, though my worry is that the sustainability efforts aren’t truly targeting the right side of food production. From my research and the science it seems to me that animal agriculture is… Read more »
mmmm regrained energry bar.. beer energy!
I’m intrigued to try CBD snacks, I’ve never had it before and want to know if I notice any effect
I am very interested in trying out CBC products to aid my recovery as an athlete. I have chronic lower back pain that flares up and I usually sit on a heating pad every night as I unwind. I also have trouble sleeping through the night and would like to see if CBD products and CBD shots from Navitas Organics!
I would just love to try the Mushroom jerky!
I love nuun! so glad they were a part of this
I would love to try anything ketogenic! Oh, and my Instagram handle is @fiddlindandi. It was typed in wrong in the rafflecopter.
I like the packing with sun and swell.
JUST brand of condiments has caught my eye at the shops, have yet to give it a go.
Funny, I just recently heard about Your Super. Yes, I’d love to sample them. And anything chocolate, of course.
I can’t even imagine how overwhelming such an event must be!
I’d like the this bar saves lives!
name: edye
email: mia2009@comcast.net
Mushroom jerky! Tried something similar but Chinese style from Taiwan.
Looks like you had a super fun time out there and got to try so many things. I love Beyond Meat products and can’t wait to to try out the crumbles. Thanks for sharing your finds
I’ve always wanted to go to the expo especially when I used to live relatively close to it. I really am liking the eco sustainability trend! I think that is so important.
Definitely want to try products with CBD!
Sorry I missed Expo West, I go to Expo East every year and the samples are fabulous 🙂
WOW! There certainly was a lot to see and sample. Glad you had fun!
I’m excited to try the vegan egg replacer! I used to love scrambled eggs and it was always an easy protein rich breakfast. Now that I’m vegan I mostly eat oatmeal or toast for breakfast.
I am super into the Nuun Rest, very excited to get my hands on this!
I’m excited to dive more into this mushroom trend! I’ve had the coffee before – not bad!
Looks like you got to experience a ton of amazing products! Def curious to find out more about CBD products. I love oat milk in lattes so its cool to see that becoming more popular. I love mushrooms & still have yet to try any mushroom products and see if the love holds strong. Awesome post thanks for sharing!
Aww, I bet it felt good to be on that California sun for a few days and the expo was just a bonus! How fun!
I’d definitely want to try the oat milk, jenni’s ice cream, or any of the CBD drinks!
I want to try oat milk and mushroom jerky.
Sounds like so much fun!! I can’t wait to try Just Foods products 🙂 I absolutely love the oat milk trend.
All the trends sound exciting, but I really love the trend of functional foods, eating each for a purpose! Going to keep my eye out for the recovery nuun tablets for sure
I haven’t tried any CBD products yet, so I’d be curious to see how those could fit into my routine!
OMG so many different products! I loved seeing all of your food finds on your IG stories last weekend.
I’ve been meaning to try the JUST products as I’ve heard they are yummy!