This post is way overdue. I’ve been pregnant and super busy preparing for the baby. So here it is – my experience at this year’s Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco in January.

I came across Tisano Cacao Tea, almost passing this booth. There are so many booths, it’s difficult to look at every one. The lady at the Tisano booth grabbed me and asked if I’ve ever tried cacao tea. And I was intrigued! This cacao tea (chocolate tea) isn’t artificially flavored like most other chocolate teas.

Tisano Cacao Tea is made from the cacao plant. Cacao is the raw plant which cocoa powder and chocolate comes from. It contains a lot of antioxidants and Theobromine which provides a long lasting boost of energy.

I’ve seen the product labeled both ways, as “Tisano Cacao Tea” and as “Tisano Chocolate Tea”. They are slowly renaming it to “Tisano Chocolate Tea” to avoid confusion.

What does it taste like? Add some cream and it’s a dark, smooth, rich chocolatey dream come true! I love this tea! You can buy it now at Amazon.com or select Whole Foods locations. Try a free sample here!

Sukhi’s is always one of my favorite booths to visit at the Fancy Food Show. They always have a generous sample plate of delicious Indian cuisine. And after visiting their booths after so many years, they know us!

What’s new this year is a new line of frozen authentic Thai entrees – red curry vegetables and green curry chicken.

Want gourmet Indian food fast? Try Sukhi’s frozen entrees. Their samosas are so crispy and delicious! You won’t believe they were frozen.

Sukhi’s NaanWiches are great on-the-go. Their NaanWiches are now frozen for better shelf life. Check out flavors like spinach and tofu, chicken kebab, and chicken tikki masala.

WOW Baking Company makes wheat and gluten free baked goods. And boy, their baked cookies and brownies really deserve a wow! They are soooo good!

WOW’s chocolate brownie was my favorite. Moist and chocolatey, you can’t even tell that it’s wheat or gluten free. It’s absolutely delicious!

Ramar Foods International, owned by the Quesada family, has introduced a line of frozen Filipino food entrees named Kusina ni Maria (Maria’s Kitchen), after grandma Maria Quesada. Love Filipino food but don’t want to cook? Check out their frozen lumpia, pancit kit, and chicken adobo entrees. The back of the box even has a Tagalog lesson and a little history of the Quesada family.

Ramar Foods also owns Magnolia ice cream. What’s new? Magnolia tropical milk bars! I’ve been waiting for their Thai tea milk bars to come out.

And they were worth waiting for! Frozen Thai tea on a stick? Love! It’s creamy smooth, rich in flavor, and available at your local Asian grocery store.

Twelve Beverage makes alcohol-free, all natural, sparkling adult beverages. This was perfect for me since I’m pregnant.

Twelve Beverage got its name for a beverage you can drink from “12 noon to midnight”. They have 2 flavors – Original and Rouge, blended with herbs, spices, juices, and organic teas.

Original has citrus, pear, ginger, and fennel notes. Rouge contains notes of pomegranate, black currant, black pepper, and ginger.

SPI West Port, Inc, the company who makes Alo Drinks, has launched a brand new line of fruit-flavored coconut water with aloe (of course), called Coco Exposed. Yum! Coconut water is so refreshing.

The coconut water flavors are Mangosteen and Mango, Peach and Kiwi, Passionfruit and Pineapple, Wheatgrass, and Goji Berry and Lychee.

Xan Confections debuted their Coco Preggers dark chocolate truffles. They saw my pregnant belly and made sure I tried this sumptious chocolate with DHA and folic acid. So good and good for you!

I am in love with their Big Mouth chocolates! They are made of organic crisp brown rice and marshmallow base with a layer of our signature caramel and natural peanut butter covered in dark or milk chocolate.

Every year, I bump into some Food Network celebrity. This year, it was Duff of Charm City Cakes. He has a new line of cake decorating products.

Duff and his team made this cake that represented San Francisco. Pretty awesome, huh?

I missed Zhena of Zhena’s Gypsy Tea last year because she was pregnant. And this year, I’m the one who’s pregnant. She gave me great pregnancy advice, by the way.

This year, she had a contest to win a tea expedition to Sri Lanka. Zhena took winners to organic tea gardens, beautiful Sri Lankan beaches, and an elephant orphanage in January 2011.

She told me the inside scoop for this year – a new line of tea candles and tea-shirts. Check out her wide variety of teas.

Ito-En was also at the show. They have a line of teas called Tea’s Tea, which is marketed to Americans. I tried their apple green tea and it was juicy with a hint of green tea. They also told me they improved their blueberry green tea. But I still like the original flavor better.

I also visited the Brent and Sam’s Cookies booth. Chocolate chip pecan is their most popular flavor. These cookies are bite-sized goodness in a box.

There were 2 guys manning this booth and they wanted to get in this picture. Were they the owners – Brent and Sam? Stay tuned – I’ll find out next year!

I went on Sunday with my husband. This time I felt a little more prepared and less overwhelmed.

I have grouped my posts according to different categories – ethnic foods, tea, drinks, and snacks. Brace yourselves, this is the 1st of 2 posts about the Fancy Food Show. Enjoy!

With the Bolani people

East & West Gourmet Afghan Food, a family owned business, makes awesome Bolani. This is their first Fancy Food Show! What is Bolani? It’s an all natural, thin flatbread, folded in half with a vegetable filling. Bolani is low calorie, low carb, low fat, and low sodium. Yet it’s high in flavor and completely satisfying. My favorite Bolani fillings are spinach and pumpkin.

Bolani and Sauce

You can toast them up in the toaster or a pan. They have a wide array of sauces to go with the Bolani. My faves are garlic mint cheese, lentil curry, and sweet jalapeno. So delicious, healthy, easy-to-digest, and even vegetarian! You can find them on Saturdays at the Alemany Farmer’s Market and on Thursdays at the Serramonte Farmer’s Market and the Crocker Galleria Farmer’s Market. Whole Foods and Andronico’s also carries bolani.

With Dalbir Singh of Sukhi’s Gourmet Indian Cuisine

My husband and I were standing in front of Sukhi’s Gourmet Indian Cuisine booth, our favorite booth for “lunch” at the Fancy Food Show. All of a sudden, we hear someone say, “Hey, it’s the YummySF guys!” It turned out to be Dalbir Singh, Sukhi’s son and official taste tester of Sukhi’s Gourmet Indian Cuisine. Official taste tester? Where can I get a job like that? He took care of us. Thanks, Dalbir!

Sukhi’s biriyani, chutney, and chickpeas

Their newest product is Biriyani (Indian fried rice) and chicken samosa. I was introduced to samosas over 10 years ago and have never seen anyone do chicken samosas before! Although I did wish it in my mind. Super delish! Usually, samosas have a potato filling.

Sukhi’s chutneys

They also have a wide array of chutneys, curry paste, spice mixes, naanwich, and frozen entrees. Sukhi’s has options for those who cook and for those who only use the microwave. So there’s no excuse not to try her food.

Sukhi’s Indian food is authenticly delicious and amazing! It’s like having Sukhi cook for you. What I really like about Sukih’s food is that it’s tasty, yet not overwhelmingly spicy. Find her line at your local Whole Foods or natural food store. Last year, I met Sukhi Singh, owner of Sukhi’s Gourmet Indian Cuisine, at the Fancy Food Show 2009.

GreeNoodle

I was pleasantly surprised with GreeNoodle. It’s an organic, instant ramen noodle made with Moroheiya, a healthy green vegetable. This vegetable, also known as Mallow Leaves, Juete Mallow, and Jew’s Mallow, was the Egyptian queen Cleopatra’s beauty secret. Moroheiya has more Potassium, Calcium, Beta carotene, fiber, and vitamins than spinach, broccoli, and carrots.

Mr. Sho Oga, founder of GreeNoodle, was a typical employee working for a company in Japan. He had an inspiration to create a healthy food that was nutritious yet tasty. He ended up quitting his job and moving to Thailand to farm organic Moroheiya.

GreeNoodle doesn’t really taste like a vegetable but more like noodles. What a great way to feed vegetables to kids (and some adults) without them knowing it! Their noodles come packaged with tom yum soup, shiitake mushroom soup, or plain with no soup packet. This is a brand new product so look out for it in stores soon.

The Ginger People sweet chili garlic sauce fountain

Here is something you don’t see every day, a sweet chili garlic fountain! Salivating yet? It’s as equally delicious and full of flavor as it looks.

The Ginger People Cooking Sauces

The Ginger People have expanded from a humble line of tasty ginger chews – original and coffee flavor, to a full line of cooking sauces. Their Asian inspired sauces include spicy ginger teriyaki, Thai green curry, sweet ginger chili, and ginger lemon grass sauce. Check out their full line of ginger products.

With Ron Quesada of Ramar Foods International

We bumped into someone my husband knows, Ron Quesada of Ramar Foods International. His entire family works in the business.

Ramar Foods International, the flavor of the Philippines, carries several product lines of Filipino food. BestTaste is their line of frozen pork shumai (pork dumpling), siopao (pork bun), and lumpia (which they labeled “spring rolls” at the show, for those who don’t know what lumpia is). Frescano is their line of sausages – tocino, longanisa, and hamanado. Manila Gold is their line of juices – calamansi (small Filipino lime), mango, and dalandan (sweet citrus fruit).

Magnolia ice cream

Perhaps their most famous line is Magnolia ice cream. They make traditional Asian flavors such as ube (purple yam), mango, coconut, red bean, green tea, and halo-halo (fruit mix). You can find Ramar Food International products at your local Asian grocery store, such as Ranch 99.

With Stephanie of Lick My Spoon

Towards the end of the day, I bumped into fellow food blogger, Stephanie, of Lick My Spoon. I love her T-shirt. Maybe we’ll do YummySF T-shirts next year. Anyone else interested in YummySF T-shirts?

I find it funny that some of the vendors remember us from previous shows, like Suhki’s Indian Cuisine and O.N.E. coconut water. They took care of us.

I did have an anaphylactic reaction to some olive oil or balsamic vinegar and some food poisoning. Hazards of food tasting. Going back tomorrow for the last day of the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. Stay tuned!

This is an event for the food industry professionals. Food Bloggers can register for free as press.

Check out my past experiences.

FANCY FOOD SHOW 2007:

Meeting Paula Deen and Ina Garten

Acai Ice Cream and Coconut Water

Mighty Leaf Tea, Numi Flowering Tea, and Rishi Tea

Grapeseed Oil and Bamboo Rice

Sukhi’s Indian Food, Alice’s Stick Cookies, and The Cheese School of San Francisco

FANCY FOOD SHOW 2009:

Dave’s Gourmet Sauce, Field Roast Vegetarian Sausage, Sukhi’s Frozen Entrees, Sweetwater Spice Company Brining Concentrate

Xpress Chai, Masala Chai Co., Honest Tea, Republic of Tea, Zhena’s Gypsy Tea, Numi Tea

Alo Drink, Baconnaise, O.N.E. Coconut Water, Popping Boba, Flax USA, Meeting Ina Garten Again