This past week I spent two enjoyable days eating my way through the annual Americas Food & Beverage Show. This was the 30th anniversary edition of the expo. Nearly 12,000 attendees and vendors from 115 countries and territories were expected to fill the halls of the Miami Beach Convention Center. I did not count either, but there were a lot of both. I did count steps, 12,000, over two days!

This year was one of the broadest international representation in the show’s history. Tied to our nation’s 250th anniversary, the United States was spotlighted as the Country of Honor with “A Taste of the States” pavilion. I roamed between 165 companies including those from Canada, Turkey, Brazil, Guatemala, Colombia, Thailand, the United States and on and on. Along the way I enjoyed many delicious tastes. Here are some of my observations, the many countries represented:

First stop, day one was Canada and the Honey Smoked Fish Co. The bites of their smoked salmon were delicious.

Next stop was the Turkish booth for another taste of salmon. Chef Kubilay Onder, Turkish Tastes Regional Ambassador, demonstrated how to prepare braised salmon fillets that he served with a roasted pepper relish.

Chef Rick at the American pavilion also was preparing salmon as well as other bites all on toasted sourdough bread. His salmon was served with a homemade, sugar free ketchup.

This was his salmon, there was also a River Bear salami was served over pureed Mayocoba beans from Colorado.

Another salmon vendor was Highland Farms, The Seafood Specialist (Highlandfarms.net). This is a Florida company that sells Atlantic farmed fish.

Along the way, I enjoyed an Indian samosa from Moja Foods.

True World Foods was a huge presence as usual with the best bites of sushi with freshly made sushi rice and the freshest fishes. Then I lost track of my tasting.

Among the African vendors was Bourbon Vanilla, Ltd. with beans and extract from Mauritius.

Here are some of the new vendors at the expo that caught my eye.

Manchester Farms Quail from Columbia, SC brought lots of beautiful quail eggs and showed their other products. I don’t know why these tiny bundle of protein catch my fancy. We need their product back in Publix stores.

Phil Hallstedt and his daughter from Red Truck Orchards (Redtruckorchards.com) from Grand Traverse, Michigan, were on hand with their cherry vinegar. This is a family farm that expanded from the sale of fresh fruit to this new product. According to their website, their “mission is to support small family farms and create exceptional products …”

Many years ago at the annual Florida Folk Festival, Daughter and I were introduced to kumquat pie, as baked in Dade City, Florida, the nation’s largest growers of kumquats. I was interested and thrilled to see a salad dressing made with calamondin, a small hybrid citrus tree with a small, round fruit, tart like kumquats. Big Mama’s Backyard Garden (Bigmamafood.com) had a great presence in the Florida booth hoping to grow their market for their Calamondin vinaigrette.

Other products introduced at the expo were Jamaican patties from The Jamaica Biscuit Company, Ltd. Sadly I was too full to try one! There were lots of chocolates, teas from India disributed by Prodg Global, and matcha varieties.

I noticed the absence of two vendors who have previously shown at this expo, both family businesses. The BonBeeHoney ladies (https://honeybunchies.com/) and Cahokia rice (https://www.cahokiarice.com/pages/about-us) were missing in action.

But like so many other expos these days, there had to be robots; here it was Robot Rover … s/he actually came over to me and rolled over!

What’s an expo without swag or stuff to bring home. Here’s what I shared with my family, a fair sampling. For now, I’ll rest my overfull tummy and wait to see what next year’s expo brings.

Americas Food & Beverage Show & Conference is produced by World Trade Center Miami. IT is the a premier international business-to-business event connecting food and beverage professionals through trade, networking, and education. As I have seen this year and previous years, the organization is committed to supporting small and medium-sized enterprises as they grow into the global marketplace.