Expo East 2017

If you have been following me on the Instagram, then you already know the ridiculous amounts of food, beauty products and supplement samples (or actual size product) I brought home with me from Expo East. That being said, I am excited to share with you some of my favorites and hope that it can expand your pallet and support some awesome companies! Today, I’m just focusing on food!

Expo East was brought to my attention last year when I saw a bunch of bloggers (like Juli from PaleOMG) and influencers posting about Expo West. I quickly googled how to go to such an event and found there was an Expo East in Baltimore (where my family lives) and figured, why not sign up! (it was free for Healthcare Practitioners FYI if you sign up early enough).

I convinced my RD friend Ashley (@myweeklyeats) to go with me and we had a ridiculously fun time. I went Friday for a little preview before she got to town, and was immediately overwhelmed. There were what seemed like THOUSANDS of booths and vendors. I get lost walking down the street, so you can imagine how lost I was in an expo.

Top 3 Tips to Navigating The Expo

I could write a post on how to conquer Expo East, (i’ll think about it) as this post will get out of hand if I do it now. But here are my top 3 tips:

1. Download the Expo East App and Plan out which Booths are an absolute MUST. It is overwhelming so go in with a plan but know that your plan will get squashed when you start having shiny object syndrome! I wrote 10 brands down that I wanted to see and made it a point to find them all, if I had not I probably would have missed at least half of them!
2. Plan to go at least 2 days as 1 day is NOT enough. I used the first day to scope out the lay of the land and money around. The second day was easier because I knew where everything was and what I wanted to hit up!
3. Bring a friend and have fun! 

Expo East Food Finds

There are too many foods to list, so I’ll start with a few of my favorites and perhaps I’ll do a follow up post to include some other foods that I like. Not to mention, I still haven’t sorted through the rest of the product that I brought home yet…any takers want to come help me?

Foods

Banza Foods
www.eatbanza.com
@eatbanza

I have not had much pasta in the past 7 years, ever since I found out that gluten and I are NOT, in fact, friends. Being Italian made giving up pasta and bread one of the hardest things I’ve done diet-wise. I do not miss pasta any more as I know how much better I feel without it, but sometimes you just want some! Banza is a chickpea based pasta company and I have to say DELICIOUS. Minimal ingredients and maximal taste. You can find their products online, Target, Whole Foods and other grocery stores near you!

Bare Bones Broth
www.barebonesbroth.com
@barebonesbroth

Bone Broth has gained some popularity over the past few years as it has been a great way to cook using the entire animal and has some healing power for your gut. I have made my own bone broth for years but every once in a while it is nice to not have to make it yourself! At Expo East, I met the owners of Bare Bones Broth and they could not have been nicer! Their bone broth is delicious and they are super passionate about what they do and produce. My kind of company! Look for more recipes to come!

Biena Foods
bienafoods.com
@bienafoods

OMG. New favorite snack food, hands down. I first found these guys at the airport while rushing between flights and looking for a healthy and filling snack. They hit the spot and did not leave me feeling gross while traveling. Now they have chocolate covered and salted caramel chickpeas and I’m in heaven. A deliciously filling snack without all the crap. You can have sweet, salty or sweet and salty, jackpot!

Chameleon Cold Brew
www.chameleoncoldbrew.com
@chameleoncoldbrew

If you know me, then you know my addiction to Chameleon Cold Brew, especially their Vanilla Concentrate. When I saw they were going to be at Expo East, I literally could not contain my excitement. Their cold brew is so smooth and does not leave you feeling jittery, which, for me, is a huge perk. At the Expo, I got to taste their Nitro Cold Brew (pictured above), their hot roast AND their soon to be released sparkling cold brew. I CANNOT WAIT for the sparkling cold brew to be released, so until then, I’ll mix the concentrate I got from the Expo with some Topo Chico and call it a day 🙂

The Real Coconut
www.therealcoconut.com 
@therealcoconut

A tortilla chip for those who cannot do corn! The founder is from the UK but lives in Mexico and wanted a chip that she could tolerate and not feel guilty about. These hold up really well AND are not super coconutty, which is an A++ in my book.

Sound Tea
www.soundtea.com 
@soundtea

I first had Sound Tea at a friend’s wedding, as the Best Man (Tommy) happened to be one of the founders. I had completely forgot about them until I was passing by at the Expo and was like, hmmm this brand rings a bell. Turns out, Tommy’s wife is also a RD and was partially the inspiration for this sparkling tea! The tea is a great drink that is UNSWEETENED and changes it up for those who are not into drinking plain water, but want a tasty drink. I tried out this Green Tea and now I am hooked. Good news, my local Whole Foods carries it!

Quick Friday Shout Outs

The Healthy Maven (@thehealthymaven) & Tribe: I have been following Davida from The Healthy Maven for awhile. She was fostering a Wheaten Terrie for a while, so we connected over that. Not to mention she’s a foodie, blogger and all around badass. She called a meet-up on Friday for her Tribe and we all stood around discussing our love of food and all things blogging, dogs, life and more food.

My Weekly Eats: (@myweeklyeats): My friend Ashley and fellow RD hit up Expo East with me and made it an incredibly fun experience for me! She helped me navigate Day 2 of Expo East and joined in on my shameless hunt for free food and samples!

 

Shout out to my dad for getting the best angle for a food pic, he learned from the best!

Ok, those are a few of my favorites from Expo East! Check out these brands, give them a try, and let me know what you think!

Until next Friday, enjoy your eats!

xoxo,

Sass