As many of the food festivals I normally would attend were cancelled, there became a bunch of new online classes and recipes popping up, but nothing really covered the ability to find new brands, all together in one space, and see what products they have to offer. Some of my favorite food festival memories are walking around castles, viewing new, small businesses that I had never heard of who make the coolest infused oils or rainbow pastas. Richard Reeves was speaking to the founder of Nauteas, Katia Sokolskaya and came up with the idea of a digital event focused on showing off some brands that otherwise wouldn’t be seen this year! I wanted to highlight a few from their Food & Drink Festival Online 2020.
The Painted Peacock
I am a big fan of fancy chocolates – who doesn’t deserve a treat and why not have a beautiful one too! The Painted Peacock has some beautiful chocolates, almost as beautiful as a peacock. They have vegan options, their packaging is recyclable, all of their chocolate is sourced from South America and every piece is handmade. They just look so dainty and wonderful.
The Bottled Baking Co
During this lock down, many of us have been cooking and baking more! I love cooking, but baking is something that I always need a little bit of help with. The Bottled Baking Co. create perfect mixes for baking, all contained in a re-usable glass bottle. They layers in these bottles look beautiful, but also make for an easy to make mix – as you just need to dump it into a bowl, add a few wet ingredients, and then bake it up! It’s a great little activity for children as well.
Liobites
I’m a big snacker. I love having snacks within a hands reach, which hasn’t done well for my actual health during this time. Liobites is a much healthier snack, created by a mom who wanted healthier options for her children to snack on. These are a variety of dried fruit snack packs, made of fruit and nothing else – so they are vegan, gluten free, and sweet enough on their own without natural sugar. We really love dried fruit in our household and it makes for an easy to grab snack in these snack-sized packages.
Single Variety Co
We make a lot of charcuterie boards in our household, and it’s always tricky finding a good chutney or jam. We are constantly trying new ones – so when I saw Single Variety Co, they instantly caught my eye. These jams use ingredients primarily sourced in Britain and came in classic fruit flavors and then a bunch of awesome sounding chilli flavors that would break some much needed heat to any charcuterie board you are creating. Adding a chilli-based jam really brings boards up a notch, but if you are interested in lovely fruit jams, theirs are worth a look.
Flawsome
Much like the Rotten Fruit Box, I am so interested in the idea of re-purposing fruit and vegetables that would otherwise be discarded. Flawsome takes discarded and excess fruits and turns them into fruit pressed drinks. These drinks are not from concentrate and have no added sugars or sweeteners – just pure fruit that would have otherwise gone to waste. I feel that these sort of products – ones that stop food waste – are the future of food as we know it.
BeeHype
Whoever came up with the name and designed the logo at BeeHype should probably win a medal. It’s just so cute and eye grabbing – I would have totally picked up a jar of their high quality honey if I had walked by their stand at a festival! They have different flavored honey as well as honey preserved fruits and nuts! Their honey is sourced responsibly from Bulgaria, where it is also regularly tested for pesticides, water content, and antibiotics to make sure that the honey is always delicious.
Love Cheesecakes
I am pretty sure I actually tried some of Love Cheesecakes’ cakes at a food festival a few years back – I can’t actually resist a cheesecake if presented with one! All of their delicious flavors are hand made, making them perfect for a delectable treat. Love Cheesecake catiers events and parties, as well as has their cheesecakes in a bunch of different hotels – so keep an eye out for them!
Screaming Chimp
This wouldn’t be a food list on our site without mentioning some sort of hot sauce. Screaming Chimp is our selection, with a variety of increasingly spicy sauces perfect to brighten up fish, meat, or whatever else you want to make spicy! These sauces have no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives, so they make for a much cleaner and flavorful sauce.
There are lots of other vendors at the Food & Drink Festival Online, so do take a look at their site, especially as more is being added! We aren’t the biggest fan of teas, but there is a huge collection there if you are into that.