I recently attended the Good Food Expo in Chicago, which featured a variety of local and sustainable foods and producers. It was a great opportunity to connect with other business owners, hear their stories and sample tasty, healthy foods made locally.
While there were quite a few vendors, I wanted to highlight a few of my favorites so you can keep an eye out and try them too!
Debbie Wood is the Founder and CEO of No Denial Foods and she is a HUGE inspiration. Debbie was diagnosed with diabetes as a child and celiac as an adult, leading to food becoming a major source of stress for her. She decided to change that for herself and learned how to bake simple, healthy and delicious snacks that allowed her to love food again. She’s come a long way from sampling her products at her local gym to now having an amazing line of snack mixes that are available all around Chicago.
No Denial Foods’ signature salty, sweet nut-mix is the perfect snack or food topper for the health nut with a sweet tooth. With clean, simple ingredients and just a small amount of natural, unrefined sugar, they’re nutrient dense and satiating. Don’t deny yourself, try them out!
Shibani Baluja is the Founder and CEO of Lil’ Gourmets. She was inspired to create the company after having her first child. She couldn’t bring herself to feed him the shelf-stable baby food that was available after trying it herself. She ended up spending a lot of her time batch cooking, including using spices in her son’s food too, which helped expand his palette.
Lil’ Gourmets is a unique baby food made of real, nutritious and delicious ingredients. I sampled them and they were tasty! The Good Food Expo was the launch of Lil’g so if you have a little one and want to feed them tasty, natural, healthy fruits and veggies give them a try!
These chef-crafted, plant based snack bars are made with pure, simple ingredients without preservatives. Some of them even come with veggies mixed in! Chef David Choi created these food bars because he feels people should enjoy food that’s actually good for them.
Because of the fresh ingredients, these bars are found in the refrigerator section of your grocery store. Yep, the refrigerator! The best part is they have a decent amount of protein and don’t have a ton of sugar so they aren’t your average sugary snack bar. If you like carrot cake, check out their best selling Sweet Potato + Coconut bar.
This high-quality beef is grass-fed and tastes fantastic. They take pride in ensuring the highest animal welfare practices and the meat is vacuum sealed to maintain its freshness. They also have a strict Taste Standard with a set of specifications to bring consistently great taste and experience with every single cut of meat. Check it out!
I LOVE this conscious creamery, which makes handmade, organic vegan gelato!!! The gelato is handmade in small batches using organic and non-GMO ingredients – all of which are strictly free of gluten, dairy, and soy. The best part is that they taste good too! The next time you’re craving a sweet treat, go for something sacred!
This is a great on-the-go soup made with a handful of all-natural ingredients and no preservatives. They come in delicious hearty flavors to help you power through your day. They even taste great cold or hot! Delicious!!
Ready to Ease is a unique way to achieve nausea relief. They are ice pops made from natural, organic ingredients that help relieve your symptoms, rehydrate and replenish nutrients all in one. What a great way to get you ready to take on whatever life has in store.
Disclaimer: Laura is not associated with any of these brands and was not paid to write these reviews.
