When you attend Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, you knowingly sign up for a rewarding, yet overstimulating, experience. Crowds are massive, colors are bright and every 10 steps brings you a new bite, sample or culinary option.

You can’t try everything, but you can visit booth #3499, sample some amazing foods and learn about the future of the food industry via a curated menu that defines the magic that can be found in food.

For starters, here’s what we’re serving:

Korean Bulgogi Meatloaf with Orange Curry Glaze:

A fusion dish that combines a traditional comfort food with an on-trend global flavor. Key ingredients include:

• Korean BBQ Seasoning
• Organic Tomato Powder
• Cheddar Cheese Blend
• Orange Juice Powder 4%

Middle Eastern Tacos:

This fusion concept highlights the rich and aromatic spices that define Middle Eastern cuisine, but in a taco format. Key ingredients include:

• Romano Cheese Powder
• Cheesy Buttery Flavor Factor 32
• Cheddar Concentrate
• Vegan Cheez Concentrate
• Brown Butter Concentrate Factor 10
• American Cheese Base, White

Swicy Cinnamon Caramel Coconut Burrito:

This dessert was built for social media, capturing millennials’ love of swicy foods in a novel eating experience. Key ingredients include:

• Hot Cinnamon Seasoning
• Sweet Cream Powder

Vegan Cheez and Herb Mac & Cheez:

We bring back our popular vegan mac & cheez, but with a Ranch-style herb spice blend that elevates the flavor. Key ingredients include:

• Vegan Cheez Concentrate
• Oat Milk Powder 25%
• Vegan Ranch Seasoning
• Lemon Juice Powder

Harissa Lime Chips:

Fruit powders are used to provide a pop of citrus and familiarity to these globally spiced chips. Key ingredients include:

• Harissa Lime Seasoning

Tomato Ranch Puffs:

This snack capitalizes on the trend toward more texturally dynamic eating experiences. We make it taste great with a tomato and ranch seasoning blend. Key ingredients include:

• Tomato Ranch Powder

It’s an impressive menu, but more importantly, it speaks volumes about the future of the food industry. Here are three specific things it says.

1. The Key to Bold Flavors is Familiar Formats

Millennials and Gen Z consumers are adventurous, but only up to a point. The most successful products today deliver global flavors in familiar formats. This strategy is simple: familiar formats reduce risks. The execution, however, is much more challenging. Our Agile Kitchen™ Team pulled it off by deftly matching these flavor platforms with these familiar foods:

• Korean BBQ mashed up with American meatloaf
• Using a burrito as a vehicle for sweet and spicy flavors
• Using potato chips to introduce harissa seasoning to America
• Expanding the horizons of tacos by inviting global cuisines to the table

A taco may be familiar, but when it’s layered with a Middle Eastern spice profile and bright citrus notes, it becomes new again. For R&D teams, this critical insight is key to new product development. Innovation doesn’t’ have to reinvent the wheel, it can simply reposition it.

2. Food Magic is Real

At Bluegrass Ingredients, we always approach menu development with a sprinkle of magic. Food is supposed to be fun, and we definitely had fun focusing on all the sensory aspects of food, from aromas to colors to flavors to textures.

In fact, texture was a primary design feature of the Natural Products Expo West menu. Consider the popularity of crispy snacks, puffed formats and layered textures. Done correctly, texture can make products stand out. We did just that with our Tomato Ranch Puff and Harissa Lime Chips. Through common snacks, these products take consumers through a sensory magic ride featuring crunchy and crispy textures, as well as bold flavors.

3. Global Flavors are Here to Stay

Natural Products Expo West continues to prove that global flavors are mainstream expectations with today’s younger consumers. Korean, North African, Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian flavor profiles give food brands opportunities to expand into new categories or create bold line extensions. For this year’s menu, we approached global flavors with three key guidelines:

• They have to be balanced for American palates
• They appear in approachable formats
• They deliver authentic flavors

This is where ingredient systems and an experienced culinary team matter. We work with spice blends, concentrated dairy systems and fruit powders to create authentic experiences that make global flavors work in multiple food and beverage platforms.

Hopefully, this blog post made you hungry! If you’re attending Natural Products Expo West, contact us to set up an appointment for a menu tasting. Not going to the show? Contact us to schedule a meeting with our Agile Kitchen Team!

Contact us today to get started!

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