Sunday, the last day of Expo West, was noticeably much more quiet and did not have nearly the same size crowd as on Friday or Saturday. Nevertheless, I saw some fantastic new organic products, got to speak to a lot of interesting people and rounded out my two Top 5 Lists — Top 5 Organic Products and Top 5 Non-Organic Food Products of Expo West.

The lists will be compiled very soon as their own blog posts.

The only video I shot that day was with Minh Tsai of Hodo Soy Beanery, an artisinal tofu maker based in San Francisco. The video should be up within the next week or so.

Here are some pictures with several friends of mine from the organic food industry. Read more »

Very quickly, my trip to California came to end. Yesterday was my last day in Los Angeles and I had a noon flight back to NYC. Needless to say, I had an amazing trip to Expo West.

BREAKFAST

I started off with a double shot of wheatgrass.

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Today was my second day at Expo West.

I spent all morning in the press room writing/editing three posts and then walked the floor (in Section E on the bottom floor) in the afternoon. For the most part, Section E is where the newer organic brands are located. The more seniority you have (the more years you’ve been coming to the show), the greater likelihood that you are upstairs on the main floor. Read more »

Yesterday was the my first day at Natural Products Expo West, the biggest organic food trade show of the year, which is taking place in Anaheim, CA.

I only walked the trade show floor for about 15 minutes since a majority of my day was spent listening to panels and lectures. Read more »

The biggest trade show of the year in the organic food industry, Natural Products Expo West, starts tomorrow in Anaheim, CA and I am here covering it. Needless to say, this is a very exciting event and 55,000 people are expected to attend.

Since I get a lot of questions about how I eat organic on the road, I will be documenting all of my meals for everyone to see.

This is what I took on the plane.

ORGANIC SPINACH SALAD WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATOES FROM ORGANIC AVENUE
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I spend an inordinate amount of time learning about the healthiest and newest organic food products available. Through my research at the various trade shows (Natural Products Expo East and Natural Products Expo West are my two favorites), talking to industry contacts, roaming supermarket aisles, speaking with as many well-informed food people as I can and reading books, I have come to the following conclusion:

You can take almost any food in the world and some health expert will have something good to say about it while a different health expert will have something bad to say about it.

So, what I do is educate myself as much as I can and then make my own decision about whether I should be eating it or not.

The following five organic foods seem to be the most controversial. While books could be written on all of the foods below and by no means am I covering all of the pros/cons of each, I will try to highlight the most salient points. Read more »

For the last few years, I have been using organic raw cacao as a key ingredient in my breakfast smoothies. While some people may use cacao nibs, my preference is to go with the organic raw cacao powder. For me, that works the best.

My organic raw cacao of choice is made by Sunfood. This is a great company based in California and their organic raw cacao product is sourced from Ecuador.

There is a lot of debate over which country makes the best organic raw cacao. However, Swiss chocolate, considered the finest in the world, uses cacao from Ecuador.

What I like about Sunfood’s organic raw cacao is its taste and texture. It is smooth, sweet, well-balanced and very nutritious – lots of antioxidants and amino-acids.

At the 2010 Expo West trade show, the company management showed me a video of how they make their organic raw cacao. So, not only did I get to meet the people from Ecuador who export this organic raw cacao product but I got to see the actual manufacturing process.

If you are looking for a fantastic organic raw cacao product, I suggest buying Sunfood’s. You can buy it HERE.