Episode 74: Expo West Favorite Finds from 2013 on

Expo West is great, and trade shows are super fun, but do the products actually make it to shelves afterwards? And if they do, do the products and brands have staying power for 10+ years on? Jules and Erica reflect back on some of their favorite brands and products they've me at Natural Products Expo West over the years and what is still in their cabinet/fridge/freezer after all these years. 

BRANDS MENTIONED:

Sweet Loren's 

Simple Mills

Enjoy Life Foods

Nana Joe's

ZEGO

Caulipower

Otto's Naturals

Brazi Bites

Banza

Feel Good Foods

RIP Artisan Bisto

Udi's

Molly's Suds

TruEarth

Healthy HooHa

Medicine Mama

Minimalist (laundry detergent)

Spinster Sisters

Gourmia

Pasture Bird

Wildbrine

Treeline

Violife

Good Planet

Homiah Sambal chili Crunch

Ziba foods

Octonuts

Bhuja

San-J

Pascha Chocolate

Guittard

Dandies

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Transcript

Erica [00:00:13]:
Hey, I'm Erica.

Jules [00:00:14]:
And I'm Jules. Most people have at least one thing that they can't or won't eat.

Erica [00:00:19]:
Yeah, we're definitely like that.

Jules [00:00:21]:
We started this podcast to talk about the gluten free food industry, like new

Erica [00:00:26]:
products and some of the stories behind

Jules [00:00:27]:
your favorite brands and living life with a specialty diet and also some important healthcare topics.

Erica [00:00:34]:
Since we're basically both broken inside.

Jules [00:00:36]:
You had me at eat.

Erica [00:00:41]:
Hi and welcome to another episode of you had me eat. I'm Erica.

Jules [00:00:45]:
And I'm Jules. I'm back from the dead. I was getting sick last week and I'm getting over getting sick from last week. So my voice sounds a little funky this week, but at least I have a little bit more energy. So I apologize to everyone for my.

Erica [00:01:03]:
And I didn't know you were sick because I just, I'm like that all the time.

Jules [00:01:07]:
You were my bestie and you knew me better than that. I was so low energy.

Erica [00:01:13]:
Yeah, but like, sometimes it happens with autoimmune diseases. I'm not going to be like, oh, what's up? Girlfriend got low energy.

Jules [00:01:20]:
Why are you so lame?

Erica [00:01:21]:
Why are you so lame? Ew, gross.

Jules [00:01:24]:
I caught something on the plane back home from, from the allergy thing I was at last week. So anyway, just a cold. Not covert or anything, but you know, whatever.

Erica [00:01:34]:
Still so aggressive. I mean, why don't you tell us about this?

Jules [00:01:39]:
It still stinks.

Erica [00:01:40]:
Yeah, it still does. Yeah. Why don't you tell us about this?

Jules [00:01:43]:
Yeah, so I was at the food allergy scenario symposium for industry last week,

Erica [00:01:48]:
which better known as FASI.

Jules [00:01:51]:
Well, everyone knows actually anything is FASI, right? Well, it was funny because I won this award.

Erica [00:02:00]:
Yeah, you did.

Jules [00:02:01]:
Yeah, I did. Well, the only reason I bring this up is because I'm looking at this thing and it says the 10th anniversary. And I, I actually was looking at some pictures where I was speaking at the second FASI and I was like, wow, this is crazy that this has been going on that long. I mean, yeah, it's been around for a bit, but so the, it's again, another one of those things where listeners will be like, can I come? No, sorry. And it's, it's just one of those weird things that we do in, in our roles that we get to tell you about and, and you, and you

Erica [00:02:41]:
can't be a part of it.

Jules [00:02:42]:
But it's fun, it's fun to know that it's, it's going on because this is all stuff that's going on in the background and it's really cool that it's happening because sometimes you, you think, you know, that they're not doing anything for us. And it's actually, there's these things are happening in the background. So I actually commented on someone's Instagram today and it was about what's happening in the background of what this conference is about. So basically the people who come to this conference are dietitians and administrators and chefs and restaurateurs. Everyone who is involved in putting together food service. Food service for people who have food allergies. Anyone who's, you know, got a stake in that. And it's primarily this, this conference primarily does draw people who are involved in, in, you know, university settings.

Jules [00:03:45]:
But it's not only that. So you'll see people who are in, you know, the like Disney ish kinds of things like that as well. So.

Erica [00:03:56]:
So food service, as you remember, we talked about the octopus food service has so many different arms to it. So not only is it like the food service that we think about when we think of colleges and universities and secondary and post secondary schools. Right. You have to have cafeterias and everything from kindergarten on up. But there's also, you know, food services, restaurants. Food service is pretty. Prisons, food service is all the things. Stadiums, senior living stadiums.

Erica [00:04:29]:
So think about all the food that, that happens, you know, if you get to like the low level or something, they have the food. Yeah. Hospitals, everything is food service outside of just like restaurants or outside of just like the food that you would get on a grocery store shelf. So it's a huge, huge industry and

Jules [00:04:46]:
it's often overlooked just everything.

Erica [00:04:48]:
Yeah.

Jules [00:04:49]:
And all of those people have. It's come to their attention unfortunately, due to legal litigation. Lawyers have brought it to their attention that they need to take care of people who have food allergies and dietary restrictions and people who have celiac disease and food allergies are covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act. So they have to take care of them. And so how do they do that? And they want to do a good job of it. And so they go to things like this and they seek information and they seek assistance and resources. And so that's where they gather for that type of thing. So that's where I was.

Jules [00:05:39]:
I was at FASI and I was there, as I said, I've spoken at this conference before. I was not speaking this time. I was there with my company, gfJules, because we supply flour and baking mixes to, you know, these companies who are looking for that. But I was.

Erica [00:05:58]:
And that's right if you're in a college or university.

Jules [00:06:01]:
That's right.

Erica [00:06:01]:
Or a hotel or prison or another institution, you have to give your people what they want. And they want gfJules.

Jules [00:06:11]:
That's right.

Erica [00:06:12]:
Buy Jules flours.

Jules [00:06:15]:
That's right. I don't know what that was, but yeah. So it was, it was great. I love, I meet, I meet the greatest people at these things. I love talking to dietitians and chefs and it's just, it was a good time. So it was really fun. Except I got a cold on the way back, so. Yeah, it was good.

Jules [00:06:31]:
It was really fun.

Erica [00:06:32]:
Well, I'm glad you won. You deserve it. Obviously you deserve all the awards and accolades for being just such an amazing advocate. But also your background is in law school. So it's always so interesting when we talk about like just all these legal implications of the ADA and serving allergy free or gluten free and allergy customers, what that actually means. So I love having that as a perspective when you talk about those kind of things. And I'm sure that Betsy loves having you at the conference as well.

Jules [00:07:06]:
Well, and because of that, we're gonna do on this show, actually we're gonna be having some more interviews related to that coming up, so stay tuned. We're going to have some, some good content for you guys.

Erica [00:07:19]:
I love that for us.

Jules [00:07:20]:
I love that for all of us. That's right. Yeah, go ahead, Go ahead. I was going to say, basically I'm going to talk about my trip up there on another show because I want to talk about the restaurants and my trip and then in New England and I had such a good time and we're going to talk about that in another show. But because we talked about lobster rolls.

Erica [00:07:43]:
Nutshell. Lobster rolls.

Jules [00:07:44]:
Lobster rolls. We're definitely going to dive into the lobster rolls. But that, that could, I could do a whole episode on that. That would be great.

Erica [00:07:51]:
We might, we might.

Jules [00:07:52]:
But before we, we step too far out of the Expo west realm, Erica and I wanted to do something a little different today and talk about some of our favorite finds from, from Expos in the past that we still ourselves continue to purchase with our own money and believe in and think that that would be something that would be really valuable to share with you guys because as much as we love going to these shows and bringing back like, oh, this is the latest and the greatest, some of those things die on the vine and some of them are just flashes in the pan and some of them are, you know, they're cool, but, you know, would we really Buy them or, you know, sometimes brands send them to us and we, you know, we'll introduce them to you. But would we really, you know, continue to buy them?

Erica [00:08:46]:
Continue to buy products? I think is the biggest indicator. You know, we don't, you know, there's no attrition. After your first time buying it, you're like, I don't really think I want to do this again. Like, what would you recommend to people? And for me, I think I get to know brands and we get to see them grow over time. So some of the brands that, like, we love are the brands, you know, we've been going for over 13 years. Brands that have started out as, like, a small mom and pop operation have just, like, exploded onto the scene. A few of those that I want to share are going to be like, Sweet Loren's Simple Mills. It used to mean Enjoy Life Foods.

Erica [00:09:28]:
RIP.

Jules [00:09:29]:
Yeah, right.

Erica [00:09:30]:
My God. You know, Nana Joe's. Like, those things that are like, these Are these oats? Oh, my gosh, yes. These are like the old school. Like, mom partake. My gosh. Like, she started out, she's a mom, she started this. Like, that's what we buy over and over and over again.

Erica [00:09:49]:
I mean, same with ZEGO. When they first started their oats, you know, that was 2020, so it wasn't that long ago. But before then, she had bars and we ate them all the time. So I think it's just this, like, this introduction of, like, these people who started their brand for a reason that resonated with us. So for us, like Caulipower. Her kid Gail, her kid had celiac disease, gluten free. And she brought him to a show, and I met him. Otto's Natural Sadie brought her kid to a show that was like, this is odd.

Erica [00:10:28]:
Like, this is Otto. Like, this is a person who is named after Nana Jo's. When I first met Michelle and she was talking about her oats and why she started it, and I remember tasting the first oatmeal granola blend that she had that had, like, real peaches in it and, like, mulberries. And I'm like, what is this? This is incredible. It's a woman who's, like, pulling prioritizing high quality dried products that weren't found in oats. And her story about why she founded it. And, like, Simple Mills, when they first started. Like, we remember Lauren from Sweet Loren's.

Erica [00:11:07]:
Like, we remember when they were nobodies and just launching things, and we're just like, who are these people that are launching these things? And we're like the whales. Yeah, dude, for real. So same thing. I just think we have. What makes us different is we have such longevity with these brands that we have seen them oftentimes reinvent themselves over and over again. I remember, I mean I was there when Bonza first launched. Yeah, like we were there.

Jules [00:11:38]:
Yeah.

Erica [00:11:39]:
So to see them and now they have wheat, but like to see them go and explode and you know, a lot of them is a VC funding like for. For me. I remember. So do you remember I was one of the first people to talk about Brazi bites and to have a post on my website. Back when we were still doing websites for me because I haven't updated in two years. Have a website, very active website. But I remember they went on Shark Tank. This is back when like Shark Tank was still a really big thing and a new thing for people in CPG or consumer packaged goods.

Jules [00:12:18]:
I remember you walked down the aisles and they'd have a sign and I

Erica [00:12:20]:
was on Shark Tank. So. And now like everyone was on Shark Tank. Whatever, fine. And so they were on it and the two founders and they were on it. And then their website shut down and all the website traffic got rerouted to me because I had like a big blog post on it. So it was just like the weirdest thing ever. But.

Erica [00:12:46]:
But it was so cool to see them explode and grow since then. And we've been following since then and I can't even eat their product. But they're still so freaking good. Same with Feel Good. Yeah, so we've heard same with Feel Good foods. I mean, I remember when I was the two watching.

Jules [00:13:06]:
Forgot about them.

Erica [00:13:07]:
Yeah, they had nothing. I mean, they basically had egg rolls, right? Yeah, was one of their first ones, I believe. And then they launched. We've seen them launch everything. I mean they, they had a small booth and now they're. They were like massive every show. And I don't even know if they were at expo this year. I don't think they were.

Erica [00:13:30]:
I don't, I don't remember seeing them really.

Jules [00:13:32]:
They weren't there.

Erica [00:13:33]:
I mean, I don't know. I didn't see a lot of the show. So who knows? Who knows? But to see all these brands go crazy. Yeah, it's just like, oh, okay.

Jules [00:13:44]:
Well just see a lot of them come and go too.

Erica [00:13:47]:
It's like, oh, I can't even tell you how me, I'm like looking through things from our first, like one of our first expos and I'm like, oh, yeah, that sucks. I remember one of my favorite brands that I ate all the time. It was called Artisan Bistro. It was one of the first celiac safe ish frozen meals. And they had. This is how old it is. Oh, my God. They had one of the first seasons of Real Housewives of Orange County.

Erica [00:14:16]:
They had Kyle Richardson from Real Housewives of Orange county. And they were like, oh, my gosh, Erica, come meet her. So I got to skip to the front of the line. I have this picture with Cow Richards. I'm gonna have to, like, put it in this video because I'm gonna have to find it, first of all. But I just, like, look at all these things. And I'm like, oh, yeah. Like, remember when Elizabeth what's her face from Survivor.

Erica [00:14:42]:
Yes.

Jules [00:14:42]:
Had NoGii bars.

Erica [00:14:45]:
NoGii bars. So I met her so many times at expo and got, like, signed books and stuff.

Jules [00:14:50]:
I remember when I made her birthday cake on Fox & Friends.

Erica [00:14:53]:
Fox and Friends. Fox and Friends. Like, just. And I'll never do that now.

Jules [00:15:00]:
No, no.

Erica [00:15:02]:
Wouldn't believe in gluten free or something. I don't know. I just. It's so.

Jules [00:15:07]:
Only did it because she had celiac disease.

Erica [00:15:10]:
I'm not. I'm not. I'm not judging you. You're not like some sort of.

Jules [00:15:13]:
Like plenty of people did at the time, Even way back in the day, plenty of people judge me. I'm like, it's only because she has celiac disease.

Erica [00:15:21]:
Oh, my God. Yeah. I just like. And looking at all of the like, I remember. This is how old I am. I remember when they flew me out for UDI's, when Udi's flew me out for the launch of the Pizza Hut pizzas, and I got to go to Pizza Hut and make pizzas for the first time on their ooties pizza crust at Pizza Hut university. But, like, UDI's is not like,

Jules [00:15:54]:
no.

Erica [00:15:54]:
A cool brand anymore. Right? Like, and it used to be the coolest. Oh, what did they launch? Everything they did was like, so. And now it's just like, oh, they're just like, food, food service. And like, you can sometimes find a. Yeah, yeah. So some of the ones. I mean, I'm like, literally looking from.

Erica [00:16:14]:
From 2014. Do you remember when Hillary's Eat well was like, our favorite brand on the planet?

Jules [00:16:22]:
And they decided I used to like, I have posts up from them because they had these little mini sliders and I did a whole post for them where I made homemade, like, hamburger buns and slider size just for their little baby sliders. I loved so much yeah.

Erica [00:16:38]:
So let me be a total, like, going down memory lane. We'll talk about the things that I still love. So a lot of the things that I still love are in housewares, like bath and beauty, home living. I love food. Don't get me wrong, food is my favorite thing on the planet. I eat three times a day. But the brands that I really have been like, wow, they have completely changed my life, revitalized everything. I'm going to show a picture.

Erica [00:17:07]:
This is from 2014. This is Molly's Suds from I met in 2014.

Jules [00:17:13]:
I did a post for them when they first came out. I did a whole giveaway.

Erica [00:17:17]:
Still use it. Still use it. Just my favorite thing. And then, like, unscented came out. They're a full line of unscented home products. And for me, with all my scent sense to activity, like, completely changed how I viewed the concept of, like, home cleaning and bath care products. Even shampoos have scents in them and these don't. And I think that that was like, such a huge deal and that really changed how I bought things.

Erica [00:17:47]:
So these are brands that are making, like, a difference. Same with brands like True Earth. These detergent strips, like the laundry detergent strips. I buy these at Erewhon and I stock up now when I go to California and they have launched, you know, toilet bowl cleaners. Everything that is the sheets and recyclable paper packaging and like, that's. Those are people who we met at the show. When it comes to personal care, I remember one of the first few expos And I'll probably find the picture of me and healthy Hooha.

Jules [00:18:26]:
Those are some of the things you love to talk about.

Erica [00:18:28]:
I love vaginal care products. So healthy.

Jules [00:18:31]:
I love a good vaginal care product.

Erica [00:18:32]:
Healthy Hoo ha is great. And then also I met Medicine mama about four years ago, and she has a lipstick that you put on your vulva. She has this vulva wash and it's all really gorgeous branding.

Jules [00:18:46]:
Wow, I had not heard of that one yet.

Erica [00:18:49]:
Just. You're just jealous. But it's like these really, they're pretty and they're not like, they're not like, so aggressively like, this is for your vagina. Half your vagina is for your labia, just so you know, and your vulva. But we want to be ethical. But I just think that, like, that kind of personal care stuff that you find will be like, it's a huge difference. And I don't think it's things that a lot of people talk about, like their laundry Detergent. Unless they're, like a home.

Erica [00:19:17]:
Home blogger, you know, but people like us makes a difference.

Jules [00:19:20]:
Don't. Don't leave that subject, because I want to talk about laundry detergent, too. Oh, minimal.

Erica [00:19:26]:
Oh, yeah.

Jules [00:19:27]:
I love this.

Erica [00:19:28]:
The chamomile is the best. Okay.

Jules [00:19:31]:
No. So were you at the booth with me when we first discovered them? Yes, because. Okay, this was the funniest thing. Okay, there, this. Oh, I can smell it from here. Okay. I also am very scent sensitive. Like, I cannot do anything with perfumes.

Jules [00:19:49]:
I. I can't be in the room with someone who has perfume. Like, it just. It gives me an instant headache. I get migraines. Like, I cannot stand smells like that. I can't do it. And so I buy all the unscented everything, you know, whatever.

Jules [00:20:02]:
So we go to this booth, and this. This is obviously scented, right? And the entire shtick behind this company is, is that they have done all this research and about. They've done, I mean, just zillions of dollars with research about what the best scents are for laundry detergent. And they have three, I think, different scents now. And this one is the one that they say is best for your, like, sheets and things because it helps you to sleep. Well, I don't care what it does. I'll put it on anything. I love this smell.

Jules [00:20:36]:
And I love getting into my sheets when it smells like this. But anyway, there's something. They did their research really well. But anyway, so we're there talking to them, and so everything obviously is scented because the whole company is based around the research that they did around scents. And so Erica goes, when are you going to come out with an unscented. I thought the guy at the booth was gonna lose it. He's like, our company is a scented company. Like, that's all we do like.

Jules [00:21:16]:
And I mean, like, we would be nothing. We would be like Joe Laundry detergent company if he did that.

Erica [00:21:23]:
Well, Their pods are so pretty. So to be fair, they do look very different looking.

Jules [00:21:28]:
They're very pretty pods. Okay. But they also have the sheets just like the. The true earth sheets, because I bought this too, but it's just so funny. But anyway, so I. I will buy these.

Erica [00:21:40]:
The chamomile smells so freaking. You know what?

Jules [00:21:45]:
I might just store these in my office now that I have this sitting here at my desk. I love these so much. And. And anyway, are there any other gorgeous

Erica [00:21:56]:
bath and beauty products that you are like, that you use all the time?

Jules [00:22:00]:
Oh, you know what? There's so many. And I should have thought about that when we were talking about this because I've discovered so many different cosmetics and like, you know, lotions and soaps and things like that. And I actually included a lot of them in my gluten free cosmetics post that I have up on my website and I should have like brought them down here today. But I mean there's so many gorgeous.

Erica [00:22:26]:
I think a lot of lotions I found there, oddly enough. Yeah.

Jules [00:22:31]:
Because again, it's one of those things where you have to smell them.

Erica [00:22:34]:
Yeah.

Jules [00:22:35]:
And so just to go to the store and like not necessarily be able to smell them, but like they're just so. You've gotta have that.

Erica [00:22:43]:
Spinster Sisters is another like soap brand that I am obsessed with from there from Expo west. And like, let's be real too. A lot of the stuff we find is from Houseware show which we no longer go to because it's so incredibly expensive to attend. But we find so many things that we use on a regular basis.

Jules [00:23:04]:
Stuff. Last year.

Erica [00:23:05]:
I need to go again. I know.

Jules [00:23:07]:
My, my. I have to put a plug in for this. My new toaster oven slash air fryer slash pizza oven slash.

Erica [00:23:19]:
It does your laundry for you?

Jules [00:23:20]:
It does my laundry? No, it does everything. It is, it is an all in one appliance that practically does my toes. For me it is gourmia.

Erica [00:23:34]:
Okay.

Jules [00:23:36]:
And it has replaced everything. And I, and I used to love my Cuisinart toaster oven, air fryer. And there's nothing wrong with it, it's just that the gourmia one is also a pizza oven and I've been looking for a pizza oven and I just was like, I don't have room for it and they're expensive and you know, la la la la. This one is also a pizza oven and it takes up the same amount of space. And so I, and I tested this for a very long time before I put it up on my blog and it's now in my gift guide. And I mean, I tell you, I think the price point was like 129. I mean it's outrageous.

Erica [00:24:21]:
Yeah.

Jules [00:24:21]:
Yes. I was just talking to Kendra the other day from Suki and I was like, she asked me for a recommendation. I told her about it and she bought it and she loves it and I can't recommend it enough. I love it for that price point. I mean you just can't, you can't beat that. And I have made all kinds of pizzas in it. My own homemade gluten free pizzas from. I'll Put them in the freezer and take them back out or I'll put them in fresh.

Jules [00:24:47]:
Doesn't matter. It's got a pizza stone in there. It's got the air fryer, it's got the toaster feature. You can bake things in it. It doesn't matter. It does a great job for $129.

Erica [00:24:57]:
Why I didn't get a new one. So I guess I'll be getting.

Jules [00:25:00]:
I'll send you the link.

Erica [00:25:02]:
LinkedIn bio. Yeah.

Jules [00:25:05]:
Lincoln bio. Yeah. So that, anyway, there are, there are lots of things like that that we find that we're like, absolutely, I will spend my money on that. But that's, that is my, my housewares.

Erica [00:25:18]:
I want to move on to chicken because I know that you won't have any chicken based products.

Jules [00:25:22]:
You can take that category for yourself.

Erica [00:25:25]:
I, I, it's very weird when there is a raw chicken company at Expo west. So I'm always like, this is so gross.

Jules [00:25:39]:
But highly unusual.

Erica [00:25:41]:
I met Pasture Bird and one of my PR friends was running it. Yeah, yeah. And so I saw their booth and I was like, okay, I'll take a free product coupon. Let's see. It truly is the best chicken. Chicken grosses meat.

Jules [00:25:59]:
You can notice a difference in raw chicken.

Erica [00:26:03]:
Yeah. I'm so grossed out by raw chicken. Who has Pasture Bird? I don't know. Apparently that's not a normal thing. But Pasture Bird has the best quality chicken I've ever had. They only sell it at Sprouts. I do not go to Sprouts to get my meat. But I will only buy Pasture Bird there because this is the best chicken.

Erica [00:26:24]:
I mean, and I was like a die hard, like Mary's chicken. She does, she does all sorts of chicken, like whole chickens, fryer chickens, that kind of thing. But Pasture Bird is by far I think the best quality chicken and it really tells a story about how they treat their animals and animal welfare. So I think that that's incredible. I am also like a super big fan of like regenerative pork and regenerative farming practices being shown on the show floor for, for like singing pastures. Like there's a lot of incredible like meat stick products out there that are actually done by people who are doing it right. Starwalker Organic is a beef jerky that like Matt loves. And they also do whole beef that you can buy from their organic farm.

Erica [00:27:19]:
It's insane what some of these brands are doing for animal welfare. And granted, yes, you still are eating animals, but if you're going to be eating animals you need to know how they're raised and know that they're raised well. And so these brands coming to Expo who are like raw meat or like beef stickers, something like. It just seems very weird, but yet these are the brands that we will continue to purchase and spend a ton of money on because meat's not cheap. Right. But something like the pasture bird is like, truly a story of like, I got to meet the farmers and learn about their farm, and now I will forever buy their raw meat. And that's not something as a package good. That I would want to buy.

Erica [00:28:01]:
Not that I know of.

Jules [00:28:02]:
Because there's an egg company or two at Expo that has, like, really great.

Erica [00:28:07]:
There's actually a lot of egg companies and I mean, I don't eat eggs, so for me that's harder. But a lot of really great egg companies that I'm like, oh, they actually, like, have a really good story on how their chickens are raised. So, yeah, I don't know. That's kind of like you wouldn't expect. Again, just like housewares or home home goods. You wouldn't expect that to be at Expo West. But that's truly some of the things that are moving the needle in the food industry are like, meat. Meats consumed by most Americans, as much as we want to or not want to admit that.

Erica [00:28:39]:
So if you're going to do that, to introduce these, like, animal welfare policies and organic growing practices.

Jules [00:28:45]:
Yeah. Cool. So you don't have something like raw chicken to show us here today.

Erica [00:28:50]:
So I ended up pulling out the dill, the dill pickle, chicken nuggets from cauliflower. But I actually tried have the raw chicken in there. But I'm like, I. That's really gross. And I think it grossed you out too, if you had raw chicken.

Jules [00:29:01]:
Please don't. I was kidding. I thought you didn't, so never mind.

Erica [00:29:03]:
I absolutely do. It's stocked in my fridge all the time.

Jules [00:29:06]:
I didn't mean to dare you.

Erica [00:29:09]:
Cool.

Jules [00:29:09]:
Okay, so moving on. How about kimchi? Wildbrine Kimchi. I don't like kimchi.

Erica [00:29:16]:
Okay.

Jules [00:29:17]:
But I don't think I did either

Erica [00:29:19]:
until I had everything from, From. From Wildbrine.

Jules [00:29:23]:
You love it. I know, and it's so good for you. And can I just tell you, like, I would walk by their booth and they'd be like, oh, you need to try this. And so then I would. I'd go, okay, fine. And I'd try it, like at the booth and I'd be like, yeah, that's great. But Then they sent me some and I challenged myself to use it in my cooking. Game changer.

Jules [00:29:48]:
Because what do they say, like salt, fat, acid heat. Right. Throw this in your cooking and it is so good for you. It will change your recipes. And you can throw it in a salad, you can throw it in your stir fry. You can. And it's, it is really, really good for you. And it will up your flavor profile on like any stir fry.

Jules [00:30:09]:
It'll. It's good. It's really, really, really good.

Erica [00:30:12]:
I feel that way about a lot of the vegan cheeses that we've tried over time. Like Treeline. I didn't know about Treeline until I met them at Expo west. And now they're like, they are mandatory for any like cheese plates that I make because I'm obviously dairy free and I want to make sure that everything that I serve to find it.

Jules [00:30:29]:
Like, I mean, I guess if you

Erica [00:30:30]:
go, we have it at Sprouts, we have it at Sprouts and we have it at Whole Foods, but each one has different skus. Like Violife. I didn't meet them. We met them at Expo West. I remember meeting them at Expo east on the outside pavilion.

Jules [00:30:45]:
Yeah.

Erica [00:30:46]:
And I just being like this amazing, when is it going to come to America? And now they've like taken over Whole Foods.

Jules [00:30:52]:
Good Planet. I love Good Planet cheese.

Erica [00:30:55]:
They're just so. Speaking of hard to find for me. Can't find them. So those kind of things, like even Kite Hill, as much as we think that that's like a massive company, it wasn't before. And we got to see them launch all of the new products. Like when they launched their cota, like game changer. Oh, it's so freaking good. And, and they're.

Erica [00:31:20]:
I think their cream cheese is the best cream cheese to use in any cream cheese. I don't want to talk about Forager too much because they're not really, really outright with some of their ingredients, but like forager. When they launched their sour cream, it completely changed how I use sour cream. Their dairy free sour cream. I think those are things that we're like, I'm consistently buying and I forget. Oh yeah, I did meet them at Natural Products Expo a million years ago.

Jules [00:31:50]:
Well, there are so many amazing new dairy free yogurts out there now that I mean, I like every time I go to the store there's a new brand and I'm just loving it.

Erica [00:31:59]:
But although, aren't you also obsessed with Coco June? Like I am.

Jules [00:32:02]:
Oh yeah, obsessed. But I mean to be Fair. Like, I'm like, please send me a coupon. They're so expensive. I can't even. I mean, so expensive.

Erica [00:32:13]:
I started buying them in the. The giant ones?

Jules [00:32:16]:
Yeah. If you can find the giant ones, then that's okay. But, like.

Erica [00:32:19]:
Yeah, okay. They're speaking of chamomile. Oh, they're chamomile ones. So good.

Jules [00:32:23]:
I know. Oh, I love their flavors. But I mean. Okay, moving on. This one, I cannot live without this in my cooking. Now, this I am not. I am not kidding you. And this was one of those teeny, tiny.

Jules [00:32:36]:
I think this was Expo East. I've never seen before. I know. It was in this. I swear. This was, like, one of those really random, teeny, tiny brands that was, like, in a. In one of those things that they gave out for bloggers.

Erica [00:32:54]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Jules [00:32:55]:
You know, like, kind of thing. And the reason why I can't live without this. Instead of chili crunch, it's Homiah sambal Chili crunch. And the reason why. And because chili crunch is hot, and everybody loves chili crunch. Right. This has no garlic in it. And you know how I cannot do garlic, and anybody who's low fodmap can't do garlic.

Jules [00:33:16]:
But you need chili crunch in your life.

Erica [00:33:19]:
Right?

Jules [00:33:19]:
This is amazing. And the other day, I was like, I couldn't find this, and I. And I didn't have it, and I am trying to do without Amazon in my life now. I'm doing my resist and unsubscribe, and this is where I was getting this. And I. So I was like, I'm gonna make this. And so I went online, looked up recipes to make homemade chili crunch. They require, like, 14 different ingredients, including seaweed and all kinds of other stuff.

Jules [00:33:43]:
And they all. And they all call for garlic. I'm like, okay, I obviously cannot make this. Or, like, you know, I could, but so anyway, you need to buy that. You need that in your life. Okay. Another savory thing that I really. That we love is Top Seeds.

Erica [00:34:00]:
Top Seeds is so freaking good.

Jules [00:34:02]:
Again, love the owner. You know, she started this literally in her apartment, like, in New York City. Like, I mean, she's just. She's a great person. Love all of her products. And I don't know if you know this brand. Ziba. Have you tried this? Ziba?

Erica [00:34:18]:
No.

Jules [00:34:18]:
Jeff has this on, like, auto ship. He can't live without this.

Erica [00:34:21]:
What is it?

Jules [00:34:22]:
It's from Afghanistan. It's a trail mix of dried fruit and nuts. But it's got, like, mulberries and all kinds of other Random stuff in it that you just don't find in a

Erica [00:34:31]:
normal second Mulberry references. That's so odd.

Jules [00:34:35]:
I know. But this is so I brought this back in samples from Expo a couple years ago, and it's like, absolutely is obsessed with it. And it's like I said, it's from Afghanistan and it's got raisins, almonds, mulberries, pistachios, apricot kernels and salt.

Erica [00:34:53]:
And it's from Afghanistan and it's absolutely a Middle Eastern.

Jules [00:34:56]:
Yeah. But he puts it on salads and I mean, like, you know, all kinds of stuff. Loves it.

Erica [00:35:02]:
What about OctoNuts, your favorite brand?

Jules [00:35:04]:
Oh, I love OctoNuts. I love OctoNuts.

Erica [00:35:07]:
We love Octonuts.

Jules [00:35:08]:
Octonuts is great.

Erica [00:35:09]:
I know. So that's one. We definitely met at the show and we bought because I had never heard of this. And I. I was like, ew, cashew butter. And now I'm like, cashew, come on, cashew.

Jules [00:35:20]:
Everything, everything. And then remember this one? Found this one at Expo West.

Erica [00:35:26]:
You love that.

Jules [00:35:27]:
Okay, can you see? This is like twice the size of my head. This is Bhuja, I think is how they say it.

Erica [00:35:34]:
Yeah.

Jules [00:35:34]:
Bua snacks, which is like. This is like beer. Original beer snacks or whatever. Original mix. This is now at Costco.

Erica [00:35:43]:
That's really impressive. Yeah, I definitely need the larger bag.

Jules [00:35:48]:
Well, I set this out at a party the other day at my house. Nobody at my house was gluten free but me. They were all like diving into this head first. I mean, this. There's nothing not okay about this mix, everybody.

Erica [00:36:00]:
It's like a really, really good Chex mix without. Minus the gluten.

Jules [00:36:05]:
Exactly. It's awesome. So, yeah, you definitely need to get that. It's got really great spices. Obviously, San-J. Anything from San-J. I mean, and they've been around forever, but, I mean, that's how long you've been around. That's right.

Jules [00:36:19]:
I am as old as San-J. Yeah.

Erica [00:36:22]:
Yeah. Their stuff. I mean, I can't live without having at least one San-J product in my cabinet. And they just launched that Umami Mama.

Jules [00:36:31]:
That is so good.

Erica [00:36:32]:
I don't.

Jules [00:36:33]:
And I met. I know. And she's straight from Japan. I had. I had dinner with her at Expo two years ago. She was so sweet.

Erica [00:36:42]:
Yeah, they're very smart for adding that into the portfolio.

Jules [00:36:46]:
Yeah.

Erica [00:36:46]:
And they're even doing. Oh, what do they have? Oh, shoot. They just launched something. But they're just like, I love San-J. Like, literally, they've been such an old school brand. They've supported gluten free for forever.

Jules [00:37:01]:
They were the first gluten free soy sauce.

Erica [00:37:03]:
Yeah. They, they did the, the first gluten free nourished festivals. Gluten free gff, AF fest. Like they did everything. So they're definitely one of the old school ones that we're just like super proud to continue to support because they have continued to step it up for the community and are reinventing themselves because you can't stay stagnant. Even if we've, you know, think about Sweet Loren's when they first launched that they didn't have breakfast biscuits that are now everywhere. They didn't have, have the amount of frozen cookie dough. They're just launched scones.

Erica [00:37:33]:
Like they have to keep reinventing themselves. Like Simple Mills. They used to just be crackers and mixes.

Jules [00:37:42]:
Yeah.

Erica [00:37:42]:
Remember when they launched their mixes and now they're like everywhere with everything. And so they have to keep reinventing because the gluten free consumer keeps wanting more. Right. Like we want to have the same thing that other people have. We want to have scones that are ready to bake, we want to have breakfast biscuits, we want to have chicken nuggets. Like you have to keep reinventing themselves. And the reason why we buy the same brands that we used to, when they launched in 2014 or ever your first expo was that is critically important to keep refreshing with the trends and to, you know, we've also seen them cut a bunch of skus too, that didn't make it. I mean, look at, look at Enjoy Life foods.

Erica [00:38:23]:
All they launched, they got acquired, everything's gone. So you have to keep reinventing yourself and keeping the gluten free consumer top of mind because that's what we want. We want these brands that we love and know to keep reinventing themselves so we can continue to invest in the product.

Jules [00:38:39]:
Yeah. Well, I have one more that I just. Well, actually two more. Because you mentioned in Enjoy Life, Pascha. I have to say, Pascha, because Enjoy Life is no more in our top of mind because they are.

Erica [00:38:56]:
They're dead to us. They're not dead. They're dead to us.

Jules [00:38:58]:
They're dead to us. You can still find them, obviously. But I love Pascha anyway. And dandies.

Erica [00:39:04]:
Oh my God, Dandies.

Jules [00:39:05]:
I love Dandies. The vegan marshmallow. The OG. So thank you for making a vegan marshmallow.

Erica [00:39:12]:
Yeah, I think, and I think look at dandies, like if we talk about reinvention, if we talk about like what's new. Dandies has had different flavors, but in the past Year and a half they launched their marshmallow cream and that has been their endeavor that they've been testing for years.

Jules [00:39:30]:
Every year we go up and we're like, is the marshmallow cream here?

Erica [00:39:34]:
It's everywhere. It's such a great alternative to what's out there. Again, it is gluten free. It is vegan. It all takes our requirements. Us too. And they, they put the time and effort into R D. They put the time and effort into.

Erica [00:39:48]:
They put the time and effort into making this great for the consumer. Consumer, but also like making it great for retailers because we also want to see something from the Expo west show floor on the store shelves. So they're on the store shelves now. We love Dandies, we love Pascha, we love being able to find these products. Same with Guittard. We waited for years for them to invent their dairy free line. They finally did. It's everywhere.

Erica [00:40:09]:
We're so grateful to these companies to keep inventing, to go not only with the trends, but personally for us. We want to make sure that we can eat the products too and we want to be able to share that they're on store shelves near you. So we're not just talking into the ether about some product that nobody can find. We want to make sure that you too can buy this and enjoy it. The same things, you know, that we are also enjoying.

Jules [00:40:33]:
Exactly. So these are some of our staples. I'm certain we've missed some, so we might have to do like a follow up. But these are some of our favorites and if you'd like to share with us some of the ones that you like to buy all the time, we'd like to hear about your favorites as well.

Erica [00:40:50]:
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of You Had Me Eat. We hope to see you next episode.

Jules [00:40:56]:
Yep, take care. Thanks for tuning in to you Had Me at Eat, the number one voted gluten free podcast in the country. Remember to like and subscribe, tell all your friends and we'll talk to you next time.