Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Despite headlining as the " Specialty Food Expo 2017 ", it's really still the Gluten Free Expo. Turns out, exhibitors who registered under the more-inclusive-sounding Specialty Food area got relegated to the "black hole" of a SMALL section warded off with ominous warnings of "may contain gluten". One such exhibitor is SpiceWorks, even though ALL their products are gluten free. So if you are celiac and went to the show, you may have missed them. The concept is basically "easy curry". They used coconut milk in the preparation of the Butter Chicken mix for the Expo and it was delicious.

I got the chance to go to the Specialty Food Expo 2017 (a.k.a. Gluten Free expo) for free on the Sunday thanks to Yelp, and Oh! Naturals was one of the products that really caught my attention -- so much that I bought two packs of their sweet potato stick/chips on the spot for my mom. Things that I really like about them: Really crunchy! Not oily. Not a salt-based snack. The predominant taste is sweet from the sweet potato, not a salty flavoring powder. Interestingly, the sweetness makes me NOT want to just sit down and keep eating, unlike salt-flavouring-based chips. Just a few sticks and I'm happy, making it a great appetizer for parties for example, In fact, too much in one sitting and I'd get that sugar crash / weariness, like you get from eating too much chocolate in one go. Other attributes: No preservatives Non GMO Gluten Free Nut Free Vegan

One of the interesting things the Specialty Food Expo 2017 did was have a contest for a selected number of new companies. Attendees then vote for the one they like best and that company wins a prize. This obviously helps them get attention at the Expo but also gets people moving around to look for the stall, which also gets them moving around in general. My pick was Wize Monkey . Not because I'm some kind of tea connoisseur and these teas are the bomb -- I really can't tell and tea is tea and I honestly just go to Superstore and buy what's cheap to flavour my boiled tap water. But what I like about Wize Monkey is that it's a simple concept that can have a profound positive social impact. Coffee is a seasonally harvested product. So why not do something in the off season by making a product from the coffee leaves? With any luck this idea will catch on and the price will go down to less than coffee.

Thanks to Yelp!, I got a free ticket to the Specialty Food Expo 2017 , which was really the Gluten-Free food show, presumably rebranded to be more inclusive. The actual may-not-be-gluten-free section was just a small fraction of the floor. One of the more interesting and unique products was Beiju , a sort of flatbread. Preparation is extremely simple and open to a lot of creativity. The experience of the flatbread is very not-like-bread. The sample I got was very grainy and chewy, so depending on your filling you may want to cut it into more easily manageable pieces. To prepare, simply pour some of the flour mix into a hot pan. The heat will cause it to stick together into a flatbread. During this time you can add various things like seeds and spices. Once it becomes a single mass you can flip it to heat both sides, as well as add other things like smearing butter on it or drizzling maple syrup. Or do nothing to it and have an empty wrap ready to go for other filling...