Episode 35: Memorial Day pie recipes, and best gluten-free products at National Restaurant Association Show 2023, and is Just Egg still gluten free?

Thanks for your patience during the break between episodes! Your listening hours are certainly appreciated.

Join Erica and Jules as they talk about what they have planned for the next week, including Memorial Day cookouts, returning to sanity after travel, if robots are going to take over all of food service and thus the planet, and Erica shares her favorite finds from the 2023 National Restaurant Association show that are gluten-free (or are they????).

RESOURCES
Epicurean pizza peel
Jules flipping pizza video on Instagram
gfJules gluten-free pizza mix
gfJules blueberry pie recipe
Meati mushroom-based vegan meat analogs
Daring soy-based vegan chicken
Before the Butcher plant-based pepperoni wins awards
Better Balance Foods hotdogs
New Breed
Is Just Egg gluten free? Does Just Egg care about gluten free and celiacs anymore?
Yo Egg sunny side up vegan egg
Zero Egg vegan egg
Violife
Banza plant-based cheese pizza
NotMilk by NotCo
Partake Foods launches new graham crackers
Red Plate Foods needs to be everywhere (looking at you Sprouts)
Sweet Loren's new foodservice pre-baked cookies
Beanvivo new plant-based chorizo chili
Konscious Foods plant-based sushi
Better Rhodes non-alcoholic spirit destination
Virago Spirits use "VIRAGO20" on spirithub.com to save
Certistar helps you navigate restaurants safely with food allergies or celiac
Tiki Farm for some killer tiki mugs
Taste Republic gluten-free pasta - more going dairy-free

Contact/Follow Jules & Erica

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• Find more articles, recipes & info at gfJules.com & celiacandthebeast.com

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Transcript

Erica [00:00:13]:

Hey, I'm erica.

Jules [00:00:14]:

And I'm Jules. Most people have at least one thing that they can't or won't eat.

Erica [00:00:19]:

Yeah, we're definitely like that.

Jules [00:00:21]:

We started this podcast to talk about.

Erica [00:00:23]:

The gluten free food industry, like new products and some of the stories behind.

Jules [00:00:27]:

Your favorite brands and living life with a specialty diet and also some important healthcare topics.

Erica [00:00:34]:

Since we're basically both broken inside.

Jules [00:00:36]:

You had me at eating. Hi, Jules. How are you, Erica? I'm fine. Welcome back.

Erica [00:00:50]:

Yeah, thanks. I don't even remember when I flew in. All I know is that I took a really hard class yesterday, and I can't even sit. I couldn't even sit down. I couldn't even get up. I'm burning. So I did not stress myself out. When I was touring and doing another travel across the US. And doing trade shows, I was really good about keeping my body, like, let's be good to your body and not, like, run into crazy stuff. And then I got back, I'm like, let's take the hardest class possible just so you can remember what it's like.

Jules [00:01:28]:

You can sleep in your own bed at night, at least.

Erica [00:01:30]:

Yeah. I was like, dude, I'm not prepared for this. And it was like a 04:30 p.m.. And they're like, have you slept? And that's a problem, is I have slept, and I still am so tired. I think I'm just, like, hungover from travel. So, yeah, I'm home for a month. I'm here. Let's do this. Let's make all the podcasts. Let's do it all.

Jules [00:01:46]:

Let's do all the podcasts.

Erica [00:01:47]:

Yes.

Jules [00:01:48]:

And it's perfect timing because we have a holiday weekend. So are you going to party this weekend, Erica? Are you going to mix it up and go barbecue? And what are you going to do?

Erica [00:01:58]:

I just realized that we both have Monday off for Memorial Day. Like, Matt has weird holidays off or not off. And I didn't really realize that I had it off. I guess I didn't even realize that it was this Monday. So I think it was like Thursday when we both turned to each other and we're like, wait, do we have this off?

Jules [00:02:16]:

Should we do something?

Erica [00:02:17]:

He's like, I'm going to trim the hedges. And I'm like, oh. So I guess it's one of those kind of days where we just actually do things that we should have done for the past few weeks, like loads of laundry and clean the floors.

Jules [00:02:31]:

It's going to be like that around here, too.

Erica [00:02:34]:

I'm so surprised. But you always do something. There's not going to be like, a barbecue or anything for you.

Jules [00:02:40]:

I have no idea. We may wind up doing something, but I will, of course, be cooking and baking and doing all of the usual things like that. But whether or not I choose to share it with anyone else is another question. But I don't know. I baked a loaf of bread last night, and I took the entire loaf of bread, minus the two slices that I took out just for testing purposes. I took the entire loaf of bread.

Erica [00:03:04]:

And gave it away.

Jules [00:03:05]:

So that's probably what I'll wind up doing again. I don't know. Just always be testing, as they say, with A/B testing online, and I'm doing it with bread loaf bread testing, A/B bread testing, A/B bread testing.

Erica [00:03:24]:

We have a bunch of people at your house. There's, like, more than two, so I feel like you'd be doing a grilling session anyway. It's a beautiful day outside.

Jules [00:03:33]:

Yeah, I haven't even grilled. I have no idea. I haven't looked at the weather. My new favorite thing, though, is to grill pizzas, so I don't know. Did you see my flip? I did see that pizza flip.

Erica [00:03:45]:

I was so worried about your shoulder when you're doing that pizza flip, I'm like, please don't dislocate your collarbone, or whatever was going on with you.

Jules [00:03:53]:

It's heavier than it looks, those pizza peels, to flip it like that. It's heavier than it looks. But I did it.

Erica [00:04:01]:

Was that the Epicured pizza peel?

Jules [00:04:04]:

No. I don't remember the name of this one that I have, but I really like it. I'm going to have to look it up.

Erica [00:04:10]:

Like Epicurean. You remember those?

Jules [00:04:12]:

Amazing.

Erica [00:04:13]:

They're like, I have a pizza one. It was, like, my favorite thing on the planet.

Jules [00:04:17]:

I did a cutting board made by.

Erica [00:04:18]:

Them that I have.

Jules [00:04:19]:

It is very similar material, but I really like this peel because it's got just the perfect slope on it, so it makes it really easy to right underneath the pizza.

Erica [00:04:29]:

I've never done it. I've never done pizza on the grill.

Jules [00:04:32]:

It's so fun. The biggest thing is and with our grill, maybe I mean, I think everybody's grills is kind of different, but the idea is you want to get those char marks right, but you don't want to necessarily get it too close to the flame, because then you're just burning the pizza crust and it hasn't had time to cook in the middle. So Jeff has sort of perfected this little technique where he puts a cast iron pan on top of the grill and then takes another grill piece and puts it on top of the cast iron pan. So you still get the char marks on it, but then it's a little bit removed from the heat of the actual flame. You could do it with, like, bricks or something, too.

Erica [00:05:14]:

So riddle me this. You put pizza dough on the grate?

Jules [00:05:20]:

Yeah.

Erica [00:05:21]:

And it doesn't sink in and go in the holes?

Jules [00:05:25]:

No. So what I do is I leave it on the pan first.

Erica [00:05:31]:

Okay.

Jules [00:05:31]:

Just a little tiny minute, just to sort of seal the bottom of the pizza, and it just gets, like, a tiny skin on it, and then you can work with it. So it's great. Yeah, it works great.

Erica [00:05:46]:

I didn't know how that worked, because you know how, like, some dough is very wet. I can't imagine putting that directly on it.

Jules [00:05:53]:

Hydration ratio is really high on this one, which is part of the reason why it's so yummy, because it gets these big air pockets and it's just nice and doughy and like, real pizza should be. And it puffs up and it's really awesome. But, yeah, it's because it's really wet like that. So, yeah, you can't just throw this dough right on there because it would sort of go.

Erica [00:06:14]:

I was like it's like a playdoh thing where it just goes through all the piece of dough that looks like that.

Jules [00:06:21]:

No, because you just leave it on the pan just for a minute, just until it just sort of, like, seals the bottom lightly, and then you slide it right off and you're good to go. And then you can flip it again and again and again. So that particular dough for that video, I had flipped it, like 14 times till I got it right.

Erica [00:06:38]:

I was like, Flip, flip, flip.

Jules [00:06:40]:

So it's very resilient dough.

Erica [00:06:42]:

That's how instagram works. It's never on the first take, I.

Jules [00:06:46]:

Was like, I'm going to flip this thing. It's going to follow my head, or.

Erica [00:06:49]:

It'S going to go on the ground.

Jules [00:06:50]:

Or even an enjoyable video. But I kept doing it. It was like, going off the camera. So that was the only one they worked when I was doing it, but that was the one where it was like, oh, I got it to flip. And you could still see it in the video.

Erica [00:07:07]:

Perfect. So when you grill this pizza, so you put it on the pan, it develops the skin. Then you put it on there, and then you can flip it. When do you put the sauce and the toppings on?

Jules [00:07:17]:

Well, gluten free pizza crusts, they really work much, much better if you par bake them first before you put any sauce or cheese. So I'll cook it on one side and then flip it, and then when I flip it, I put the sauce and stuff on the other side. Okay, but if I'm doing it in the oven, then I'll just well, I have a couple of different methods for cooking it in the oven, depending on how I want to cook it. There's a traditional method where you just cook it like 375 for 1015 minutes, and then you put the toppings on it, and then you put it back in just until your cheese melts. The other one that I've been doing a lot lately is you put it in, like, 500 degrees and it goes, and you get this beautiful oven spring. It kind of turns your oven into a pizza oven. It's so great. I love it. And then you take it out after, like, five minutes, put the toppings on, put it back in for another, like, four minutes. It's great. It's awesome.

Erica [00:08:14]:

Wow.

Jules [00:08:15]:

Yeah.

Erica [00:08:16]:

I've never done any of this. I'm so not adventurous with pizza. I have made your baguettes, and I do love them. But pizza, it's a lot.

Jules [00:08:23]:

It's not so easy. You can even mix the pizza dough in a bowl, which is a wooden spoon. I've been doing that lately because I get a lot of questions from people who don't have stand mixers, and they're like, well, how do I do this? It's so easy. You just literally dump the pizza mix in with some olive oil, an egg, or you can use aquafaba or whatever you want to use. Water. Yeah, it's so easy.

Erica [00:08:43]:

That's the easy part. It's just making it that I'm, like, a little bit challenged by. So we've only made it in the oven with the traditional, like, par baking at 375.

Jules [00:08:53]:

Well, I've changed the packaging on it so it has three different options for how you can cook it now on the back, and the grilling isn't even one of them. So it didn't make it because it had too many options for you. You have to go on the website to find that one.

Erica [00:09:07]:

You got to be on Instagram to.

Jules [00:09:08]:

See the video or Instagram Am, no.

Erica [00:09:10]:

Flame to see the flips.

Jules [00:09:12]:

But so, yeah, I mean, normally what I do for Memorial is I make, like, homemade hamburger buns and we do a lot of salads and that kind of stuff. But maybe we'll just do grilled pizza because that's my new favorite. Yeah, I don't know.

Erica [00:09:24]:

I will probably be getting takeout. Sorry.

Jules [00:09:27]:

Oh, and I got to make pie. Got to make pie. It can't have a national holiday without pie. Like blueberry pie or cherry pie or maybe strawberry pie. I don't know. What's your favorite?

Erica [00:09:42]:

Any pie that I don't have to make that's safe? I don't know. We made peach pie the other day and it was so delicious with that MNMLST filling. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, but I just went to the grocery store and they got in blueberry, and I'm like, oh, I might have to make something with this. So, I don't know. Maybe I'll make a pie. Depends on if I'm fully recovered yet from this weekend.

Jules [00:10:04]:

That's true. Make Matt make the pie.

Erica [00:10:06]:

I don't trust him with anything with food safety. I would rather trust one of the robots that I saw at the National Restaurant Association show than my own partner cooking food, because I've seen him like anything where it's like, could you potentially get salmonella or like dysentery from any of this? Yeah. Okay. I'm not going to have him make it.

Jules [00:10:29]:

Wonder if a robot could give you salmonella.

Erica [00:10:33]:

I mean, I feel like a robot that was ill programmed for cooking science, ill program.

Jules [00:10:41]:

But I mean, like, could it transfer from its hot little metal hands? Could it transfer salmonella?

Erica [00:10:47]:

That's a good point. Questions keep us up at night.

Jules [00:10:54]:

Yeah, I don't know. Well, you know what? This is a perfect time for you to just tell us all about how.

Erica [00:10:59]:

That tell us about the robot.

Jules [00:11:01]:

Yeah, no salmonella, but robots.

Erica [00:11:03]:

Here's the deal.

Jules [00:11:04]:

I'm interested. Lay it on.

Erica [00:11:06]:

Robots are going to take over everything in the planet. They're going to be our bartenders. They're going to be our servers.

Jules [00:11:14]:

Do I need to get a drink? I'm not ready. I don't think I'm ready.

Erica [00:11:26]:

Between this and AI, I was like, I'm not ready for this universe. But I did read some recaps because I didn't visit a lot of the robots. Because I'm like, you didn't visit all the robots? I didn't visit all the robots.

Jules [00:11:40]:

May have hurt their feelings.

Erica [00:11:42]:

I think the thing they don't have any I was reading all these recaps because I was only there for a couple of hours. I could only hit the restaurant show for a couple of hours because I flew in that day and two shows overlapped, which is how I ended up going to the restaurant show in the first place. So back to robots. So I was reading a lot of recaps because I could only be there for a few hours. But one of the recaps I was reading was about how horrible some of these robots were and how they're like, don't worry, robots can never replace certain people in the food industry. And how the bartender robots had the crappiest pores. And I was just like, I mean, it makes sense. It makes sense. But seriously, the robots are supposed to.

Jules [00:12:27]:

Chat you up, too, and it was your personality.

Erica [00:12:31]:

Yeah, and they were like, oh, they had names, they had personalities. They winked at you. And I'm all, I'm so glad I did not see that. And they're like, some of the like, they made jokes and they fell flat. It was like, so weird. And I'm like, oh, my God, now I'm like, God, I wish I would have had an experience with one of the robots, but I didn't have time. Nobody has time for that right now.

Jules [00:12:54]:

That's the one thing that I have experience with. Other things, like giant Oreo, people with legs that's almost a robot.

Erica [00:13:02]:

It's very weird. So most of the show is just like, these huge brands. Like, soft drinks were huge. And apparently that's like the biggest thing at the restaurant shows and basically the highest profit margin. Yeah, and everyone owns everyone. So I went to the Pepsi booth, and they owned everything. And then I went to the Dr. Pepper Keurig, and they own a ton of people. They own, like, Athletic Brewing, which is a non alcoholic beer that we serve at the Mocktail Bar. They have Tractor Brewing, which is like, Tractor, which is like a soda brand and a tea brand. They own, like, everything. So it's just, like, wild that there's these massive, almost like, big farm, a huge booth, and they all own other things. And so I wasn't really interested in waiting in line an hour for Heinz ketchup to make my own personal style sauce. Although it was cool that you could do it and they printed your name out on a little mini ketchup bottle that you could take with you. And I'm like, this is cool, but not really my jam. So I didn't really hang out with a lot of big booths and then they have a lot of front of house stuff. So it's weird. Some of the people we talked about, like Porland at the houseware show were there as well because they want to talk about their reusable dishwear and that lighting place, the lamp place had your favorite glass Zaffrano America that we went on like a glass tangent. They were there with their lamps and their glassware. So yeah, they just had like a bunch of wild stuff all put together. Like anything you could think of for the industry from silverware to napkins to front of the house to back of the house, even like, software that people can use for ordering. There was one place called CertiStar that is actually from Arizona and they make allergen friendly menus available for restaurants. So I'm like, oh, I see you represent Joe's Farm Grill. What can I eat there? What are your allergens? And she pulled up their menu and they're like, this is how we integrate in their website. So if you are gluten free and dairy free and you tick off those boxes, it shows you what you can eat versus what you can't eat. I'm like, that's really interesting. So I love that kind of stuff. Yeah, that's super rad. Other than that, I'm like, remind me why I'm here. Because I don't do food service and a lot of these places are just for restaurants.

Jules [00:15:37]:

And I asked you that question before you left, if I recall correctly. But totally, it's nice that you got to go since you were already there.

Erica [00:15:45]:

I was already there and I'm like, why not yolo? Might as well see what's there. And it's really interesting too to see how gluten free, dairy free products are putting themselves out there for restaurants and hotels and schools and universities and hospitals. How are they branding themselves and what are they trying to get into? C-stores, like convenience stores. So that was the cool part that I really thought was interesting from a marketing perspective. Like, how are they talking about the gluten free community? What are they selling to these people to get them to choose them over like a Frito Lay or whatever these major companies are? So what I found a lot of, and I think this is primarily what we'll talk about, is there was so much innovation in a space that we had really looked at for Expo West, which is plant based, it was huge. Everyone was talking about how everything's just going plant based now or at least there's plant based options for everything.

Jules [00:16:51]:

When the fast food places like McDonald's and Burger King and all those places start offering plant based, you know, it's gone deep, right? Industry is in the thick of it at that point when those people are not the first movers when it comes to something like a plant based yeah.

Erica [00:17:10]:

And they're selling it, too, because the plant based section was huge in here. And I have seen brands I've never heard of before, and new brands are launching. And I did get to try some brands that you actually tried at Expo West that I didn't get to try. So I remember I texted you from the show floor, and I'm like, I'm so sorry I did not believe you. This stuff really is as good as you said it was.

Jules [00:17:38]:

It's just another example of why you should always trust me.

Erica [00:17:41]:

I do, but you also said, do you really need to go to the restaurant show? And I'm like I do. You do you do me, whatever.

Jules [00:17:55]:

So tell me, what brands did you try that you were surprised that you really loved?

Erica [00:18:03]:

You really sold me on the mycelium growing in totes kind of thing that you're talking about. So I went to Meati. They had a big booth. And the nice thing about the National Restaurant Show is it is not as crazy as Expo West. So I can actually ask questions. So I'm like, okay, so is everything at this booth, first of all, are the samples gluten free? They're like, yes, all the barbecue sauce, whatever you use is gluten free because.

Jules [00:18:29]:

They weren't the worst. When companies are there with their gluten free stuff, and then they put it on regular wheat bread or they put the sauce and you're like, okay, never mind.

Erica [00:18:40]:

I can't tell you how many of these brands I didn't try because they didn't have anything safe for me. And I'm like, whatever. But these people did, and they were serving steak. And I'm like, this is wild because I have not had steak in like, 16 years. And I was eating I'm like, I know what this is, but what is this? This is bonkers. So Meati was a big one, and then daring again was there. And I love that Daring actually handed out, like, this flyer that's like, here's what our ingredients look like compared to all the other crappier versions of these meat products. And I actually went today to Sprouts, and I bought a thing of Daring, and I bought a thing of Meati. And we're going to try them back to back and see what Matt thinks. Because I've already tried these, but I actually haven't tried them back to back. So Darren is soy based and Meati is mushroom based, but they also had before the butcher who was there. And we're not sampling things that I could try, but they were touting their food service, plant based, pepperoni. So hopefully that could be seen in pizza near you. A lot of these are just like touting. There obviously for food service. But a lot of these obviously have retail packaging as well. There's a new brand called New Breed, which is pea protein. And that's available in stuff like smoky barbecue or barbecue jerky that's made with pea protein. A lot of these are made I mean, it's all peas. That's the thing is all these new brands are launching are just peas, which is why I thought the mushroom thing with meaty was more innovative. I think it's weird, but innovative weird.

Jules [00:20:21]:

But now you're into it.

Erica [00:20:22]:

Yeah. And there is a brand called Better Balance that everyone was raving about. They had hot dogs that apparently did taste like hot dogs. I did not try hot dogs. I think hot dogs are gross, period, regardless of what you make them of.

Jules [00:20:35]:

Yeah.

Erica [00:20:38]:

The biggest thing, though, was eggs. And I'll show you pictures of these eggs. There was the wildest eggs there. There is a brand called Yo Egg, which is literally it looks like it's a sunny side up egg. Oh, you're going to look at these pictures and be like, that's for real, not an egg.

Jules [00:20:58]:

So it's like Wunder Egg to deviled eggs. This Yo Egg is sunnyside up.

Jules [00:21:04]:

Yeah, got it.

Erica [00:21:05]:

So this is made with chickpea and soy.

Jules [00:21:07]:

Okay.

Erica [00:21:08]:

Then there's another one that was right next to it called Zero Egg. That comes in a patty form or a liquid form, and that is also soy. So two new egg products, like brand new, brand new egg products that will hopefully go into retail soon. That Yo Egg, everyone was, like, losing their mind over it. It smelled just like an egg. So wild.

Jules [00:21:29]:

People were like, not necessarily a good.

Erica [00:21:30]:

Thing, but yeah, it's interesting.

Jules [00:21:33]:

But then I went runny like sunnyside. It was runny.

Erica [00:21:37]:

It's runny. Yes, it's wild. Seriously, jules, I took a picture. It's going to blow your mind.

Jules [00:21:43]:

Oh, that's crazy.

Erica [00:21:44]:

Yeah. So I really want to try it. They didn't have any samples that weren't on gluten because that wasn't just like because I really want to get samples of these and try because this is something I think it's really interesting. The Yo Egg. And then I went to Just Egg because that's always been the traditional one. And I realized that they no longer have gluten free on their packaging. And I was like, what? What? And they're like, well, we just have so many things that we talk about. We just thought it was obvious. And I'm like, that's not what packaging is for. You're telling us that that means that it is to the law under 20 parts per million. And they're like, it's just like it's a thing. It's always gluten free. And I'm like, oh, my God. Honestly, I am so mad at Just Egg. And they were just so casual about it and kind of being dicks about it. And I'm just like, this is weird, man. We supported you from the beginning. Why are you being weird? About this, and they're, like, pulling some SKUs, and I couldn't figure out what SKUs that they're pulling. I mean, they've been trying a lot lately with innovation, but I was just.

Jules [00:22:50]:

Like, they were the ones that first came out with that scrambled egg frozen product. That's good.

Erica [00:22:56]:

Yeah.

Jules [00:22:56]:

And you're saying that now they're not.

Erica [00:22:59]:

Labeling nothing's gluten free.

Jules [00:23:01]:

The website say?

Erica [00:23:03]:

I don't know. I haven't been on it because I went directly into them, and I'm just like, this is weird, but I don't know. If I see anything, I'll let you know, because that just is the stupidest thing on the planet. I was just so mad after leaving that I'm like, really? That's not important to you at all?

Jules [00:23:19]:

Because that always makes a statement to, like, that means that the gluten free consumer is not important to them. It's just so frustrating. Yeah, and it shows that they don't.

Erica [00:23:26]:

Understand vegan, but if you're going to be Just Egg is used in a lot of product. It was the first mover. If you're not claiming to be gluten free, that's a problem. So I don't know.

Jules [00:23:39]:

Yeah, that's interesting.

Erica [00:23:41]:

Does it say anything on the website?

Jules [00:23:44]:

You keep going. I'll get back to you on that.

Erica [00:23:47]:

We're going to do some sleuthing.

Jules [00:23:49]:

Yeah.

Erica [00:24:01]:

I totally forgot. I'm the worst. I'm so sorry. Taste Republic. You were there on the very last second. I was walking out, and I saw Taste Republic, and I saw Andy. And I'm like, oh, my God.

Jules [00:24:10]:

Andy.

Erica [00:24:11]:

Hi. He's like, hi.

Jules [00:24:13]:

These are pasta pasta people.

Erica [00:24:16]:

And he said, no, we're not at sweets and snacks. And I'm like, this is it. I only get to see you for, like, five minutes.

Jules [00:24:20]:

Sweets or snacks? They're fresh pasta.

Erica [00:24:23]:

To be fair, some of the snacks were not really snacks either, but whatever. So I'm so sorry. I'm just not realizing this. I got to try a new innovation from them. It is their current Tortolini that has regular cheese and plant based sausage. They use Abbott Butchery for that. They are now doing a plant based sausage with plant based cheese, which makes the most sense, and a totally vegan one.

Jules [00:24:51]:

And I like to think it's because you and I beat them up about.

Erica [00:24:54]:

It because we're so angry about it.

Jules [00:24:56]:

I honestly talked about it on this podcast. Why aren't they doing the plant based cheese?

Erica [00:25:02]:

And he's like, I have some right now. We want to try it. I'm like, My God, yes, i, of course want to try it. So I got to try it, and I'm so excited. So that will probably come in the fall, and they're just, like, totally changing over the ones that had cheese, the ones that will now be a totally vegan version, and that is so exciting for them. And that is I totally forgot that. I will probably put that back in with the rest of the butchery stuff that I had in there. But that is one cool thing to see our favorites with Taste Republic going and actually listening to everyone. Because it wasn't just obviously Jules and I, although we're very vocal about our need for plant based but I think they're going to be very thankful with the amount of vegans who are now able to have this product. And I got to try another. I have not known about this place that they use for their plant based treats up, but it was really cool. And then in the cheese world, I finally tried the Banza cheese with plant based cheese on it. That was delicious. And I was not really, like, a super fan of the Banza cheese crust, but it was really good, and I was really impressed. And I really like what they're doing as far as they are now doing plant based versions of all their mac and cheese and plant based versions of their pizza, which is always great to see Violife is there, which is one of our favorite cheese brands. Oh, my God. So good. But they had these food service big sizes of everything, and I'm like, can consumers just get a giant bat of this whipping cream? Because I absolutely would use it 100%. And then they had these new sweet creams, so it's almost like coffee creamer in a couple of different flavors that they're doing for food service. And what kind of sucks about a show like this is not knowing if this is ever going to make it to retail because some of the BioLife stuff in these, like, large containers I would love to have, and I'd love to have, like, a coffee creamer by them. So that's another thing where I'm like, come on. Okay, you're sleuthing.

Jules [00:27:19]:

So I don't have good news for you. Apparently, the Just Egg people don't know that gluten is a thing anymore because it doesn't have it on their packaging. It doesn't talk about it at all. And when you go to the listing of what it is and it says vegan, non GMO, whatever, gluten free is not there, when you go to what's the company's approach with respect to Allergens, it doesn't list gluten free in there as anything. And in fact, it says that Just Egg is egg free, but made in a facility where egg is present.

Erica [00:28:01]:

Oh, yeah.

Jules [00:28:02]:

They're not even like, whoo. Okay, so then it says, Please consult our allergen information chart. And one of their products actually contains wheat. They don't have gluten listed on there at all as something that is acknowledged. It's just wheat. That's the only one. They're only dealing with the top allergens.

Erica [00:28:28]:

They're not talking about gluten at all.

Jules [00:28:31]:

So, yeah, this is very disappointing.

Erica [00:28:38]:

Empire yeah. That makes me feel a lot better that they just didn't care at the show because apparently they just don't care all the time. So that's really frustrating.

Jules [00:28:49]:

That is really frustrating.

Erica [00:28:51]:

Sorry to ruin your egg day, but. Thankfully, there are alternatives that people that do care.

Jules [00:28:59]:

That'S like really regressing.

Erica [00:29:02]:

Yeah, bumming you out a little bit. I get it. I was also bumming out.

Jules [00:29:06]:

It's very much bumming me out. I'm not liking this at all.

Erica [00:29:11]:

So the last, which is possibly the weirdest thing I'm going to tell you, besides the runny, sunnyside up egg is a brand called NotMilk. Have you tried this yet? They like, partner with Heinz. I think they're purchased by a larger brand. But it is milk that's made with, like, I think pea pineapple juice. cabbage juice and pea protein. She's like, don't even look at the ingredients because it's wild. What our R&D team did to do to whole milk. And I'm telling you, drink the chocolate milk.

Jules [00:29:51]:

Chocolate milk pineapple makes great, amazing milk.

Erica [00:29:57]:

Matt looked at the ingredient list and he's like, did a freegan come up with this? And I'm like, what do you mean a freegen? He's like, remember the vegans that used to dumpster dive and they called themselves freegans and they would make meals with whatever they found in the dumpster. It was like a big thing. They had like a freegan documentary. But anyway, he wondered if it was a freedom because it's such a wild mix of ingredients that you're like, why would you ever think cabbage juice would be a name milk alternative? But I'm telling you, tastes like milk. It also tastes like chocolate milk. And that's what's wild. So this NotMilk thing, I don't know what they did, but it's some sort of sorcery it may not be my favorite milk alternative because I just honestly stick to like an almond milk, a creamy almond milk or whatever. But this is really good. Like, if they offered it in a coffee shop, I would absolutely have it with a latte, knowing that it has cabbage juice in it. But it's very milky like milk milk.

Jules [00:30:48]:

Wow. Yeah, you said it's a partnership with Heinz.

Erica [00:30:53]:

They have a partnership with Heinz and one of their products. But they are a brand amongst themselves. And I don't know who owns them. I think that they are owned by someone, but they have this milk. And it's been I saw them at Expo West because they have products that are not gluten free. They have plant based products that are not gluten free, but their milk is. So I've never tried the milk, so I've never gone to their booth. But I finally had time to have the milk. And I'm like, this is weird and wild, but good for you guys. It's weird. We tell people not to look at the ingredient list until after they've done, after they try it because they can't.

Jules [00:31:32]:

But unfortunately, in our world, we have to start we have to always read the ingredient list first. So we get weirded out and then we don't want to drink it.

Erica [00:31:40]:

I'm like, oh, cabbage.

Jules [00:31:42]:

Cabbage milk.

Erica [00:31:45]:

Pineapple. But I'm like, what does that even add to it? I don't know. I'm not a sorcerer. I don't know. So I thought that that was one of my favorite, like, oh, this is actually really good because I would never try it based on the ingredient list. Much like you telling me about how meaty is made. And now I'm like, oh, yeah, it's delicious. There you go.

Jules [00:32:05]:

That's great. I'm glad to know that we've earned a point for meaty.

Erica [00:32:10]:

Yes.

Jules [00:32:12]:

Mushrooms.

Erica [00:32:13]:

There are also a couple of other vegan plant based brands that we've seen before. Konscious Sushi had a big booth there and they had a layout of all the sushi.

Jules [00:32:24]:

And I'm like, were they actually sampling them?

Erica [00:32:26]:

They were sampling so many things. They had four sample stations. Like, they poured a ton of money into the show. So hopefully they'll get picked up by restaurants because wouldn't that be nice for actual places to have vegan sushi on the menu that is also gluten free? I wouldn't mind if a sushi place picked this up or at least use the sashimi or whatever to make their own meat and rolls. But that was cool. They had such a big booth. Another one that we haven't seen yet is Veggie Meal. They have some plant based meal kits made from peas. Yellow peas is their whole stick for meal kits. And then BeanVivo, which is like a bean brand that's been around for a while. You'd know, if you saw the bag that they have new bean kits using plant based chorizo, which is soy based, but everyone's doing like an add in vegan meat or add in or whatever. And then you have a meal kit. So there's more of these vegan plant based meal kits. And I only say this because it's something that you've been interested in the past, especially with kiddos going off to college and being gluten free and vegan. Sometimes you just want a meal kit that's easy to make. So there you go. Yeah, I'll throw the links in here so you all can check them out. But again, we're all just waiting to see if these are in retail or if they are in retail. We'll leave a link to where you can purchase and then rounding out. The last thing I want to talk about is that they had a beverage pavilion, which is really interesting. And I thought it would be a lot more because Pepsi and everyone else was in like the regular giant Pavilion. Then they had a beverage pavilion of just like, wines and I guess alcoholic drinks, which is strange because I didn't really think about them being there, but they were there and there was no alcohol to talk to. Like, my favorite whiskey brand wasn't there. But I did see a really good whiskey brand called Virago that is rum finished in a cognac cask and it was delicious. And they're looking for distribution.

Jules [00:34:33]:

Really good.

Erica [00:34:34]:

So good. And then also, I found a non alcoholic wine that I really like, which is hard because I love wine. But this is a non alcoholic wine. I found it at a booth called Better Rhodes, and they have curated portfolios of the best non alcoholic drinks. If you're a bar and you want to cater to non alcoholic, Better Rhodes does it. But they introduced me to a brand called Wander & Found, and that is denatured alcohol. So it's like real wine, but just denatured. So there's no alcohol in it. And it's delicious. And so I may have to place an order for that for the mocktail bar, because wine is hard to find. That doesn't taste like the wine that I drink at Seder. It's just like it's just, like, so.

Jules [00:35:27]:

Great for grapefruit juice.

Erica [00:35:29]:

So nasty. I don't like it, obviously. I love real wine, so I'm such a snob about it. So I think that that's going to be kind of a new brand for me. And then lastly, nothing to do with gluten free, but just because I love it. Out of nowhere, one of my favorite Tiki mug designers, Tiki Farm, the owner and founder, like, the designer guy, was there, and he's just, like, sitting at a booth. I'm like, I love your tiki mugs. He's like, Rad, how do you know about it? I'm like I'm a Tiki person. Like I'm obsessed with Enchanted Tiki room. We have your tiki mugs. And he's like, yeah, cool. And I'm like, were you at Tiki Oasis? I was at Tiki oasis, man. I've been doing Tiki Oasis for 20 years. I'm like, cool. I'm like, I just want to thank you. I really love your mugs. And he's like, Brad, man, all right. Thanks for stopping by. He's like, the coolest. And I just texted Matt. I'm like, I just met the owner of Tiki Farm. And he's like, that's incredible. Where are you? And I'm like, at this trade show, and then my girlfriend works for a door lock service. Yes, okay. And so they were there, and I text her a picture. I'm like, okay, so I never thought that I would be at the same exhibit hall as your brand. And she's like, yeah. And I'm like, I get it. Restaurants have to have door locks. But it was just, like, so wild. She's like, Why are you there? I'm like, this is a question I keep asking myself, but I keep finding.

Jules [00:36:57]:

Fun things that's like, when you go to gluten free shows and they have people who are there with gutter guards and stuff, and you're like, yeah, really?

Erica [00:37:06]:

Probably makes more sense. Because I guess in case someone wants to find a new door lock for their restaurant or hospital or whatever. But yeah, it was just so weird. It was by far the weirdest show. I had a sample bag to take, and then at the end of the show, I had, like, five samples in it. And they were just from people that I knew, like, Partake was there, but they were also at Sweets and Snacks. And we'll talk about their innovation at the Sweets and Snack episode, but they gave me one sample. My girlfriend from Red Plate Foods was there with my favorite [Becca]. Yes, the coffee cake muffins. My favorite, favorite. And so she's looking to get distribution in hotels, which I would personally love because I'm obsessed with muffins and I can't get them anywhere. And they're in my sprouts. The granola is in my sprouts. But I don't really eat their granola. I eat their coffee cake muffins because.

Jules [00:37:56]:

nut-free granola, which, I mean, so many people would benefit from having that in their food service.

Erica [00:38:01]:

Yeah, but I'm like, push these muffins solely on the fact that I need this muffin. It's one of my favorite muffins ever made. That's a prepackaged muffin. So she gave me one because she didn't have a lot of samples. She's like, you can take one from the display. And I'm like thank you. So I had that muffin. I had a Partake cookie and then just paper. And I'm like, this is the lamest samples I've ever had, ever. But that's okay because I don't need any of this stuff. But I think it's super cool that I'm here getting a chance to finally try the things that I didn't try and see kind of all the wild things that are there. So, yeah, it's an interesting experience. I mean, definitely not sure if I would go again, but since I could go and it was in the same spot as the next adventure we'll talk about on the next episode, I thought, why not? Let's become a restaurant supply blogger.

Jules [00:38:52]:

There you go.

Erica [00:38:53]:

Yolo. Add it to my list.

Jules [00:38:55]:

Why?

Erica [00:38:56]:

Add it to my list.

Jules [00:38:57]:

Did you hurry up and add that to your LinkedIn?

Erica [00:38:59]:

I did. I actually talked about being at the restaurant show, and I don't think anyone cared because I don't have any connections to get you into anywhere. I'm like, sorry.

Jules [00:39:09]:

That's okay. You got to taste some good stuff.

Erica [00:39:13]:

All in all, I think was a great show. Super fun, and definitely gave us another few items to put on our list to try next time we see them around.

Jules [00:39:23]:

Very nice. I'm excited. Thank you for sharing. Show and tell time.

Erica [00:39:28]:

Lots of show and tell time. I'll put in some videos, so if you're watching, make sure you go to YouTube and watch this and like and subscribe to our podcast on YouTube so you don't miss an episode when I eventually get them up from whatever my long list of travels are. I'm home for a month, so you will see podcasts being produced regularly. And don't miss the next two episodes. We're going to do an episode on finds from Sweets and Snacks, which there is a long list of new finds. And then also we have another episode that highlights some celiac disease research from Digestive Disease Week, so make sure that you are liking and subscribing so you do not miss an episode, because we are you had meaty.

Jules [00:40:12]:

Talk to you soon.

Erica [00:40:14]:

Thanks, Jules. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend.

Jules [00:40:17]:

Oh, absolutely. Happy baking to you, my friend. If you like this episode, make sure you rate it on your podcast provider.

Erica [00:40:26]:

And subscribe so you don't miss any of our episodes.

Jules [00:40:30]:

You had me at eat.