Jacqui Brugliera

This past weekend The Good Food Awards and Mercantile took over the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, California to highlight “food crafters” from around the country.

While the news may be dominated with stories of bone broth, kale chips and avocado oil, after visiting Natural Products Expo West 2016, it seems that consumers are still saving room for dessert. Although that takes the form of more healthy options for some products, there are also still many indulgent products hitting retailer shelves this year.

While consumers may be trying to eat healthier then ever, snacking hasn’t gone anywhere. Chips, dips and cookies haven’t gone anywhere, they may just look a little different with the additions of superfoods, fermented products and yes, even crickets. The following slide show looks at many of the trends influencing the snack category.

At this year’s Natural Products Expo West shortcuts for meal prep were seen across categories and day parts. Many of the products we spotted not only assisted with speed of preparation, but also provided an on-the-go option for busy consumers. While these options were fast and easy, the flavors were anything but basic, often pulling from global flavor profiles of dishes that take hours to cook (such as curries and slow simmered soups). Click through to view some of the highlights we featured on Instagram.

As consumers become more open to international flavor profiles, manufacturers are moving past nacho, ranch and lime. Instead far flung flavors such as lemongrass, fish sauce, kaffir lime and thai bird’s eye chili peppers are sneaking into the grocery aisles as accents for products ranging from chips to sauces to jerky. At the 2016 Winter Fancy Food Show, Project NOSH spoke with five early-stage food companies, each of which markets internationally inspired concepts for packaged food.