Winter Fancy Food Show 2015

When you were little, was your favorite part of going to Costco all of the food samples? You know, the samples of cheese, cake, ice cream, and other delicious treats?

Wait, who am I kidding, that still is my favorite thing about Costco.

Now, imagine your samples at Costco all rounded into two giant conference rooms, with thousands and thousands of stands. Would you believe me if I told you such a place existed?

It's called the Fancy Food Show, and I was lucky enough to attend the Winter show in my hometown of San Francisco.

It's the West Coast's largest specialty food and beverage trade show with over 80,000 products to eat and drink! Over 1,300 different exhibitors came to show off the best of the best when it comes to food.

We started off near the high-end Greek providers, sampling our way through freshly grilled haloumi cheese and beautiful olives.

I made a quick stop at the Califia Farms booth--they had a barista making Four Barrel & almond milk creations, plus a fully stocked case of all of their products to sample. I was blown away by their chocolate coconut almond milk.

Winter Fancy Food Show Almond Milk Califia Farms

We breezed our way through other European countries, including France and Italy.

In the Italian section, there was a massive pizza oven, and a chef making delicious pizza.

We also tried Hug, a pre-mixed elderflower, mint, and sparkling wine mix that would be perfect in the summer.

And of course we had to sample some Parmesan.

One of the coolest things to try were these vinegar pearls or "caviar". They were wonderfully chewy, and burst into a liquid in your mouth!

We then swung by the Canadian section for some birch syrup tastings.

Bocci set up a stand with not only free chocolates to take with you, but also handmade (and freshly made) candies, filled with hazelnuts and chocolate. They were amazing!

After exploring the international food, we moved into the American hall.

One of my favorite stations in this room was Plush Puffs. They make amazing marshmallows, and they had a marshmallow toasting station for everyone!

Next up is one of the most interesting things I tried...finger limes! These limes have tiny little balls instead--kind of like Pop Rocks! They burst in your mouth with tons of lime flavor.

I fell in love with Frosting Queens--the most delicious store bought frosting you will find out there!

Of course, I spent lots of time sampling ice cream from some of my favorite companies--Jeni's, McConnell's, and Double Rainbow.

Winter Fancy Food Show McConnell's Ice Cream

After some ice cream, it was time for more sugar (and alcohol) in the form of artisanal lemon drop jello shots.

After a few more hours of wandering, eating, and more wandering, it was time to go home. I can't wait for next year's Fancy Food Show--it's clearly going to be my favorite three days of the year.