FOOD SHOW CONJURES UP CULINARY CRYSTAL BALL 
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WHAT'S NEW Karola Saekel Wednesday, January 26, 2000 ©2000 San Francisco Chronicle |
While there has been a glut of predictions of how we will live in the 21st century, the just-concluded 25th annual Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco offered a forecast of how we will eat -- and for the most part, it's encouraging.
Staged by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, the three-day show at Moscone Center presented food product buyers with 50,000 items -- 1,400 of them new.
The trends that emerge are that convenience foods are getting more convenient and fine foods are becoming more accessible. Examples of the former include more than respectable, shelf-stable potato dishes from The Netherlands -- Yellow Gold brand gratin dauphinois, Swiss rosti and other such preparations; as well as ever-more varied heat-and-eat sauces, like Patsy's Ametriciana with bacon and prosciutto.
Many imports star in the fine foods category. Woolwich Dairy of Ontario, Canada's premier goat cheese maker, introduced its rich and wonderful brie and creme chevre, while Australia checked in with assertive Tasmanian King Island Dairy blue cheese that goes splendidly with crisp and airy Water Wheel crackers, also from Down Under.
Hong Kong's Masuya baked rice sembei snack crackers belong in this category, but they also are part of a burgeoning group of non-wheat starches like Gabriele's amaranth pasta and Cleopatra's kamut pasta. Some of the best -- and at times exotic -- foods come from our own back yard, like fromage blanc from Bellwether Farms in Petaluma; and Mount Tam, a St. Andrelike tripe cream from Point Reyes' Cowgirl Creamery. Bruce Aidells has added a spicy Moroccan pistachio sausage to his line; and Amy's Kitchen of Santa Rosa has expanded its all-vegetarian repertoire with four canned soups, including a could-fool-you no-chicken noodle.
Napa Valley power house Consorzio has added Southwestern chipotle and Baja lime to its 10-minute marinades; Glen Ellen's B.R. Cohn presented an enticing raspberry champagne vinegar; and small Lafayette producer Aunt Sue's delivered a lovely wake-up call -- cinnamon pear maple syrup.
Two Bay Area companies, Republic of Tea and Beth's Fine Desserts, teamed up to produce tea-flavored cookies in cardamom-cinnamon, ginger-pear and vanilla-almond flavors.
LuLu, the retail offspring of the San Francisco restaurant, introduced a truffle/honey/Meyer lemon vinaigrette of fine taste and complexity (the company also makes a full-bodied fig balsamic vinegar).
Life in Provence, headquartered in San Francisco, introduced luscious jams with fruit flavors not masked by too much sugar.
Oakland's Numi's Teas added desert lime and honeybush (the latter reputed to be rich in estrogen), both from South Africa.
Sonoma's Jimtown Store's latest creation, Go-Thai, a mild peanut dipping sauce with basil and garlic, is part of a wave of new peanut products. The Ginger People now have peanut-ginger chews, and Salem Baking Company offers peanut butter straws. Local Thai Kitchen pioneered spicy Thai peanut satay sauce and also has a Thai peanut dressing. New York/Las Vegas chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who creates retail products under the Vong label, has a complex peanut sauce that's spicy without overpowering the foods it enhances.
©2000 San Francisco Chronicle Page 2/ZZ1
