My Trip to Natural Products Expo West

This past weekend was Natural Products Expo West, a huge conference featuring natural products and foods (and some products and foods I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole). I went on Friday.

The expo was held in Anaheim, California, not too far from where I live. My friend Leanne Vogel of Healthful Pursuit flew in from Calgary. She arrived a couple days early, so we decided to meet at Disneyland on Thursday (which is conveniently right next to the convention center). It was so exciting to meet in person! We had fun with Andy and the kids, and that evening the two of us met Beth Brickey from Tasty Yummies for dinner. We ate at the Blue Bayou, which is a charming Louisiana at night themed restaurant alongside the dark water of The Pirates of the Caribbean ride. As with most of the restaurants at Disneyland, it was easy to order gluten-free. The steak melted in my mouth. Andy drove back home with the kids, and I spent the night at Leanne’s rental house.

On Friday morning I woke up, drank two glasses of water (as usual), got dressed, and we walked directly to the convention center. We got there and picked up our press badges (bloggers are considered press), and Leanne and I split up. I didn’t want to hold her back, because she had appointments. So she headed off, and I walked down to another building. It was huge! It was so crowded—like Disneyland, but everyone was dressed up and wearing lanyards.

I started out having the worst time, but then it turned into the best day! To get in, you not only had to show them your badge, but your driver’s license too. So every time we came outside because we were lost we had to show it to security again to get back in. So, I went in, and it was shoulder-to-shoulder hordes of people like cattle waiting to get in. I hadn’t realized that the expo didn’t open until 10:00 am, and I got there just before the doors opened. Everyone was looking at the expo maps or trying to figure out the official app. I didn’t see where these maps were coming from, and everyone I asked gave only unhelpful answers like “Over there,” while waving vaguely.

Finally it turned 10 o’clock, and they let us in. I thought, “This won’t be so bad. I don’t need a map. I’ll just walk around until I find the exhibitors I’m looking for.” So, I was walking back and forth looking at the numbers on the floor and the numbers hanging from the ceiling, but they didn’t match! The number hanging from the ceiling said 500s, but I looked at the floor and it’s the 200s. I was so confused. A security guard told me that the numbers on the floor were wrong. So, I continued walking around with no luck.

I tried downloading the expo app, but it kept crashing. So I started hunting for the paper maps again. I couldn’t find any staff, but another attendee gave me directions to an information table. I finally came to this one small table in the shade, up against a wall. It was so hidden! I told the staff guy about the app problems, so he walked me through it, but warned me not to touch the “Get Route” button, because it will crash. The app was showing me a map, but it was so zoomed in that I couldn’t tell where the hall was in relation to me. He gave me a paper map, which was huge! It was like a road map for a city.

I mean, just look at the size of this thing.

At this point I had been there for practically two hours. I was still lost and frustrated, so I walk back into the building (showing my badge and ID again), and who did I see? Leanne! And she exclaimed, “Kelly!” And I burst out, “This is horrible!” She goes, “I knoooww!” She had been just as miserable and lost. I can’t believe we bumped into each other, because there were thousands of people there. Sooo insanely crowded. We were so relieved to find each other.

Together we figured out a game plan, starting at Hall E and working back through D, C, B, and A. Heading toward where we think Hall E is, we started opening a door. It was only partially open when we realized it lead to the outside. Before we could turn around one of the security guards started yelling at us from maybe twenty feet away, “You have to come out here! Once you open a door you have to come out.” He made us show him our badges and ID, and let us go back inside, explaining to take the escalator downstairs to Hall E.

As we were about to go down the escalator I recognized the person getting off the up escalator. It was Tyler Florence. Tyler’s a big fan of The Spunky Coconut, so he was like, “Hey!” and we hugged and chatted for a while. I’m only kidding. He has no idea who I am. But he did totally get off the escalator so close to me that I could have reached out and touched him. And I did stand there watching him walk right by me with my bottom jaw on the floor, just completely frozen and star-struck for about a minute after he was out of my site. It’s true, just ask Leanne.

But life must go on after very sadly not getting to meet Tyler Florence, and we went down to Hall E. I was so hungry. I had been really naïve. I thought that at the expo I would quickly find food exhibitors I knew, and I could eat samples. So, I hadn’t eaten breakfast that morning. First we found EPIC bars, and I was so happy to see them. I started begging for food! I pleaded, “Can I please have a bar?” I scarfed it down, and then someone else who works for EPIC recognized Leanne and me, and she gave us a bag full of bars (and stickers, sunglasses with their logo, etc). I was super thankful!

Across from EPIC was a coffee company’s booth. We each got a cup, and we had barely stepped away from their table when we tasted it. The coffee was so terrible. Horrible, horrible coffee. I saw a trash can across the aisle, so after my one sip I walked straight up and dropped the cup in the trash. Then I realized that they could have seen me, and I felt badly. But I was still kind of out of it from the stress of the morning, and not thinking straight.

We hadn’t even finished the row when I recognized someone else. “Michelle?” Michelle Tam was walking toward us by herself, and she was like, “Kelly? I didn’t know you were here!” We hugged, and she went on, “This place is so big!” We were happy to have Michelle with us for the rest of the day.

As soon as it was the three of us we got it together, and we didn’t have any more trouble for the rest of the day. We focused our efforts and figured out how to get where we wanted to go. We visited so many exhibitors. After the terrible coffee incident we were psyched to get some Chameleon Cold Brew. It’s so awesome. I had some of each unsweetened flavor. Yum. At one point we turned a corner, and saw Mark Sisson, Morgan, and John Durant. We talked for a while then moved on to the Eating Evolved primal dark chocolate booth. The day was clearly rocking at this point, despite not meeting Tyler Florence.

We visited Cappello’s. Leanne hadn’t tried their grain-free pasta, because they aren’t sold in Canada and the international shipping is expensive. She ate some and could not believe how good it is. Everybody who walked up and tried it was so blown away (of course). While we were there Amie Valpone from The Healthy Apple came to meet us. As with Leanne, we hadn’t met in real life before. It was so good to see her in person!

Then we visited SeaSnax. They are so nice! They have a new flavor that isn’t in stores yet: it’s lime. You take a bite, and the lime hits you at the end. Mmmm. It was good. And near them were was the Inka Chips booth, which are plantains fried in palm oil. You know how I love good fat.

A company that was new to me that I’m excited about is a pasture-raised collagen and gelatin company called Vital Proteins. Michelle had heard that they’re really good. I’m looking forward to making something with the samples they gave me. Another product that I loved was Organic Gemini’s, Green Tigernut Horchata. Have you heard of tigernut? I wouldn’t think of adding something creamy to greens like broccoli and kale, but their green juice was so good! (It’s not yet available in stores.)

I dropped by the Jackson’s Honest booth, and I was so excited to learn that their chips had been given out in the Oscar gift bags this year! But I was bummed that Megan wasn’t there. We had met at Paleo FX last year, and I love her.

At this point our bags were really, really heavy from samples. I was the only one whose shoes weren’t giving me blisters, but I was exhausted so we all decided to call it a day.

Some of my other faves that I didn’t get to say hi to were Drink Maple, Pure 7 Chocolate, and Kevita. Unfortunately, two of my little girls got sick, and I needed to come home. Apparently, I’ve created a monster, because when I walked in my door my husband was serving up some pho that had been cooking all night. He’s so awesome. I couldn’t think of anything better to give the kids when they’re sick.

♥, Kelly