Today is Gluten Free Day at Whole Foods Arroyo in Pasadena. The event runs until 3pm.
Pasadena has two Whole Foods Markets, located on opposite sides of the city.
1. The first vendor we visited was Alfredo from Bella Sol Salsa, which now makes salsa as well as chips. Alfredo’s salsa is now available in the seafood section. We really like the salsa Alfredo makes.
2. We met Patrick with TCHO which makes exquisite dark chocolates. One item to note on the TCHO products is that they are “No Slavery” produced.
They have several flavors:
Dark Chocolate – Citrus
Dark Chocolate – Chocolately
Dark Chocolate – Nutty
Dark Chocolate – Earthy
Dark Chocolate – Floral
Dark Chocolate – Fruity
I tried the Nutty and the Citrus, both very good.
The packaging is similar in style and design to Wired magazine, as the owner of TCHO was also the owner of Wired Magazine.
TCHO is based in the bay area and offers tours of the facility.
TCHO
Pier 17
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 981-0189
sales@tcho.com
www.TCHO.com
patrick@tcho.com
3. Next was Matthew from Haig’s Delicacies – traditional handmade – speciality foods since 1956. Matthew was doing a great job, almost all the small containers sold out and many of the large ones as well. The Haig’s hummus is delicious. Especially the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus.
Other flafoirs:
Classic Hummus
Spicy Hummus – which was one flavor still available when we got there and we bought one.
Baba Ghannouge
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
and the winner by far:
Muhammara – which has red peppers, pomegranates, and walnuts, it is so good! We want to try this one again and buy one next time we go by Whole Foods.
4. We talked to Justine Klineman with Essential Living Foods for a few minutes. We ended up buy a chocolate drink mix with energy boosting guarana. $15 for 11oz. The rep was great and very energetic and knowledgeable about the products. I even sampled a cacao bean which is a very interesting flavor.
1% of sales donated
Gluten Free – Non GMO – Vegan – Low Glycemic
Net wt 11oz.
Essential Living Foods
922 Colorado Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310.319.1555
5. Nutland – the girl in the nutLand demo was great. She had plenty of samples and lots of people asking questions. Lots of samples.
We tried most of them and the 100% All Natural Berries & Cherries Crunch was the best. Gluten Free – GMO Free – 100% Vegan – Trans Fat Free – Low Sodium. I don’t remember the girls name, but I believe it was something like Prarity, or something like that. Sorry!
I asked about red walnuts and she really didn’t know, maybe someone with nutLand knows.
The Nutland products are better than some of the other crunch products. One thing is that some other products are made in China, which I find interesting. I would much rather eat a nut product from the US.
Check out Nutland foods:
Nutlandfoods.com
Nutland Nutcrunch, 100% natural, gluten free, vegan, low in sodium and GMO Free, we are now CERTIFED KOSHER www.nutlandfoods.com
6. Almond Glory was one of the last products we tried. I was very impressed with this product. They pizza sample was great, as was the Focaccia Bread. I don’t remember the reps name but the all the samples he had where great.
Almond Glory
1200 Cleveland Rd., Glendale, CA 91202
www.almondglory.net
818.683-4304
Satisfaction Guaranteed
Some interesting stats on almonds.
1. Almonds are a high source of protein, fiber and good fat which satisfies you longer. That is why Almond Glory products are smaller than the “super-size” traditional counterparts
2. Almonds can help play a role in fighting obesity and diabetes
3. Almonds can improve your good cholesterol and lower the bad cholesterol.
4. Almonds are one of the highest sources of natural antioxidants p- that helps prevent cancer and improved energy in chemotherapy.
5. Almonds are comparable to skim milk and cheddar cheese in providing bone building minerals
6. Almonds natural healthy oils keep baked goods moist and savory for a longer period of time.
7. 60-70% of people of Northern European decent are wheat/gluten intolerant – most are unaware.
8. The almond is the top nut in nutritional value. Although the cost of the almond is 20x more than wheat flour, the health effects are worth its weight in gold.
818.337.1933 fax
The gluten free section was upstairs in the frozen section where all the gluten free products are located, various samples where available including Bob’s Red Mill Mighty Tasty GF Hot Cereal, Pamela’s Products Chocolate Chunk Cookies, All Natural Barney Butter Almond Butter – Peanut Free, also there was a nice sampling of chocolates and chips.
Thanks to Whole Foods Markets for putting on these demo days.
Some suggestions:
1. Announce the event over the intercom so people know about it. We arrived around 1pm or so and it was pretty quiet, but the crowd started to build.
2. Post some signage so people know where to go for the vendors, etc. It does get a little confusing finding your way around.
Think about some other types of events:
1 Juices, drinks, green, purple foods, vegetables, smoothies, energy drinks and bars.
2. Some ethnic tastings, i.e. Spanish, Mexican, Japanese, Italian type days.
During our visit we stopped for some fish and chips at the seafood galley.
Apparently Clint is out with an injury, and we could tell as we ordered some fish and chips and the wait was very long, the ketchup was out and I asked for a cup of water and never received it. Note some of the plates are chipped in the galley service area as well. And what would it take to get the thin fries, those thick fries are not very good, and they don’t cook very well. Anyway we had our fish n chips and went on with our day.
