REVIEW: ExpoWest 2008

I suppose you’ve noticed that it’s taken me longer than I predicted to get things going after I returned from Expo. And there’s a perfectly good reason for the delay: While Ted and I attended the show, we caught a case of the Anaheim Plague. Never heard of it? Well, its most prominent symptom is that the affected person thinks they’re dying, and it’s caused by eating bad, bad chain restaurant food and walking too many miles on a poorly-carpeted concrete floor. I wonder how many others who attended the show contracted the Anaheim Plague.

Today’s the first day since returning that thoughts of my impending death haven’t crossed my mind, so I figured it’s as good a day as any to review this year’s ExpoWest. The show is huge, considered by some in the industry to be the most important in the natural foods world, though other important shows include ExpoEast, held in Boston this year for the first time, and Germany’s Biofach. Though I haven’t yet attended Biofach, I’ve heard it’s a great show, and that its size is larger by leaps and bounds than either Expo held on US soil. I haven’t been able to attend the German show, so my experiences have been limited to the two Expos, Green Festivals, and a handful of other tradeshows intended for both the consumer and the buyer. All in all, the word is that ExpoWest is the best place to go to find out what’s going on in the natural foods industry.

Well, I’m not buying what they’re selling. ExpoWest may be the best place to make deals and promote your products, but it certainly doesn’t bring good tidings of what’s to come in the industry. The show features such companies as American Spirit (who sell “natural” cigarettes) and Batter Blaster (who shame us all), as well as an untold number of nutraceutical and supplement companies who are all selling their own version of snake oil. And that’s not mentioning the countless booths where you can sample processed, artificially-flavored, corn-syruped organic foods. In a discussion I had with someone at a fabulous company, I think the term we used to describe the show was “soul-crushing.” If that’s where the natural foods industry is going, then I don’t want any part of it.

However, there were a handful of amazing companies who impressed and soothed me at Expo. Some of them I was already familiar with, and some of them I became acquainted with at the show. These are the companies who sell wonderful products and practice the highest level of economic and environmental ethics. The companies I have written about here already were Juniper Ridge, Jungle Products (congrats on the VegNews Best of Show Award!), Field Roast, Ecover, Hugo Naturals, gDiaper, and Pixie Mate. And some of the great new finds I encountered were Wholemato, who make a delicious agave nectar ketchup, and ???. I look forward to relating my experiences with these companies and their products to you in the days to come.

It’s because of these great companies that I don’t think I’ll stop attending Expo. No matter how soul crushing it is to walk past aisles of certified organic processed junk, there are always several diamonds in the rough to be found. I really wish the reverse were true, but I don’t personally have the power to stop the natural and organic foods industry from veering wherever profits may lead them. But I do have the power to avoid these companies’ products, which is a choice you also have. I think that ExpoWest is one of the best inspirations for me to keep writing this site, to keep trying to find the good side of organics. There are enough great companies out there that keep me going. As long as they’re around, I’ll keep seeking them out.

At the end of the show, Expo hasn’t really crushed my soul. It’s fanned my passion to bring you the best of what today’s market has to offer. Hopefully I’ll be able to do so for a long time to come.