news & trends

Delicious Food Show

Hands down, the highlight of this year’s Delicious Food Show was meeting Celebrity Chef Chuck Hughes! Featuring hundreds of exhibitors, the show was truly a food-lovers’ event. Here are a few cool things we tried!

Camelina Oil – Extracted from the Camelina sativa oilseed, camelina oil is about 90% unsaturated fat, with 39% omega-3 fat and 18% omega-6 fat. The oil boasts light, nutty and earthy notes. With a high smoke point of 475°F, camelina oil is versatile and can be used in salads, dips, dressings and marinades as well as cooking.

Nu Pasta – This gluten-free pasta is made from the konjac plant. It’s a type of tuber plant, which grows on slopes about 600 to 12,000 m above sea level. The root of the konjac plant is dried and milled into a fine flour which is the main ingredient of the pasta. A 210 g package contains: 25 calories, 1 g fat, 0 mg sodium, 6 g carbohydrates, o g sugar, 6 g fibre, and 1 g sugar. We sampled it in a stir-fry with garlic and pine nuts, which was a nice way to perk up the flavour.

Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream – What do you get when you add milk, cream, sugar and -196°C liquid nitrogen? Ice cream, of course! It’s the coolest and coldest way to make ice cream, and it’s all ready in less than 60 seconds. Liquid nitrogen is simply the harmless nitrogen gas which has been cooled to such a low temperature that it becomes a liquid. We happily sampled the Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream – it was delicious!

Top Trends at Grocery Innovations Canada 2014

Grocery Innovations Canada is the annual “must attend” event for professionals involved in the retail and food service industry. We were there again this year to see what’s hot and what’s not, as well as to check out new food and beverage innovations.

Here are the top five trends that jumped out at us.

  1. Clean ingredient list. Consumers are looking for pronounceable ingredients. What is NOT on the label is as important to consumers as what IS printed on the packaging.  More shoppers are asking for ‘natural’ or unprocessed products. We expect to see more of this “ free of ….“ focus in the future.
  2. Ethnic flavours continue to be a strong trend. Food makers anticipate a growth in Asian, Indian and Latin America cuisine.
  3. Supermarket Chef Showdown!  Canadians eat out often and busy shoppers are looking for help with prepared meals. Supermarket chefs showed their talents on how they create delicious and healthy meals to attract food loving grocery shoppers. In the Globe and Mail, Marina Strauss reports on this fast growing grocery-resto or takeout trend calling it the “Grocerant”
  4. Chocolate, Chia and Coconut were notable ingredient trends. New product innovations with chocolate included baked goods, lactose free chocolate milk (Natrel) and chocolate flavoured peanut butter (Kraft).  Chia seeds were introduced in new yogurts (Olympic), cereals and breads. (Chia seeds are similar to flax seed and contain omega-3 fats and boost fibre.) Coconut was featured in whipped cream from Gay Lea Foods, and in Campbell’s Thai Tomato Coconut Soup.
  5. Go Green theme was evident in several sustainable and environmentally friendly innovations. For example “Green” shopping bags are made of material that resists bacterial growth and the Green Lid bins are completely compostable containers made from recyclable cardboard and newsprint.