This thing was big, baby. You’d have need about four hours to check everything out:
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“Top Five Food Trends Spotted at Winter Fancy Food Show
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 17, 2012 — The top five food trends for 2012 have been identified by a panel of trendspotters at the 37th Winter Fancy Food Show, which ends today in San Francisco. It is the largest marketplace for specialty foods and beverages on the West Coast, with 80,000 products on display from 1,300 exhibitors from the U.S. and 35 countries.
The trends are:
Pickling 2.0 — Unbound Pickling: Pickled Peas and Carrots — Boat Street Pickles: Pickled Golden Raisins — Sonoma Brinery: Raw Sauerkraut
Drinks Go Nuts (and Seeds and Grains) — Victoria’s Kitchen: Almond Water — Simpli: Chocolate Oat Shake — Chill Drinks: C+Swiss Hemp Iced Tea
Gluten Free Grows Up — Cup4Cup: Gluten-free flour blend from Thomas Keller — Stonewall Kitchen: Gluten-free Herbed Pizza Crust — Love Grown Foods: Sweet Cranberry Pecan Granola
Coconut Cracks Open — Luna and Larry’s Coconut Bliss: Ginger Cookie Caramel Coconut Ice Cream — Noh Foods of Hawaii: Coconut Pudding Mix — Hey Boo Jams: Hey Boo Coconut Jam
Ancient Grains — Culinary Collective Zocalo Heritage Grains: Pink Amaranth — Al Dente Pasta: BonaChia Pasta — Origen Chilean Gourmet: Quinoa Puffs
Other trends identified at the Winter Fancy Food Show include savory sweets such as bacon brittle, mindful snacks such as raw bars, bean chips and seaweed, cocktail mix makeovers, new takes on chai, and everything fig. Read more about these trends and their related products on foodspring.com.
The trendspotters are Stephanie Dean, Sunset Magazine; Dana Goodyear, The New Yorker; Nancy Wall Hopkins, Better Homes & Gardens; Kara Nielsen, CCD Innovation; Evan Orensten, Cool Hunting; Jennifer Pelka and Ruth Reichl, Gilt Taste; Denise Purcell, Specialty Food Media; Kalena Ross, Blackboard Eats; Stephanie Stiavetti, contributor to NPR, KQED, Huffington Post; Susie Timm, Girl Meets Fork; and Joanne Weir, PBS television host, cookbook author and chef.
About the NASFT The NASFT is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. Based in New York City, is a not-for-profit trade association established in 1952 that fosters trade, commerce and interest in the specialty food trade. The NASFT’s website for consumers, foodspring.com, provides an insider’s look at specialty foods and the entrepreneurs and artisans behind them. For information about the NASFT and its Fancy Food Shows, go to specialtyfood.com.”
Like this. Can you see the Canadian Pavilion and the German? This is less than 10% of the exhibit hall space. It would take you hours to check out all the exhibitors:
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Now if you want, you can pay your $60 to check things out for yourself, but expect to find a trade show – it’s not oriented towards consumers at all. But every last food trend you could imagine (and some you could not) is in the house and everybody’s handing out samples and related swag.
And every last nook and cranny of Moscone North and South is filled up. The place is hopping. I expected to see at least a few attendees bummed out over the state of the economy, but I didn’t. The Great Recession is Over, people.
This truly is a world-class* event, as defined.
Bon courage, people of Fancy Food Fest ’12!
*The tedious cliche “world-class” was overused in the 415 already by former Mayor Gavin Newsom and those in his administration and, now, the current Ed Lee holdover administration (which is basically the same people but with rearranged titles) has stepped up its use. IRL, not everything what touches the City and County is “world-class,” capiche? And, IRL, not everything what touches San Francisco needs to be “world-class.”
(I guess Ike won that NIMBY war after all. Good for him.)
Anyway, enjoy.
Count of Monte Chase-O Fortune, like the moon you are changeable, always waxing or waning; hateful NIMBYs first oppress and then soothe as fancy takes it; poverty and power but Hot Momma Huda melts them like ice.
Fate – monstrous and empty, you whirling wheel, stand malevolent, well-being is vain and always fades to nothing, shadowed and veiled you plague Ike Shehadeh too; now through trickery, I bring my bare back to your NIMBY villainy.
Fate, in health and in virtue, is against me, driven on and weighted down, always enslaved. So at this hour without delay pluck the vibrating string; since Fate strikes down the strong man, everyone weep with me Mayoose’s CA-BLT
“Although there’s no official San Francisco Halloween anymore in the Castro, that’s where most people go to celebrate Halloween !!”
Now the way to explain this is by noting that the City Family doesn’t really benefit from people going to the Castro district on Halloween, so it suppresses turnout by lying to people.
Simply.
(If Halloween were an event that the City Family cared about, then things would be much different. It’d be more like the sitch with the America’s Cup 2013, you know, Rich People Like Boats, so it’s full speed ahead with AC13. Oh well.)
Now what’s this, is it the campaign of, speak of the Devil, quasi-City Family member David Chiu on the streets of the Castro last night?
Now, last year, back in 2010, the rides were free, so people were lining up at 3:00 AM. But this year, the cost will be $29, so that will certainly cut down on the riff-raff, and therefore surely shorten the queue.
(And oh, our friends from up in the Great White North just told me that they will be highly disappointed if Edwin Lee, San Francisco’s once (and future?) Mayor chickens out, if he blows off his obligation. Other Mayors have done it and it all worked out fine. See below for one example…)
Hours: Open daily (7 days a week!) from 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.*
Price: $29 (all ages)
Age: 6 years+
Weight: 65lbs – 275lbs
First come, first serve
All guests are required to sign an Assumption of Risks and Release of Liability Agreement (coming soon) before zipping. Under 19 requires signature by a parent or guardian.
The ziplines are gravity fed, so guests do not have to worry about controlling their own speed. Guides are stationed at each tower to connect (launch platform) and disconnect (landing platform) each and every guest. Age restrictions apply and guests must weigh more than 65 pounds and no more than a maximum of 275 pounds.
When: Summer 2011 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. *
Where: Justin Herman Plaza at Embarcadero Square, San Francisco, California
* times may vary on certain days”
Will you have the guts to climb a temporary tower (80 feet tall!) just like this one from 2010 to earn the right to tell your friends you rode the Justin Herman Plaza Zip Line?
But first, you’ll need to wait in line next to the abysmal Vaillancourt Fountain, sign a waiver, and get harnessed up.
Le mise-en-scene.
You’ll ascend the 80 foot tower and encounter a friendly Canadian guide at the top. If you need a pep talk, you’ll get one:
You’ll soon be steadying your nerves by glancing at your jump buddy…
…and then you’ll be off, into the wild bleu.
Sisters doing it for themselves:
Can you see the nervous giggles? There’s your team bonding right there.
And this is what it felt like last year. Everything zooms by with a quickness, and there’s a loud buzzing above your noggin. Some people go upside-down even.
And they’ll totally let you bring a camera to make your own YouTube:
You owe it to yourself to try.
Don’t dissappoint lovely Ashleigh. She brought her Olympic Gold all the way down here last year just so you’d consider Vancouver as the starting point for your next vacation:
“Okay guys, before we get too excited about the latest yuppie hybrid, sushi + burrito = sushirrito, let me tell you that it’s really just an oversized sushi roll. For over ten dollars. And an hour wait. If this still appeals to you, then you must a) really like sushi, and b) have a lot of desire and time on your hands to wait a ridiculously long time. Sara P. and I walked over to Sushiritto around 11:50am on a Wednesday, and the line was already around the corner, spilling onto Jessie. We were maybe 12 feet from the corner of New Montgomery and Jessie, and it wasn’t until an hour and 20 minutes later that we walked out with our food.”
Oh well.
“Sushirrito offers made-to-order, hand-held sushi burritos stuffed with savory Asian and Latin-infused ingredients and flavors. Introducing fast, fresh, filling and eco-friendly sushi…a fresh way to roll!”
One or both of these people work security at the Old Navy Flagship store at Fourth and Market.
Seems as if the O.N. security staff was keeping as busy as the overworked clerks, what with all the descriptions of perps being bandied about on walkie talkies
Can you see what Hooters Restaurant up on Jefferson looks like on a sunny day? Not too busy, based upon what the patio looks like on a beautiful Saturday during the lunch-time rush.
It’s a ghost town but with hot wings:
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Compare this somnolence with the In and Out Burger that’s right next door. Our sole IAO is rocking from the brunch hour to 1:00 AM or later on a daily basis. Not 24/7, but 17-7 anywho. The joint is always crowded is the point. They could use double the square footage.
So, what we ought to do is just make the Hooters smaller and then use the freed up space to allow more people to go In and Out.
*Or wait for it to get shut down, whichever. Suffer the Hooter Girl: “I thought I was going to make a lot of money and meet celebrities.” Indeed, didn’t we all. (And there’s some photojournalism for you, “c’mon, don’t smile, don’t smile, look sad, can I get a little more of a forlorn look from you two?” Cleeek. And exhale. That’s a wrap. Telling stories with pictures, Pulitzer here we come.)
And yet, almost 1000 souls enjoy its charms every day. Mmmm. It wasn’t impossible for allthose people to ride, right?
(In other news of the day, here are NBCBayArea’s random photos of Playboy bunnies and Hooters Restaurant employees. That’s got to be pure gold, trafficwise, in’nt.)
Are we saying to get there way early in the day? I think that’s what we’re saying.
Irregardless, NBC’s accounts of when people got into line and when they were able to ride that day (if ever) are enlightening. And, agreed, it’s probably not a good use of time to drive all the way up from San Hoser just to try to go for a 20-second zip.
