Natural Products Expo West 2025: Trade Show Trends
I haven’t attended Expo West for a few years, so I was curious to see what new brands and new trends were surging this year. After 2.5 days of combing the aisles at the Anaheim Convention Center this past March, I concluded that not much has radically changed. I clocked loads of functional products that have yet to truly catch on (looking at you, mushroom coffee) or are nearly indistinguishable (that would be any kind of functional soda, including prebiotic ones). But I found some tasty treasures, eye-opening innovations, and inspirational brands. Here are my “Best ofs…”
Best New Plant-Milk: Maizly: Lots of premium plant-milks from pistachios but the one with the best mouthfeel and label was Maizly corn milk, made from non-GMO corn, fortified with chickpea protein and vitamin D2 to compete with dairy milk, but with a quarter of the sugar.
Best Alt-Bacon: MyForest Foods MyBacon: I wrote about this product in the past and finally tasted it. Very good! The chew, the flavor, the fact that it is made from oyster mushroom mycelium. MyForest also sampled its upcoming “pulled pork” – look out for that – very impressive!
Best Future Food: Onego Bio Egg Protein: With the avian flu and egg shortage in the US, this egg white protein made via precision fermentation could become a hero ingredient in baked foods, confections and more.
Best Feel-Good Snack: PurplesFul Snacking Popcorn: Made with ancient grain purple corn, this non-GMO popcorn was developed to support kids’ charities. The nearly kernel-free corn also tasted delicious - creamy, flavorful and satisfying, while being totally straightforward.
Best Use of a Trendy Flavor: Caulipower Dill Pizza: So, no, dill flavor is not breaking news but putting it on a gluten-free pizza was pretty brilliant. Way to go, Caulipower for I’m Kind of a Big Dill cauliflower-crust pizza.
Best No-Alcohol Sip: Cipriani Virgin Bellini: Harry’s Bar in Venice is behind this satisfying single-serve bottle Bellini. Extra points to Cipriani for its fantastic panettone!
To see a full gallery of photos, check out this post on my LinkedIn feed.