A month since FNCE and still making my way through a mini mountain of samples from all of the amazing exhibitors. Though the variety and level of creativity was incredible, there were a few distinct recurring trends: simple ingredient bars, nut and seed butters, plant-protein products (mostly pea protein), creative uses of grains and legumes and all probiotic everything. I wish I could shoutout to all the amazing products I tried, but in no particular order or endorsements, here are 5 of my favorite finds you gotta check out:
Banza Chickpea Pasta:
Protein masquerading as a grain? Maybe blurs the lines of MyPlate, but Banza can #ChooseMyPlate any time. Oh, and also its vegan, kosher, gluten-free, allergen-free, high in fiber and has almost a third of your recommended daily protein. Basically, the world’s most overachieving pasta.
Muuna Cottage Cheese:
A gift to the “not-a-morning-person,” Muuna is your happy fruit and cottage cheese power couple in a cute little cup. Using fresh fruit and no artificial flavors, colors, or sweeteners, Muuna is a far cry from the fruit particle syrup in some yogurts. All the flavors are amazing, but the mango one will make you question every other breakfast decision you’ve ever made.
Purely Elizabeth Chocolate Sea Salt Probiotic Granola:
Breakfast, snack, dessert? All of the above. Granola haters be prepared to join us on the dark (chocolate) side. This bag basically one-ups other granolas with a dynamic combo of oats, sunflower seeds, puffed amaranth, quinoa flakes, millet flakes, chia seeds, and sweetened with coconut sugar. Two flavors are now loaded with a vegan probiotic strain (GanedenBC30). Then there’s the dark chocolate chunks and sea salt. So there’s that too.
YumButter Plant Protein + Probiotic Almond Butter:
Say that 3 times fast. Yes, it’s a mouthful (or a spoonful), and yes, probiotics are trendy, but nut butters have a special place in my heart, so I’m here for it. With peanut, cashew, sunflower, and almond varieties, YumButters come with an array of superpowers too. This particular one is almond-based made even butta by packin’ in some pea protein and probiotics.
BarleyPlus Pink Lady Apple & Chai Spice Flavored Bars:
You’d think that something that boasts a whopping 9 grams of dietary fiber would be…cardboard-like at best, but trust me, with all the flavor packed into these little guys, you barley even notice how healthy they are. Chewy, nutty, sweet, and spicy, they’re everything bars should be. They’re made by the Aussies, so likely not finding them in your local grocery store, but #thankgodforAmazon, where you can buy all three of their yummy flavors as well as their toasted muesli (yum).
I could go on with all the amazing products I was lucky enough to try, but this post would be 10 pages long, and I still haven’t finished my mountain. So for now, we’ll call it a wrap (or unwrap).
