What surprised me at the Fancy Food Show: Noodles, chili crisp and popcorn innovation

Asian-style noodles, chili crisp and popcorn innovations dominated the Winter Fancy Food Show, revealing bold flavors and evolving consumer preferences. Find out what unusual innovations I discovered.

I knew I'd find superb cheese and butter, outstanding charcuterie and glorious artisan chocolate treats at the Winter Fancy Food Show, held last month in Las Vegas. The trade show serves the specialty food industry—everything from big-box stores looking for upscale offerings to the many gourmet shops that dot the country.

But I didn't anticipate the flood of Asian-style packaged noodle goods. The curries. The proliferation of chili crisp products, as well as the strong appearance by one of my favorite styles of chile pepper, Calabrian.

Dill pickle flavor? Everywhere. Popcorn? So much of it that sometimes I wondered if the show might consider moving to Iowa next year. Protein-packed goodies, too, showed up for strong performances at the annual show.

Slurp-approved noodle mania

Asian-inspired noodle products spangled aisles across the show floor. Interested in gluten-free noodle meals? You could find classic dishes like Tom Yum Soup in ready-to-heat bowls, with noodles made from beans and konjac, a root vegetable native to China. Another brand leveraged konjac alone for its noodles, with flavors like Japanese curry and pad Thai.

Spicing up everything with chili crisp

Chili crisp—jars of oil heavily seasoned with dried chile flakes, often including crispy garlic or other ingredients like Sichuan peppercorns—has been around for centuries in China. Cooks in Mexico, too, have crafted similar products for just about as long. But it wasn't until Fly By Jing launched in Chengdu, China, in 2018, after a successful Kickstarter campaign that same year, that the condiment began its meteoric rise.

Full Article