As you may have seen on my Instagram stories, I had the opportunity to go to Expo East again this year. Expo East is the fall natural products show from New Hope Network (and the “kid sister” to Expo West.) It’s about half the size of Expo West, but it’s still an awesome opportunity for healthy finds. Check out some of the trends I saw here and on my Instagram stories highlights “Expo East ’19.”
Day 1 – Wednesday
I arrived in Baltimore on Wednesday for the Harvest Festival. It’s an outdoor festival with emerging products (and new stuff from great brands). I met Marissa and we reconnected and checked out some great new (and favorite brands.) It was sweltering hot and I was super impressed with the good humor that the brand reps had while standing outside for 4 hours!
Before we hit the Harvest Festival, we checked out the press room. They had a bunch of samples from brands I love like Smashmallow, Nordi Chocolate and Chosen Foods. There were some new (to me) products from Kibo, Werner, Restorative Botanicals and Green Goo. They added more for the press happy hour on Friday, too!
At the Harvest Festival we tried a mix of old and new products. I caught up with my friends from Supernola and Mary’s Gone Crackers and checked out their fresh new branding. We sampled Core Bars new reformulated bars, Oatly‘s new oat milk ice cream and professed our love for Fish People’s Wild Alaskan Salmon Jerky. All three are faves! I found one of my new faves – Plant Perks‘ vegan smoked gouda spread. I met the folks behind Trail Truffles. I’m a huge fan.
Harvest Fest and Press Room Haul
Expo East – Day 1
We headed over to the Expo bright and early on Thursday. This year I made fewer appointments and decided to try to check out supplements and lifestyle products, too. I stuck with food on Day 1 – check Part 2 (soon) for more on supplements and lifestyle.
We grabbed some Vital Proteins’ new Collagen Bars and headed inside. I headed toward “Hot Products” and met the folks behind Patch Kids new hypoallergenic bamboo bandages and Snooze Natural Sleep Drink on the way. I saw Ganesh from Karma Nuts and told him how much I love the new branding and flavors. I saw my friends from Chicago fave, Fronen and made them pose for a photo. I headed over to meet with Nordi Chocolate to try their new Snacking Thins flavors. Keep an eye out for a review this fall!
I went to the main show floor to meet with Elmhurst 1925. They are on trend with new Oat Lattes and creamers (coming out soon). I tried their hemp creamers and chatted with their CEO about the oat and hemp trends. They were a pioneer using hemp!
Marissa and I visited some of our favorite brands on the main show floor. I grabbed some Bobo’s Oat Bites, tried Tapt maple waters from The Maple Guild and Simple Mills‘ new soft baked almond bars. We got a sample of Smashmallow’s new low sugar Smash Gummies (coming soon) and tried Kodiak Cakes‘ Strawberry Chocolate Chip pancakes. Thumbs up all around. We chatted with Perfect Snacks about their Peanut Butter Cup launch and scored a coveted sample!
I checked out more new products from brands I love. Sahale Snacks has a new nut mix with coconut. I tried Miyokos vegan butter and their soon to be released oat butter. Both were amazing. I stopped to check out lovely soaps from Godai. The packaging stopped me in my tracks and I was excited to learn that it’s a shampoo, too. I love this combo for travel! The beautiful box is going in my holiday gift guide for sure.
I headed back upstairs to meet with Hopapops. They make popped water lily seeds in four flavors. I’m a big fan! I enjoyed learning more about their story and launch. Stay tuned for a review and giveaway coming soon! I walked around and found a few cool new products – Leaf vegan jerky, Egglife egg based wraps and Uplift’s Gut Happy Cookies (all launching soon!) I checked out Nuttzo‘s Bold Bites and stopped by to grab some nut butter from Betsy’s Best.
Betsy gave me a Bingo card for women owned businesses. There were 17 stops on the card. I was familiar with 13 and 4 were new to me. I decided to fill it out to try to be one of the first 25 to get prizes from all of the brands. I caught up with Kimmi from Crazy Richard’s Peanut Butter and congratulated her on their NEXTY for Wholly Rollies. I tried Soozy’s new grain free Cinnamon Donuts (YUM!). I tried Remedy’s protein drinks and P.S. Snacks new pudding (made with my fave butternut squash). I took a cookie quiz at Emmy’s Organics (I’m a Peanut Butter if you’re wondering!)
While I was on my Bingo quest, I saw more faves and friends. I saw Jessica from Jessica’s Natural Foods, the guys from Nomi Bar and grabbed a few Health Warrior bars. I tried Taali’s Cinnamon Vanilla and Cookie Crunch Water Lily Pops (coming soon) – so delish!
After the show, Marissa and I headed to LMS’ happy hour event. It was great to catch up with the LMS team. We enjoyed eating “real food” and checking out products from some great brands!
Day 1 Haul
I’ll be back with Part 2 and giveaways soon!
Which products or trends do you want to see in more detail on the blog?
Please note: This post contains some Amazon affiliate links. If you use these links, I’ll receive a small commission. Check out many of these and previous finds on my Amazon list!