
This January brought the 35th annual Winter Fancy Food Show to San Francisco. Held each year at the Moscone Center in SF, the enormous event highlights just about anything you could put in your mouth. It’s like Comic-Con for foodies, the kind of place where the makers of the “world’s best salt water taffy” rub shoulders with guys who try to reinvent the snack chip in their garage. Here are a few things that stuck out at this year’s show.
The fizzy, bubblegum-flavored drink features a comatose looking cow on its label and seems to be marketing itself as an antidote to energy drinks like Red Bull. The makers claim that it’s like an acupuncture session in each can. I don’t know about you, but I’m not crazy about picturing myriad sharp needles when I’m putting something into my mouth.
Who doesn’t like bacon? Featured at the show this year were smoky treats like Sir Francis Bacon’s Peanut Brittle, bacon flavored pretzels, and, get this, bacon envelopes.

That’s right, J&D’s Foods, maker of Bacon Salt and Baconnaise, brings you bacon flavored envelopes. Called “mmmvelopes,” the things actually do taste like bacon when you lick them, and feature a fanciful pink and white exterior reminiscent of a nice marbling of fat.
The Fartless Factory in Idaho claims that their chili lacks most of the gaseous output of regular chili. Do they have any empirical evidence? No, but the owner casually refers to himself as “The Old Fart,” and whether his chili makin’s deliver on his gasless promise or not, you’ve got to like a business owner with a sense of humor.

Brewed by 21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco and called “Hell or High Watermelon Wheat Beer,” this brew is just flat-out bizarre: fruity and yeasty and hoppy and watermelony. It may be a good gateway beer for light beer drinkers, or fruity drink lovers, but a bit of a departure for those who would rather sip on IPAs and stouts.

Earth & Vine Provisions, a small jam and sauce maker from Loomis, CA, figures that if you like bananas and oranges and jalapenos and mustard and garlic, you’ll like them all at the same time. And, for the most part, they’re right. Their apricot-pineapple-tangerine jam is delicious, and so is their blueberry-lemon-ginger. Their chipotle-honey-lime mustard is great on pretzels, and their banana-rum-pineapple jam is killer on ice cream. However, I’m not sold on the spicy apple garlic jam.
Classic Marketing. With over 80,000 products at the Fancy Food Show, you’ll try anything to get noticed. Funni Bonz goes for the old “crazy spelling trick,” which probably isn’t even necessary since their ridiculously good sauces speak for themselves.

Hippie Chips, however, goes for the other classic: “sex sells.” While they claim that the “hippie” label refers to their all-natural baked potato and hemp seed chips, it equally applies to the impossibly hourglassed ladies on their bags of chips. These girls make Barbie look as curvy as a fencepost.
The Savannah Bee Co. markets its honey not by variety—wildflower, orange blossom, etc.—but by what they think goes well with it. Hence, Cheese Honey, Grill Honey, and Tea Honey. Sure, they sell regular honey too, but the pairing idea is rather genius when you think about it. The one thing to look out for is a consumer expecting a big chunk of Roquefort floating in his honey pot.

OK, this one isn’t edible, but I had to include it. Jelly Belly is one of the most popular candy brands in the country. I’m sure they’re comfortable putting their logo on just about anything. But I fail to see what audience they’re going after with the Jelly Belly low-rider motorcycle. I just can’t picture myself putting on my leathers and pulling out with the local Harley gang on my candy orange hog.
Not exactly famous for their culinary prowess, the Scottish are trying to remake their image somewhat. A Scottish trade group had a large, sleek booth at the FFS and was telling anyone who would listen about their edible bounty. While no one is claiming that the Scottish are nipping at the gastronomic heels of the French—Gordon Ramsey be damned—a case can be made for the really fantastic ingredients that come out of Scotland: angus beef, salmon, shellfish, and, lest we forget, Scotch whiskey. Now pardon me while I go deep-fry a Snickers bar and watch Trainspotting.
Uh, Scotland and Pacific Salmon? How does that work?
posted by Old Geezer on 1-28-2010 at 2:16 pm
Chalk me up ans the second person confused about how Scotland gets Pacific salmon.
posted by Bert on 1-28-2010 at 2:36 pm
Sorry, I think I’ve been reading too many seafood press releases and got addled in the brain. I’d love to say that it was due to some Loch Ness worm hole, however.
posted by Greg on 1-28-2010 at 2:57 pm
I saw a question on Yahoo Answers a few days ago asking where to buy products like #1 (anti-energy drinks). Someone told him to get beer, haah.
RE #3: Excess gas is generally from unprocessed carbs so just getting chili with no beans will solve that problem, haha.
posted by Sarah in CA on 1-28-2010 at 3:19 pm
That Spicy Apple Garlic stuff is so great on Brie!!
posted by Melly on 1-28-2010 at 3:20 pm
In addition to SmoothCow, there’s also an anti-energy drink called Drank, which asserts that it will “slow your roll.” I tried it once and actually enjoyed the taste but didn’t notice much roll-slowing. All least that slogan sounds better than “acupuncture in a can,” though.
posted by Kelsey on 1-28-2010 at 6:08 pm
Unless the page has been edited since Old Geezer and Bert posted their comments, it just reads Salmon. Scottish salmon is most likely farmed, but would be Atlantic Salmon.
posted by Simon on 1-28-2010 at 6:20 pm
I have an inkling that the apple-garlic jam is really good. Those are the flavours I detect in that popular yet mysterious sauce known as Donair sauce out here in Atlantic Canada.
posted by Ranger J on 1-28-2010 at 7:31 pm
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish of the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, a distinction that holds true for the Salmo genus. Salmon live in both the Atlantic (one migratory species Salmo salar) and Pacific Oceans, as well as the Great Lakes
It’s on wikipedia folks, and took me 3 seconds to find with a search. Not looking shows someones ignorance, and laziness.
posted by Steven on 1-29-2010 at 12:02 am
yeah it does read just salmon, you probably just thought it said pacific salmon. Don’t forget the Scottish Cows, they’ve got some awesome bangs going on :)
ReCaptcha: On Wording
posted by tess on 1-29-2010 at 12:14 am
Scotch = whisky not whiskey.
posted by Jim on 1-29-2010 at 8:23 am
I’m sorry, but I don’t trust the food of any country that came up with haggis……
posted by mrs.arno on 1-29-2010 at 8:30 am
Some of the best smoked salmon comes from Scotland, as does lamb.
posted by Andy on 1-29-2010 at 11:57 am
Don’t know if it originated in Scotland, but my Scottish grandmother made the finest shotbread cookies in the world – - said it was a family recipie that went back many generations.
posted by Andrew on 1-29-2010 at 12:27 pm
Ah yes. Interesting distinction between whiskey and whisky. This is the first time I’ve run into it, so sorry for the confusion. Great NYT article on it at http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/whiskey-versus-whisky/
posted by Greg on 1-29-2010 at 12:39 pm
The Watermelon Wheat Beer by the 21A, is actually a pretty damn good beer. I don’t think most “beer geeks” would have an issue with it, as you suggested. Quite the contrary. For a wheat beer it’s perfect to style. The watermelon enhances those characteristics.
posted by G. Bob on 1-29-2010 at 1:23 pm
Jeez, Stephen, don’t get your panties in a bunch… the post has been edited since the “Pacific salmon” comments were made.
When’s the last time you saw a Pacific salmon in Scotland? If you can’t put that together, I’ve either been fantastically trolled, or you need to brush up on some geography on Wikipedia.
posted by Jan on 1-30-2010 at 9:51 am
My old office was literally 2 doors down from 21st Amendment in SF. I’ve had the watermelon wheat many times, and it’s just perfect for a warm evening. It’s only available on tap in the summer, and we all look forward to it’s first arrival.
posted by Kellie on 1-30-2010 at 10:45 pm