We’re Putting Blended Chicken Breasts in Everything Now

This week, New York’s Javits Center was taken over by chocolatiers, cheesemakers, coffee roasters, and all manner of aspiring Shark Tank contestants for a bi-annual trade show called (yes, really) the Fancy Food Show. Thousands of grocery wholesale buyers and restaurateurs rush into the conference center to sample slices of prosciutto and chit-chat with food brand founders about their newest, hottest products.

With my Best Food Blog press credentials, I spent a day putting a finger to the pulse of the consumer packaged goods industry. There were a lot of good frozen dumplings. DJ Chef (a cultural relic from early-aughts Food Network) was there. A whole wing of the Javits was turned into a showcase for Saudi dates — the show devotes entire swaths of floors to countries like Saudi Arabia, Italy, France, South Korea, and Turkey to showcase brands and agricultural products from each nation. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the week. —Anna