2015 Summer Fancy Food Show (Opening Night Party)

Sunday, June 28, 2015

This year the show offered an Opening Night Party, billed as “Picnic on the Hudson,” which was held at the Javits Center’s River Pavilion, immediately after the first day of food show.

It was a wonderful idea, but I do have a few suggestions. Crowd control was nil, and there should have been staff to instruct the crowd that there were multiple stations located throughout the room to order drinks. I waited for over half an hour on a long line with very rude people continuously cutting, not knowing that I could have just stood in the milling crowd and found a waitstaff person who were working the room with plates of hors d’oeuvres along with offerings of the specialty drinks (one of which was an Arrowhead Farms mojito).

 

However, perhaps the waitstaff were told by a manager to offer the drinks because the drink lines were astoundingly crowded and disorderly.

Upon entering the event your attention was immediately drawn to two women standing on a platform in dresses made of chocolate.

Sadly, when the sponsors of the event were speaking and providing details regarding the event most in the audience were unable to hear the comments. Not sure if the audio was working properly or whether the speech was drowned out due to the other multiple ongoing private conversations that were being had in the crowded room.

The organizers of the event also gave out a very generous Specialty Food-branded gift bag (containing: a selfie stick(?!?), a bottle of branded still water, NYC guide book and map, Savannah Bee honey body wash and a Savannah Bee peach lip balm, a bottle of De Nigris Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, a bottle of Spitfire’s margarita mix, two tins of Salem Baking’s Pumpkin Spice Moravian Cookies, coupons for Oasis Day Spa, and two gift cards for Uber car rides). The gift bags were to be picked up as you exited the event, except that I noticed some attendees taking multiple bags. Might have been helpful to have staff actually hand out the gift bag to exiting guests to ensure that each attendee only left with one (1) bag.

 

As it was the first year of the event, I do hope that they’ll hold the event next year. It is a great way to celebrate “opening night” of the show and by then it’ll allow the sponsors the opportunity to work out the kinks.

2015 Summer Fancy Food Show

June 28 to June 30, 2015

It’s officially the start of summer when the Fancy Food Show comes to NYC’s Javits Center!

Out of all the previous years I’ve attended, I found this year to be particularly well organized and for the first time ever, manageable.

Along with the all the samples of cheese,

 

Meats, such as Nueske’s delicious applewood smoked bacon:

 

 

Epic’s dry meat (offering: uncured bacon, chicken, bison):

Epic even offered take-home samples of which I took the apple-cured bacon sample (very good and tasted better than beef jerky in my opinion):

 

Ice cream and gelatos, such as Graeter’s handmade ice cream:

 

Nancy’s Fancy sorbet (I tried the roasted banana, which were given out in a cute mini sugar cone!):

 

Desserts, such as personal perennial favorite Delimanjoo’s hot custard-filled, vanilla cakes:

 

Sweet Lady Jane’s cakes (I tried the carrot cake, which was very sweet):

Nia Valentina’s chocolate wafer cups (tastings were handed out with coffee)—great concept, but the coffee was not well made so that might have taken away from the tasting experience:

Nia Valentina is a company founded by two sisters so I am wishing nothing but prosperity and good things for them!

 

The Belgian Kitchen’s samples of their liege waffles:

Teas, such as a special pouring of Moroccan tea in the Moroccan Pavilion:

Smoothies, such as New Zealand’s Kura smoothie powder:

Alcoholic beverages, such as Violeta’s tequila
 

David’s Vineyard’s Kosher delicious ice wine:

PMD NY’s very strong rum-based moonshine from Puerto Rico known as Pitorro:

Non-alcoholic beverages, such as St. Regis’s offerings:

 

And assorted international flavor, such as Mandu Bibimbab Gyozas:

 

Bibigo’s steamed (never fried!) dumplings; offered in three flavors (chicken & vegetables, pork & vegetables, and vegetables—I tasted the chicken-flavored one and it was delicious!):

 

China Pavilion’s white and black-rice sushi sampling:

Laverland Crunch’s seaweed snack, which was displayed to demonstrate the variety of ways one may enjoy this seaweed snack. My personal favorite was the rice ball prepared with Laverland’s seaweed salad topping (a more detailed review to follow!) rolled with sushi rice—LOVED the crunch!!

 

I always highlight the booths, which I consider were standouts in regards to their décor.

From Braswell’s Minion-branded jellies:

 

To Agromonte’s Italy-inspired car:

To Rochef’s chocolate bunny:
 

To Miso Match Sauce’s Ninja Boy mascot:

To the Japan Pavilion’s cherry blossom trees promoting sweet sakura tea:

 

To the China Pavilion’s glasses of assorted rice:

 

To Marukome’s make-your-own miso soup “bar” (I made myself miso supe with asparagus, spinach, tomato, and green onion—refreshing!):

 

 

To a display of a full pig:

 

To Pretzilla’s display of soft pretzels:

 

To Sweet Joy’s corn stick, which can be used in place of sugar cones and waffle cones for ice cream:

 

To Kencraft’s emoji lollipops (super cute!!!):

Two particular giveaways of special note were Secrets of Healthy Cooking by Barbara Seelig-Brown published by the American Diabetes Association.

 

And a sample of Jelly Belly’s special Star Wars Galaxy Mix!:

 

This year, I also attended the 2015 Sofi Awards and After Party, as well as the first-ever Opening Night Party. (Both events will be discussed in separate posts.)