A Visit to the Fancy Food Show

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

As you read this, I’ll be in my comfy shoes, notepad and iPhone in hand, trekking through San Francisco’s Moscone Center, well into my second day at the Winter Fancy Food Show. More than 200,000 square feet of exhibit space have been dedicated to 1,300 exhibitors showcasing 80,000 food, beverage and related products.

Of course, it would be madness to try to see the whole show. Despite my best efforts, I’ll just touch a small sampling over two days.

I’m looking for interesting food products to tweet, Instagram and blog about for Special Fork. I’ll be nibbling on cheeses, paté, and prosciutto. I’ll be tasting sauces from around the world, condiments, meal kits, exotic grains, salad dressings, vinegars, cookies, chocolates, frozen treats, seasoned nuts, fancy snacks…and more.

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A Party in your Pantry

Special Fork celebrates Entertaining Week. Stay tuned for party tips and recipes from our Special Fork bloggers all week long. This week also kicks off our annual holiday kitchen tools sweepstakes. Please check our Facebook page to learn about the tools we've selected for the sweepstakes and how you can enter to win our prize package (estimated retail value: $122).

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

Over the years I’ve learned a lesson: you don’t always have to make everything from scratch. Yes, that would be nice in a perfect world where we are all kings and queens of our domain and life is a bit less hectic. Let’s face it …it’s a rare moment these days.

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A Taste of the Fancy Food Show

By Sandy Hu

With 206,000 square feet of exhibition space spanning the North and South Halls of San Francisco’s Moscone Center and 1,300 exhibitors, you need a plan to walk the Winter Fancy Food Show. If you don’t focus, it’s easy to overindulge, sampling sauces, pickles, cheeses, salumi, oils, vinegars, cookies, crackers, chocolates, frozen desserts, juices, teas, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, chutneys, pickles, honeys…. Your stomach will not thank you for it.

Anything you would find in a specialty food store is here, multiplied many times over, available for tasting. So yesterday, walking the show, I looked for specialty foods I thought would help you make meals easier or more delicious. And I only sampled those things that qualified in my quest (except for the Hudson Valley Foie Gras and a few other indulgent foods too irresistible to pass up).

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