The Specialty Food Association’s 2023 Summer Fancy Food Show featured three standout trends among the natural and organic exhibitors. Specialty CPG foods and beverages elevate the at-home culinary experience, and all-natural ingredients help indulge the health-conscious consumer. The nonprofit trade association’s mission is “to champion, nurture and connect members to deliver innovative products and expand consumption of specialty foods.” According to its website, SFA was founded in 1952 and represents over 3,000 businesses. Specialty food sales in the United States exceeded $148 billion in 2019, […]

Support local journalism. A digital subscription is incredibly affordable and makes you the most informed person around. Click here and subscribe today. In today’s society, we are often so swayed and misled by advertising and over-information when it comes to health, nutrition and fitness, it is hard not to fall victim to common fads. Today, we’re going to play “Two Truths and a Lie.” Below are three statements. Two are factual, one is false. Do you think you can figure out which is false? Once you have […]

A bookstore with a bar is easily one of mankind’s best inventions, up there with polar fleece and those potato chips that taste like ham. There’s usually a big chair, and if you do it right, you can read for hours while sipping a coffee or a glass of wine. However, bookstore bars have usually been bookstores first: The coffee is serviceable, the wine probably comes from a bag of Franzia, and the snacks tend to be mass-produced or just […]