A little over a week ago, I attended the Weston A. Price Foundation‘s 26th Annual Wise Traditions Conference at the Omni Shoreham Hotel Washington D.C. Many know Wise Traditions for its speakers and its food, but there’s a lot to be said as well about its exhibitors. Whereas most of the conventions I attend are trade shows, WT is geared towards consumers and activists. Being activist oriented means that attendees are ahead of the curve when it comes to food innovation. Types of foods such as bone broth, seed oil free snacks, and sprouted nuts were seen exhibiting here before the trade shows. And along with these foods are brands who made their debuts at WT before going the trade show route. This list is a combination of new brands I discovered along with new products from my favorite exhibitors.

In alphabetical order, here are my 7 product discoveries at the 2024 Wise Traditions Conference:

Fairchild’s

Steve Campbell has become a regular at the Wise Traditions Conferences as one of the professional guides for the farm tours. At this past Conference, he could also be found in the exhibit hall promoting Fairchild’s apple cider vinegar. Steve has a background owning a ranch himself as well as helping other farmers improve their farms. With his knowledge of agriculture and health, he understands the health benefits apple cider vinegar offers both to livestock and human health. When choosing apple cider vinegars, it’s important to choose one like Fairchild’s which is organic and unpasteurized.

Honey’s Harvest Farm

Honey’s Harvest Farm practices regenerative agriculture, growing a wide variety of fruits and vegetables in living soil. They also offer visits to their farm for weekend retreats, getaways, and events such as weddings and corporate functions. At the farm and online, people can purchase raw honeys and a wide variety of herbal products, including elderberry syrup and CBD oil.

Loncho’s Larder

As more people are becoming aware of the dangers of seed oils, the market is ever expanding in options for healthy fats from pasture animals. Loncho’s Lader produces both beef tallow and lard. Additionally, they sell organic tortilla and potato chips cooked in tallow. While we’re also seeing a growth in tallow chips, it’s important to chips sourcing organic crops. Many tallow snacks, especially potato chips, don’t source organic. If not properly farmed, potatoes can be one of the most damaging crops to soil.

Owl Spoon Water Kefir 

There never seems to be a shortage of new ideas for beverages on the market. At this year’s WT, attendees got to learn about another excellent fermented beverage. Owl Spoon Water Kefir mixes water kefir with sweet flavors such as elderberry and hibiscus. Owl Spoon has the slogan “Nope. It’s not kombucha”. While it’s not kombucha, it is similar in terms of being packed with billions of healthy bacteria for good gut health and a great taste.

Proven

At one time, beef sticks sourcing grass fed were hard to find. While now way more common, Proven takes grass a fed snack sticks a step further with its options  mixing in items such as organ meats or berries. The organ meat stick consists of heart and liver. Like many, I find liver has a strong taste. But Proven sticks aren’t overloaded with the organ meats and contain a lot of muscle meat in them. I couldn’t taste the liver at all. All of the meat comes from regenerative family farms across the U.S. These include Ripley Cove Farms, which is owned by Proven founders Chad & Christine Meinders.

Rich Nuts

Rich Pauwels has become a mainstay at the WT Conference with his sprouted nuts eponymously named Rich Nuts. In addition to the packs of sprouted nuts, he introduced sprouted nut butters. While both sprouted nuts and nut butter have become more common, there are very few sprouted nut butters. Also, whole most nut butters are made from almonds, Rich provides options for other types of nut butters with his walnut and pecan creations.

WholeStix

Leave it to the Weston A. Price Foundation’s Wise Traditions Conference to have not one, but two exhibitors selling organ meat sticks. WholeStix has a regenerative grass fed sticks which consist 10% of liver, kidney, heart, and tongue and 90% of premium beef. Founders Julia & Joey Lawless raise 5 kids on a regenerative farm in Oklahoma. Having kids, they know how fussy they can be. Anybody who finds organ meats overpowering won’t be able to taste them in WholeStix.

As we approach another Halloween, I’m reminded of how candy companies see a big boost in sales around the holiday. $2.08 billion to be exact. The major candy brands consist of ingredients sprayed with pesticides and chemicals plus are made with items such as sugar from genetically modified beets, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, soybean oil, artificial flavors, food colorings, growth hormones, paraffin wax, and other GMOs and unnatural items. Are you scared? You shouldn’t be. We now have a good number of organic candies on the market. 

Organic candies contain cane sugar instead of GMO sugar or high fructose corn syrup.  They also use natural ingredients for color and flavors, natural waxes, and more heat stable oils. Plus being certified organic means it has non-GMO ingredients which weren’t sprayed with any pesticides such as glyphosate. Additionally, the organic candy companies source their ingredients from farms where the workers are treated fairly and paid a fair price for their work. 

For this list, I searched for organic candies which are available in mini size, snack packs, or individually wrapped. These smaller versions of the candies can be purchased in bulk for a decent price and handed out to all of the trick or treaters who knock at your door.

In alphabetical order, here are the stories of 12 great organic candies you can buy for Halloween:

Alter Eco

Fellow activists Mathieu Senard and Edouard Rollet founded Alter Eco in 2005with the goal of bringing the best tasting foods to consumers concerned with the environment and fair trade. In 2010, Alter Eco was able to offset all of their emissions as carbon neutral; partnering with Pur Project, which plants and protects trees in Central and South America. Next, they accomplished two first’s of any company with the commercially compostable wrapper on their chocolate truffles in 2013 and the commercially compostable pouch on their quinoa products in 2016. Most recently, in 2020, they formed the Alter Eco Foundation to further the cause of regenerative agriculture to fight climate change and inequality. For Halloween, they offer large boxes of their nut butter bombs and truffles. Alter Eco also makes grass fed milk bars and dark chocolate bars.

Chocxo

Chocxo set out on a mission to produce the most mouth-watering chocolate, but make it better for the people and the planet. Their products were developed over years of testing and refining their recipes to make the chocolate as indulgent as can be. As a result, they were able to create great tasing chocolate snacks which were lower in sugar, free of artificial sweeteners, and filled with basic, high quality ingredients. Chocxo offers a wide variety of dark chocolate cups containing nut butters and other fillings. They also have dark chocolate coconut, almond, and sea snaps.

Equal Exchange

Three managers of a New England food co-op met once a week for three years to discuss how they could change the way food is grown, bought, and sold. They ended up creating the company Equal Exchange, allowing farmers and workers to have control while their business is able to provide high quality nourishing food. They originally began by selling coffee beans, but then added hot cocoa mix and finally chocolate bars. Their milk chocolate and dark chocolate minis are suitable for Halloween.

Heavenly Organics

While Heavenly Organics was founded in 2005, it’s story goes back 35 years ago. Dr. I.S. Hooda helped small farms maintain traditional, sustainable, and organic practices. He also was key in teaching local beekeepers how to extract honey while being sustainable, bee friendly. and smoke free. Flash forward to 2005, Dr. Hooda and his son Amit started Heavenly Organics with various flavors honey all certified organic. Along with honey, Heavenly Organics sells chocolate honey patties in the options of mint, double dark, peanut, espresso, almond, ginger, and pomegranate.

Justin’s

Justin Gold began making his own varieties of nut butters as he knew he needed a better version than the conventional peanut butter. As he was first making the nut butter in his own kitchen, his roommates were often stealing his creations. So he wrote his name on the jar, leading to the current company name Justin’s. As his roommates clearly loved his product, they encouraged him to sell it at the Boulder Farmers Market. Justin then figured out how to turn this into a business. He later added organic peanut butter cups to his offerings. Mini versions of milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate peanut butter cups are available.

Lake Champlain

Lake Champlain founder Jim Lampman bought fancy chocolates every year as holiday presents for his Ice House Restaurant staff in Burlington, VT.  One year, his pastry chef said the chocolates Jim bought weren’t all that great, so Jim dared him to make better ones. His chef took him up on the challenge and the two started making hand-rolled creamy truffles together. Today, Lake Champlain has a wide variety of chocolates which are all fair trade certified and GMO free. Many of their products are also certified organic. They remain a multi-generational family business which sources from local and sustainable partners. For Halloween candy, Lake Champlain has chocolate squares in the flavors of milk chocolate, crispy, sea salt & almonds, dark chocolate, dark chocolate toffee & almonds, and raspberry & dark chocolate.

Lovely

The Lovely Candy Co. started when Jackie Nakamura asked her husband Mike to bring her home a candy free of artificial ingredients, GMOs, and gluten. Soon after, Lovely was born. They now have a large and diverse line of candies. Many of which come individually wrapped, making them accessible for Halloween. The organic products they produce are chewy candy, lollipops, and hard candy.

Raaka

Raaka prides itself on transparent trade. They purchase cacao directly from cooperatives and grower organizations who value quality, sustainability, field support, market access, and premium prices for farmers. They always purchase cacao premium prices which are higher than the commodity market and fair trade prices,  in addition to making sure the prices will remain stable. Every transaction of Raaka makes can be found on their website. They offer boxes of 100 mini bars in the flavors of pumpkin crunch, waffle crunch, pink sea salt, coconut milk, oat milk sweetened with maple sugar, and 100% cacao.

TCHO 

The name TCHO is the phonetic spelling of the first syllable of chocolate. The company originated with the mission to both produce the best chocolate and produce it in a way which makes the world a better place. All of their ingredients are sourced with methods to benefit the farms and taste delicious. TCHO looks for farms around the world which treat their growers fairly, source ethically, and reduce their carbon emissions. They created an in-house program called TCHOSource, which partners with cacao farmers, cooperatives, and research organizations in cacao producing countries in order to get the best cacao beans. For Halloween candy, TCHO has numerous choices with their mini size candy bars. First is their variety bad with the Shock Dog (chocolate & popping candy), Bone Cruncher (chocolate & crunchy quinoa), and Total Nutbar (oat milk chocolate & hazelnuts). Or there’s TCHO’s regular series of mini bars. These bars  include their single origin truffle filled dark chocolates Holy Fudge from Ghana and Born Fruity from Peru. TCHO’s other mini bars are their oat milk chocolate in the Toffee Time flavor of toffee & sea salt and Oat My God of fugde & caramel.

Torie & Howard

Torie & Howard is named after its founders Torie Burke and Howard Slatkin. The two were interior designers who checked out all types of cuisine and restaurant and visited farmers markets while they traveled around the world for their work. Along their journey, they both had to change their ways of eating. As Howard ate healthier to lose 100 pounds and Torie changed her diet due to food allergies, it became a lot harder to find snack food which would satisfy them. So they felt this was the time to start their own snack food company focusing on candy. Their multi-pack which consists of snack packs of assorted Chewie Fruities flavors is a candy which can be handed to the kids at your doorstep.

Yum Earth

Two young men had been living organic lifestyles. After both becoming fathers, they felt it was time to start an organic candy business. Yum Earth began with lollipops and then expanded to hard candy, gummy bears, gummy worms, jelly beans, sour candy, and licorice. Almost all of their candies are available in Halloween snack packs.

Zazubean

The origins of Zazubean start with a group of women on a bike trip at an island off the coast of British Columbia. Coincidentally, everybody in the group brought their favorite chocolate to keep their energy up as they pedaled along on the journey. All of the women then delved into a conversation about quality chocolate with the question of whether chocolate could follow ethical standards and be both healthy and tasty. After returning home, Zazubean co-founder Tiziana Ienna began concocting high quality chocolate with super powered ingredients. As her background was as a physiologist, she wanted to develop nutritionally dense recipes which promote a balance lifestyle. Co-founder Tara Gilbert soon joined Tiziana and brought her passion for social justice and sustainable business practices along to Zazubean. The two working together led to creating fair trade chocolate bars which are good for the environment, the chocolate growers, and people’s health. Zazubean’s Teezers are great for Halloween with their bite-sized dark chocolate bars.

November 9 is World Egg Day. The holiday began in Vienna, Germany and is celebrated the second Friday of every October. The holiday is organized by the World Egg Organization to promote the nutritional benefits and versatility.

As The Appropriate Omnivore, eggs have another special meaning to me. It’s one of the earliest foods I remember enjoying. Even before steak. Back in 2011, I learned the benefits of cholesterol and saturated fat. I then realized how amazing of a food eggs are as the yolk has the highest amount of cholesterol in any food. Eggs are also a great source of vitamins A, B, D, E, and K plus as well as iron, phosphorus, potassium and calcium, choline. So I can now savor my eggs at breakfast time and not fear eating the yolks.

But as with all foods, it’s important to properly source your eggs and know the true meaning of the labels. There are many brands of organic eggs, but the organic label doesn’t say anything about whether or not the chickens where raised in confined spaces. It simply means the hens were given an organic feed. Even free range isn’t all it’s cracked up to. The only requirement for a free range label is the chickens have access to the outdoors, but they may never be let outside.

The minimum for finding nutrient dense eggs is a label of pasture raised. This means the chickens are given at least 108 square feet of pasture. However many of the eggs listed below go beyond this standard and into practices such as regenerative agriculture.

Organic is another important element to look for when choosing eggs. Feeds for the hens can often be sprayed with many harsh chemicals. While pasture raised and organic are important qualities, there a many more options for those than there were 20 years ago. So I recommend going a step further and purchasing regeneratively farmed eggs.

Regenerative agriculture consists of healthy soil, carbon sequestration, effective use of rain water, pollinator habitats, and biodiversity. Regenerative ag is not only better for the land, it’s better for the animals too as it involves animals constantly being rotated as to where they graze.

There are numerous regenerative certification labels. For meat products, many are certified by Land to Market. Land to Market’s roots can be traced back to biologist Allen Savory.  Since the 1960s, Savory has been supporting regenerative agriculture and has introduced holistic planned grazing to ranchers throughout the world. In 2009, he founded the Savory Institute to further this mission. More recently Land to Market was spun off from the Savory Institute to certify products as regenerative. Land to Market uses a protocol known as Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV). EOV measures regeneration through the ecological indicators of ground covering, water infiltration, biodiversity, and soil & carbon health.

Another organization for regenerative certification is the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA). ROA is a joint venture between the Rodale Institute, Patagonia Provisions, and Dr. Bronner’s. They require products to be both organ certified and regenerative. ROA has three pillars to become Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC). The pillars are soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness.

The final certifier of regenerative agriculture for hot dogs on the list is Regenified. Reginified was co-founded by Gabe Brown, a North Dakota rancher and educator in regenerative agriculture. Reginified has a 6-3-4 Verification Standard which consists of 6 principles of soil health, 3 rules of adaptive stewardship, and 4 ecosystem processes.

While not specifically a regenerative certification, The Real Organic Project has requirements similar to the regenerative labels. The Real Organic Project’s three pillars are soil health, animal welfare, and ethical treatment of employees.

In alphabetical order, here are the 7 best regenerative eggs you can find in supermarkets:

Alexandre Kids

Alexandre Family Farm founders and 5th generation farmers Blake and Stephanie Alexandre began a dairy in 1988 in southern California, where Stephanie grew up. With Blake always wanting to return to northern California, they seized upon a farm was for sale in Del Norte County in 1992. This location was just two hours north of the original Alexandre farm in Ferndale. In addition to Blake returning to northern California, this was also the chance for both Blake and Stephanie to return to the practice of organic grass grazing cows like their grandparents did. More recently they’ve been certified regenerative by the Savory Institute‘s Land to Market and the Regenerative Organic Alliance program. Their cows are also A2. Along with dairy, they have eggs under the label Alexandre Kids as the children helped them start the egg business back in 2005. Their children are now adults and are 6th generation farmers working for Alexandre Farms.

Burroughs Family Farms

Available in supermarkets in Northern California: the Central Valley, the Bay Area and the Central Coast

In 1894, at age 19, Benjamin Randall Burroughs moved from Springfield, IL to Oakland, CA. Benjamin and his two brothers, Ernest and Willis, raised cows in the hills and bottled their own milk for sale. Four generations later, the farm is still run by the Burroughs family. Ward and Rosie Burroughs head the farm with their adult children in the northern San Joaquin Valley. While there are no more cows, Burroughs Family Farms has become well known for its almond and walnut orchards. More recently, Burroughs Farms added egg laying chickens and hope to one day offer their Regenified and Real Organic Project certified regenerative eggs nationally.

Happy Hens

Available in supermarkets in Northern California: Available in supermarkets in Northern California: San Diego, Orange, and Los Angeles Counties

Happy Hens founder Luie Nevarez grew up on a ranch. Knowing back then that he wanted to be a farmer, he spent his mornings helping out his grandfather. Luie earned a degree in agriculture and business from Cal Poly opened Happy Hens less than a year after graduating, he opened up Happy Hens farm. Its mission was to provide the happiest and healthiest hens in addition to producing the most nutrient dense eggs while using sustainable, low impact methods of farming. A few years later, Luie hired his future wife Chloe, who now supervises animal health, sales, and marketing. Their Truly Outdoors label is part of The Real Organic Project.

New Barn Organics

In 2015, New Barn Organics was founded as a company which wanted almond milk that tasted like it was homemade. So they began producing an almond with simple organic ingredients. New Barn has since expanded into regenerative organic certified pasture raised eggs. For this venture, New Barn partnered with NestFresh Eggs. New Barn co-founder Ted Robb said they chose NestFresh because of their devotion to regenerative agriculture and their belief that it’s important in creating a healthier food system for the generations to come. New Barn’s eggs are verified by the Regenerative Organic Alliance.

OrgaNick Pastures

Nick Westby had always wanted to open Wisconsin’s first Certified Humane pasture raised egg farm. His career in agriculture first began in high school helping out at a chicken farm producing organic fertilizer and then working on a different farm while in college. In 2019, the dream of his own farm came true when he started one in Rio, WI. The farm’s commitment was to animal welfare, sustainability, and high-quality production. The location also include an on-site processing facility. A year later, Nick opened a second farm in Macellon, WI. OrgaNick Pastures is  now a network of multiple family owned and operated farm across the region offering Regenerative Organic Certified eggs.

Vital Farms

Vital Farms starts in 2007 with a 27 acre farm in Austin, TX. When Whole Foods discovered their eggs at a farmers market, they began selling them throughout their supermarkets in the midwest. Vital Farms began working with small farmers all over the country using the Vital Farms name on their products. They’re now partnered with over 100 family farms and are sold nationwide. Among their various lines of pasture raised eggs are the Restorative line which is certified regenerative by the Regenerative Organic Alliance.

Wilcox Family Farms

Wilcox Family Farms is over 100 years old and is currently run by the fourth generation of the Wilcox family. Their organic and sustainable practices date back to when the land was purchased by the family in 1909. Being along the Nisqually River in central Washington State, the family knew they had a responsibility to not use any chemicals or pesticide which could run off into the river. They also use locally grown feed for the chickens when possible.

September 23 is celebrated as National Snack Stick Day to honor on-the-go snacks. Meat snacks, which snack sticks are included under, are the fourth highest selling product in the salty snack sector. Meat snacks are more popular than pretzels and popcorn. While snack sticks in concept are a real food, so many of the jerky products available to consumers use factory farmed meats and are loaded with GMOs and artificial ingredients.

For me, my memories of meat sticks are noshing on them while on vacation with my family and hiking in the state parks. As a kid, I have fond memories of these meat sticks. They had a nice flavor with their spices and seasonings. But the ones I ate were unfortunately among the unhealthy kinds.

I’ve had the pleasure of learning about many new meat stick companies using 100% grass fed meats at the conventions I’ve attended over the years. It’s delightful to hear that many of them founded their brands for the reason that they also saw only unhealthy snack sticks in stores. This trend continues to grow. And these grass fed sticks are no longer found exclusively at the natural foods stores. As I was driving up to the Bay Area last year, I noticed venison sticks at a convenience store off right off the I-5 going through the Central Valley of California.

Sticks with real meat and real ingredients can also be considered a traditional food. In fact, they use one of the oldest methods of preparing meat. As meat sticks are smoked, the concept of cooking meat over fire  goes back to the earliest humans in existence. Fresh meats were subject to decay and insect infestation, so people began drying and smoking it to help it last longer. Meat sticks themselves likely evolved from the sausage, which can be traced back to Mesopotamia in 3100 BC.

Similar to how earlier cultures and civilizations used all kind of wild animals for their smoked meats and sausages, many of these new grass fed sticks are also using more gamey animals such as bison, venison, and elk. With all the grass fed options out there now, it’s a treat that I can eat meat sticks again.

We’re blessed with many options for grass meat sticks. In the past fews, some snack stick brands have gone the extra mile and used regenerative meats in their products. Regenerative agriculture contains both animals on pasture and coming from farms with healthy soil, carbon sequestration, effective use of rain water, pollinator habitats, and biodiversity.

There are numerous regenerative certification labels. For meat products, many are certified by Land to Market. Land to Market’s roots can be traced back to biologist Allen Savory.  Since the 1960s, Savory has been supporting regenerative agriculture and has introduced holistic planned grazing to ranchers throughout the world. In 2009, he founded the Savory Institute to further this mission. More recently Land to Market was spun off from the Savory Institute to certify products as regenerative. Land to Market uses a protocol known as Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV). EOV measures regeneration through the ecological indicators of ground covering, water infiltration, biodiversity, and soil & carbon health.

Another organization for regenerative certification is the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA). ROA is a joint venture between the Rodale Institute, Patagonia Provisions, and Dr. Bronner’s. They require products to be both organ certified and regenerative. ROA has three pillars to become Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC). The pillars are soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness.

In alphabetical order, here are the 4 best brands of regenerative grass fed sticks:

Chomps

Peter Maldonado and Rashid Ali founded Chomps when they were both single, young professionals who needed an on-the-go protein. They saw a lot of conflicting information in terms of what healthy food is and realized others were having problems knowing what was good for them. Peter and Rashid then figured they could make it easy for everybody by providing basic snacks sourced with high quality proteins and no secret harmful ingredients. Now both of them have families and they’re able to share their healthy snacks with their kids as well. They produce Land to Market certified beef sticks of various flavors along with some venison and turkey sticks.

REP Provisions

REP Provisions is a network of verified regenerative farms and ranches which are  Land to Market certified. All of the farms they partner with go through thorough scientific testing to measure the soil health, sequestered carbon, water quality, and biodiversity. In addition to being regenerative, they’re certified by the Audobon Society to be bird friendly. And for every meat box, sold, REP plants 100 milkweed seeds on their ranches to restore monarchs migration corridors. Through the REP website, consumers can order regeneratively raised beef, chicken, pork, and lamb. Their beef products include their beefstix.

Starwalker Organic Farms

In 1970, the Walker family purchased a farm in the Marble Mountains. About a decade later, the family’s hard work and dedication led to Starwalker Organic Farms becoming one of the first certified organic farms in the United States. The farm is now run by the third generation of the family, with the four generation helping to take care of the land, and is Regenerative Organic Certified. Starwalker sells a wide array of regenerative beef, pork, and chicken products. They also produce a smokehouse blend of beef & pork sticks.

Thousand Hills

Matt Meier worked for 20 years in conventional food marketing before he returned home to the farm he grew up on. In 2003, he founded Thousand Hills with the mission of nourishing the soil, the plants, cattle, and people by holistically grazing cattle for their entire lives. His home farm in Clearwater, MN is one of the 13 Savory Institute hubs in North America as the ranch is a leader in holistic and regenerative grazing practices. Thousand Hills now sources cattle from other family farms which they’ve hand picked for their similar deep commitment to regenerate land and having nutrient rich beef as a result. The farms range from the midwest, northeast, and west regions of the United States. Already 600,000 acres of land has seen positive benefits. Beef sticks are part of a diverse amount of products which can be found from Thousand Hills, such as jerky, bone broth, chili, ground beef, hot dogs, sausages, steaks, and roasts. All of their products are now Land to Market certified regenerative.

As we deal with this extremely hot weather, we all want to reach for a nice cold beverage to cool down. After water, soda (or pop, as I called it growing up in the midwest) is the most popular drink in the United States.

Conventional soda pop is also one of the unhealthiest drinks. It’s loaded with sugars. And high fructose corn syrup at that. Additionally, conventional pops lack any nutritional value. Fortunately, one of the fastest growing subcategories of natural products and natural beverages is prebiotic soda pop. These products are founded by people who loved a good soft drink, but wanted something healthier.

While prebiotic soda pops have seen immense growth over the past several years, some are still not familiar with them. Others will ask what’s the difference between prebiotics and probiotics. Here it is. Prebiotics are plant fiber which feed your good bacteria. Probiotics are living bacteria which add on to the amount of good bacteria in your digestive system. Both are beneficial and necessary to maintain good digestion.

For many reasons, prebiotics have become more likely to include in functional soda pop than probiotics. One decision to go with prebiotics was that both probiotics and prebiotics are important to include in your gut and a good number of probiotics drinks, such as kombucha, are already on the market. While probiotics have a flavor of their own, prebiotics don’t have any flavor. So consumers can focus on the ingredients themselves in the prebiotic drinks. Many have found prebiotic formulas are easier to develop than probiotic ones. Another case for prebiotics is they’re more shelf stable than probiotics. And one prebiotic soda maker went with prebiotics because some heat is applied to the spices they add and probiotics would be destroyed by the heat. Others have seen the advantages of both prebiotics and probiotics and include both in their beverages.

Along with prebiotics, a number of other functional ingredients are used from kombucha cultures to apple cider vinegar to ginger. Many of these sodas use cane sugar while some use only natural sweeteners such as stevia, monk fruit, or fruit juice. All of the brands below contain significantly less grams of sugar than the conventional soda pops.

After prebiotic pop’s breakthrough in the beginning of the decade, the market has become very saturated. But not all prebiotic beverages are created equally. While just about all of them contain some organic ingredients, only handful are fully organic certified. As so many chemicals are sprayed on our crops these days, I emphasize the ones with all organic ingredients.

In alphabetical order, here are the 5 best organic prebiotic soda pops:

Daytrip

Daytrip was founded in 2019 on the belief that we could all use more ways to get away and the power of plants is the way to help you get there. Daytrip first produced CBD-infused sparkling water. In addition to CBD, all of the beverages also included terpenes. Terpenes are the primary elements of the essential oils in plants. Terpenes also provide hemp plants with their flavor and aroma. Botanical terpenes have many mood elevating benefits. More recently Daytrip began offering prebiotic soda. All of their prebiotic sodas include their proprietary blend of terpenes, elderberries, and prebiotic fiber. Daytrip sees their prebiotic sodas as tasty way to boost your mind-gut connection. For the prebiotic sodas, Daytrip has popular soda pop flavors of root beer, Dr. Pepper, and cream soda and fruit flavors of berry citrus, clementine, and grapefruit lime.

Evolution Fresh

Back in 1995, Evolution Fresh was founded with the goal of giving more people access to healthy fruit juice. Years later, Evolution Fresh invested high pressure processing to be able to sell their juice outside of California. In 2013, they then opened a juicery in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, becoming the first juicery of its kind in North America and allowing their juices to be available across all of the United States. Their products are TRUE Certified, recognizing their commitment to production practices which sustainable and environment friendly. Most recently, Evolution Fresh has expanded into brewing soda pop. Their pops contain prebiotics and probiotics and come in the fruit flavors of berry burst, orange squeeze, strawberry vanilla, lemon lime, and tropical mango.

Live Beverages

In 2013, Trevor Ross originally made his first Live Beverages as a way to help his father kick his soda addiction. Instead of taking aways his dad’s soda pop altogether, Trevor came up with a soda substitute which tasted like cola. He also felt that making kombucha with pop flavors would help differentiate his kombucha from others in what had became a very saturated market. So Trevor was able to take his drinks made for his father and sell them to help millions of other people make better decisions. In 2023, the Los Angeles kombucha company Better Booch purchased Live Beverages to add a drink to its line which contains both prebiotics and probiotics.  The original cola kombucha is now with other kombucha versions of traditional pop, which are root beer, cream soda, lemon lime, and cherry berry.

Nekter Pop

Founder Adam Lazar was attending an open house for a maple farm in Vermont with his daughter when the idea of Nekter Pop came to him. At the farm, Adam saw thousands of gallons of maple sap water being tossed out. After talking to the farmer, he learned that the maple syrup producers only use 3% of the sap to make maple syrup and related products. Adam was also taking probiotics for his gut health problems. The supplements were helping, but he often forget to take them and was looking for a way to always get in his daily allowance. Adam realized the remaining 97% of the sap could be used as an organic water for a gut healthy probiotic soda. As a result, Nekter Pop was born. Nekter Pop uses both probiotics and prebiotics. Nekter comes in the varieties of root beer, black cherry, lemon lime, and orange.

Wild Wonder

wildwonder was founded to be the world’s first sparkling drink to combine the  two essential elements of live probiotics and prebiotic dietary fiber. wildwonder worked with microbiome specialists to discover a resilient strain of probiotics to balance the gut. They also use an exclusive mix of chicory root and jerusalem artichoke, which both contain the plant fiber inulin. Additionally, their beverages contain superfoods such as ginger, turmeric, and rose along with fresh California fruit juices. wildwonder’s offerings are apple yuzu, blackberry violet, pink momelo limeade, cherry lemonad, raspberry lychee, strawberry passion, guava rose, pineapple paradise, and mango gold.

The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council recognizes July as National Hot Dog Month and is observing National Hot Dog Day this year on Wednesday July 16. The Council celebrates it in July as they see the hot dog as a vibrant part of Americana and want it to occur the same month we celebrate our nation’s independence. National Hot Dog Day has been honored for decades in Washington D.C. Over 1,000 legislators, Administration employees, and political staffers gather in the Capitol Hill courtyard for a large hot dog picnic. July also makes sense for National Hot Dog Month as hot dogs are consumed everywhere in the summer from backyard barbecues to baseball games.

For me, hot dogs are one of the first types of meat I remember eating as a child. But like all foods, I now want to consume properly sourced franks. These are one of the hardest foods to find more natural versions of as they’re a rather processed product in general. When searching for better choices in hot dogs, it’s important to pick ones with just the basic ingredients needed.

As the Appropriate Omnivore, the first thing I look for in a frankfurter is that they’re 100% grass fed. It’s also best to go for hot dogs which are nitrate and nitrite free (also known as uncured) as well as not containing any MSG, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, artificial flavors, or artificial color. All of the hot dogs listed below fit these criteria.

I’ve been covering grass fed hot dogs for many years and now and am greatly impressed with how many options there are on the market now. Even more so, there hot dogs which go a step further and sourced from regenerative farms. Regenerative agriculture not only involves grazing animals, but also means the farms have healthy soil, carbon sequestration, effective use of rain water, pollinator habitats, and biodiversity.

There are numerous regenerative certification labels. For meat products, many are certified by Land to Market. Land to Market’s roots can be traced back to biologist Allen Savory.  Since the 1960s, Savory has been supporting regenerative agriculture and has introduced holistic planned grazing to ranchers throughout the world. In 2009, he founded the Savory Institute to further this mission. More recently Land to Market was spun off from the Savory Institute to certify products as regenerative. Land to Market uses a protocol known as Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV). EOV measures regeneration through the ecological indicators of ground covering, water infiltration, biodiversity, and soil & carbon health.

Another organization for regenerative certification is the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA). ROA is a joint venture between the Rodale Institute, Patagonia Provisions, and Dr. Bronner’s. They require products to be both organ certified and regenerative. ROA has three pillars to become Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC). The pillars are soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness.

The final certifier of regenerative agriculture for hot dogs on the list is Regenified. Reginified was co-founded by Gabe Brown, a North Dakota rancher and educator in regenerative agriculture. Reginified has a 6-3-4 Verification Standard which consists of 6 principles of soil health, 3 rules of adaptive stewardship, and 4 ecosystem processes.

In alphabetical order, here are 8 best regenerative hot dogs:

Applegate

Although Applegate‘s 100% grass fed hot dog wasn’t introduced until 2006, its mission was the same as mine in writing this article. In 1987, Stephen McDonnell and his friend Christopher Ely bought Chris’ family business Jugtown Smokehouse, which produced smoked meats without any synthetic nitrates. Stephen started the business with the purpose of asking “what if you weren’t afraid to read a hot dog ingredient label?” Next they made deli meat which was antibiotic free, followed by introducing the first widely distributed deli meat with an organic certification. In 2015, all of their beef products became 100% grass fed. In 2017, their hot dogs became verified by The Non-GMO Project. Applegate also has corn dogs, breakfast and dinner sausages, cheeses, bacon, breaded chicken, grilled chicken strips, and burgers patties. Their most recent launched was the regenerative Do Good Hot Dog.

Carman Ranch

A group of small family farms and ranches in the Pacific Northwest joined together to create a collective known as Carman Ranch. All of the farms combined make up 250,000 acres of grassland being restored through livestock. Carman Ranch is the first grass fed beef to be certified by Reginified.  Their hot dogs are available for delivery through the Carman Ranch website. In Portland, the hot dogs are sold at the natural grocer New Seasons Market under the store label.

Charcutnuvo

For over 50 years, CharcutNuvo has been giving us sausages with the highest quality ingredients. They require any rancher who partners with them to raise animals ethically on a sustainable farm where no hormones and antibiotics are administered. CharcutNuvo only sources from farms in the United States, with the exception of some of its bison from Canada and its elk from New Zealand. All of their lines are free of nitrates and nitrites and they have an organic line. CharcutNuvo never uses artificial ingredients, chemicals, or unneeded fillers such as sugar. Their sausages and hot dogs are all made at their Denver plant, which they own so they can have 100% control of what goes into the meat. CharcutNuvo is currently run by Eric Gutknecht, a fourth generation sausage maker. Eric moved to the U.S. from Switzerland when he was 3 and purchased the company from his parents in 2003. Their products include hot dogs and many types of sausages, plus some European meats like liverwurst.

Force of Nature

The team behind Force of Nature spent six years studying regenerative agriculture and touring ranches around the world before deciding to start their own company. So Force of Nature was founded on the principle of being able to jumpstart a global regenerative supply network. Their main focus in terms of products is ground meat from all types of animals, including a number of wild game. They also sell various cuts of their different animals. And then there’s the Force of Nature regenerative hot dogs, which come in their varieties of beef and bison + beef.

Keller Crafted

Mark and Vicky Keller devised Keller Crafted in 2001 on the belief that they could make the world a better place through how we farm, eat, and support each other. Their mission was to create a farm-direct-food chain consisting of progressive farmers, regenerative agriculture, animal welfare, and nourishment. A major commitment of Mark and Kelly’s was also to create transparent and long-term relationships with their farms and their consumers. The animals they raise are grass fed beef and lamb, pasture raised chicken, heritage breed pork, and pasture grazed turkey. Their hot dogs specifically come from Richards Regenerative, which is the first Land to Market beef producer in the western states.

REP Provisions

REP Provisions is a network of verified regenerative farms and ranches. All of the farms they partner with go through thorough scientific testing to measure the soil health, sequestered carbon, water quality, and biodiversity. In addition to being regenerative, they’re certified by the Audobon Society to be bird friendly. And for every meat box, sold, REP plants 100 milkweed seeds on their ranches to restore monarchs migration corridors. Through the REP website, consumers can order regeneratively raised beef, chicken, pork, and lamb. Their beef products include their hot dogs.

Thousand Hills

Matt Meier worked for 20 years in conventional food marketing before he returned home to the farm he grew up on. In 2003, he founded Thousand Hills with the mission of nourishing the soil, the plants, cattle, and people by holistically grazing cattle for their entire lives. His home farm in Clearwater, MN is one of the 13 Savory Institute hubs in North America as the ranch is a leader in holistic and regenerative grazing practices. Thousand Hills now sources cattle from other family farms which they’ve hand picked for their similar deep commitment to regenerate land and having nutrient rich beef as a result. The farms range from the midwest, northeast, and west regions of the United States. Already 600,000 acres of land has seen positive benefits. Hot dogs are part of a diverse amount of products which can be found from Thousand Hills, such as bone broth, chili, ground beef, sausages, steaks, roasts, jerky, and sticks. All of their products are now Land to Market certified regenerative.

White Oaks Pastures

The origins of White Oak Pastures date back to the late 1800’s. The Harris family has been raising cattle on the same farm in Georgia for five generations now. The family farm was first founded by Captain James Edward Harris right after the Civil War. He and his sharecroppers would butcher cows, hogs, and chicken every Saturday. In the early 1900’s, James’ son Will Carter Harris ran the farm. He upped the butchering to six days a week, delivered the food to local stores and places to eat, and built a commissary on the farm. After World War II, Will Bell Harris took control and made the farm more industrialized, using new chemical tools and having the animals slaughtered off site. In 1995, Will Harris III made the decision to return the farm to a production system which was better for the environment, the animals, and the consumers. Will reintroduced the multi-species rotational grazing practices used by his grandfather and great grandfather as well as building abattoirs on the farm to slaughter our animals. White Oaks prides itself on being a zero waste farm. In addition to food, they produce leather, pet chew rawhides, and tallow products. Also, the viscera from the cattle is composted and spread as fertilizer on the farm land’s soil. White Oaks additionally serves as a Hub for the Savory Institute, creating awareness in the marketplace about products which come from true practices of regenerative agricultural systems. Their hot dogs are among their many products of the various animals on their grasslands. The options are a 100% beef or a beef and pork hot dog.

National French Fry Day takes place every second Friday (Fry Day?) in July. The day is observed as we’re well into the summer season when people hold outdoor gatherings and barbecues.

The origin of the fried spuds is highly debated. Many argue that french fries aren’t actually French, but Belgian. Belgians claim Americans called them french fries when they were stationed in their country during World War I. Some soldiers were in the French-speaking region of Wallonia where they saw fried potatoes being served.

On the other hand, Belgian historian Pierre Leclercq has traced fries back to French origin. Bavarian musician Frédéric Krieger cooked fries in Paris in 1842 and then introduced his fried potatoes to Belgium in 1844. Also, earlier style fries differ from the ones today. The modern style of fries originated in Paris in 1855.

The most unfortunate change in french fries was going from real to denatured ingredients. The biggest problem is frying the potatoes in seed oils such as canola, corn, and soybean oil. Another problem is relying on stabilizers and fillers. And then there’s the use of pesticides and herbicides in the ingredients. Potatoes themselves are on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen.

The good news is we’re finally seeing seed oil free frozen french fries on the market. These fries are cooked in healthy oils including avocado and olive oil and fats such as beef tallow. And they  use simpler, cleaner, and less ingredients.

In alphabetical order, here are the 4 best seed oil free frozen french fries:

Folkland Foods

Folkland Foods was founded by the Troyer family, who have been potato farming since 1930. In 1967, they started Troyer Farms Potato Chips and ran it until it was sold in 2008. Now third generation members Colton & Zachary Troy run the farm. The brothers created Folkland Foods, which focuses on organic and regenerative agriculture and minimally processed potato products. Their first entry into this line is their french fries cooked in olive oil. The fries come in the varieties of Himalayan salt, garlic rosemary, and cajun spice.

Jesse & Ben’s

In 2010, Jesse Konig & Ben Johnson started college and became best friends. Three years later, they ran a food business on campus and knew they were ready to enter the food industry after they graduated. The duo moved to Washington D.C. and launched a food truck. Jesse & Ben expanded their business to two food trucks, multiple farmers markets, and a mobile catering service. Over time, they realized they needed to do something they were passionate about if they wanted to remain in the food industry. They transitioned their food truck from gourmet hot dogs to better fast food. By 2019, their burger business was a success, so they decided to open a brick and mortar. Set to open in the spring of the 2000, they struggled when the pandemic hit. During this time, they began making their own frozen french fries as a backup plan. When they walked the frozen food section of the supermarket and didn’t see any new brands of fries, the two knew there was a place for theirs and they founded Jesse & Ben’s. Their regular sea salt fries come in both avocado oil and grass fed beef tallow. Rosemary garlic fries are also available in avocado oil.

Roots Farm Fresh 

Roots Farm Fresh is a collective of farmers and makers who share the goal of producing delicious and sustainable foods near where their crops are grown. Roots is Upcycle Certified, using potatoes which otherwise may go to waste. The potatoes are then steamed to make the fries crispier. This process saved billions of gallons of water. Their products are all certified organic with their potatoes being fried in avocado oil. The company is also big on giving back. For every pound of their products purchased, they donate a pound of sweet potatoes to food-insecure community members. Roots Farm Fresh offers both regular potato and sweet potato fries in a wide variety of shapes and forms.

Tallow & Fries 

In 2020, the Tallow & Fries founder’s wife was diagnosed with cancer. As a father of three young kids, he was balancing work, remote learning, and cooking for his family all while the pandemic was occurring. He ended up feeding them a lot of quick and easy meals like french fries and chicken nuggets. When his wife was in remission in 2021, he realized it was time to control of his family’s health beginning with what they ate. Neither the rest of the family nor he could agree on eliminating french fries. The problem was he couldn’t overlook how all frozen fries were made with seed oils and linked to inflammation and other health issues. Then he rediscovered beef tallow. He found not only was it healthier, but it brought out a richer and more pleasing flavor. He began making his own french fries for his family with Tallow & Fries becoming a business in 2024. Tallow & Fries has choices of both regular and sweet potato fries.

Potato chips are one of the top products in the snack food industry. The rake in $13.1 billion on in the United States and 59.67 globally. Potato chips weren’t always a highly processed food. For a long time, potato chips remained artisan and local, because they couldn’t keep fresh for too long. The chips were typically placed in a paper bag sealed with a paper clip. They would go stale in day. All of this changed thanks to one person.

During the Great Depression, Americans were trying to find cheap calories for the families to consume. Candy had seen a big boom, but the salty snack industry was barely on the radar. Only small local producers were offering snacks such as pretzels and popcorn. One company in Tennessee called the Barrett Snack Food Company and known for crackers and pretzels was struggling to keep its lights on. Then entered an employee named Herman Lay.

Herman Lay was a salesman and businessman who had trouble in the past year finding consistent work. An idea came to his head when the Dust Bowl was taking place. Farmers were struggling to grow their usual crops as they their top levels of soil were blowing away. Now potatoes and corn had become commodities. Potato prices decreased significantly and Herman discovered the then unknown snack of potato chips.

When the founder of the Barrett Snack Food Company passed away, Herman Lay offered to buy the company. He took out to a loan which was 12 times what his life savings were. Herman’s next challenge was to find a way to keep the potato chips fresh.

Herman Lay discovered a paper known as glassine, a smooth translucent paper which is resistant to moisture, dust and grass. Glassine had been used to preserve stamps and photographs. Herman worked with an engineer who designed a sealable bag.

During World War II, Herman Lay experienced trouble as the government was seizing all materials for military use and shutting down nonessential businesses, such as his. Herman was successfully able to lobby Congress to recognize potato chips as an essential food. He said they’re both non-perishable and readily available to eat should there be a blackout where you can’t cook. As sugar was rationed during WWII, candy prices went up. Salty snack now were making headway into the profits of the candy industry.

Herman Lay was first selling his products only in the east, but eventually worked his way to get his potato chips available in the west. To expand sales, he introduced seasoned chips in the 1950s, starting with barbecue and adding on other flavors as time went on. As plastic bags became more common with packaging, they replaced the glassine bags.

With the many changes we’ve seen with potato chips from being artisan to mass produced and from paper to glassine to plastic, we’ve also seen them going from using real ingredients to denatured ingredients. One of the worst changes to potato chips was the use of seed oils such as canola, corn, and soybean oil. Another problem was non-organic ingredients sprayed with multiple pesticides.

When I started this blog in 2011, I knew of one seed oil free potato chip brand. Over the years, there’s been a huge growth in chips using clean ingredients again, including healthy oils such as avocado, olive, coconut, and palm oil. Now tallow is having moment. While some may see this related to politics, movements such as the Weston A. Price Foundation and the paleo community have been advocating for tallow long before. These groups consist of people from all over the political spectrum. So I recommend tallow from the point of view of an ancestral health advocate and nothing more.

In addition to cooking in tallow, the potato chips brands I recommend are also free of iodized salt,  additives, and fillers. Many of these brands stick to the three basic ingredients of potatoes, tallow, and sea salt. Serve any of these chips below at your Super Bowl party this year and you’ll score a touchdown.

In alphabetical order, here are the 12 best beef tallow potato chips:

Beefy’s Own

The origin of Beefy’s Own begins in 2020 when the founder’s family decided improve their health and commit to a holistic animal based diet. This meant cutting out seeds oils, which would unfortunately also meant no potato chips. So they decided to make their own, using tallow. They then shared the chips online and realized there was large demand for tallow fried potato chips. In 2022, Beefy’s Own made the chips in small batch. When 2023 came around, they found a dedicated production facility in order to sell their products nationwide. The flavors of Beefy’s Own are sea salt, salt n’ vinegar, salt n’ pepper, sour cream & onion, and BBQ.

Boulder Canyon

In 1994, brothers John and Mark Maggio founded Boulder Canyon to create snacks which were both healthy and delicious. The two learned how to make potato chips and soon started frying them in better oils, such as avocado oil and most recently beef tallow. Currently Boulder Canyon’s one beef tallow chips offering is sea salt. They’re currently available at Costco and will be sold everywhere starting in September.

Fat of the Land

Fat of the Land was founded by parents who knew all about the temptation of potato chips as they’re quick and convenient. The founders’ problem was most of them contained seed oils. Knowing about the health issues from the oils, they never gave their children snacks with them. So they created a snack they could feel good about. Their idea was snacks cooked in animal fats consumed for thousands of years. In addition to animal fats, Fat of the Land  prioritizes sustainable and ethical sourcing. They value being good for the earth as much as being good for people’s health. Fat of the Land’s potato chips come in sea salt and BBQ.

Norse Roots

Inspired by Norse and Viking Cultures, the founders of Norse Roots believed that snacks should both  taste great and nourish. After discovering the unique properties of beef tallow and its significant role in ancient diets, the founders started cooking beef tallow potato chips. Their tallow comes from suppliers who share their commitment to sustainable and ethical practices. Norse Roots has a wide option of flavors all with clever names. These flavors are original (sea salt), Valhalla feast (rosemary steak flavor), smoky mischief (honey barbecue), sea storm & pepper (salt & pepper), viking funeral (cheddar & sour cream), and berzerker (spicy all-seasoned).

Rancher’s Chips

The roots for Rancher’s Chips involve a group friends on a camping trip in Bobcaygeon, Ontario. As they were sitting around a campfire, they discussed their love of potato chips and their frustration over all of the bad ingredients the chips had become loaded with. They questioned if these ingredients were necessary. After searching for seed oil free chips with minimal ingredients, they found very few offerings. And the ones they did see were too expensive for daily needs. So they fried potatoes into chips themselves, doing it the way chips used to be cooked. They stuck to three ingredients: quality potatoes, beef tallow, and salt. To make their dream become a reality, Rancher’s partnered with an established, family-owned potato chip company in Ohio.

Roots Potato Chips

Roots Potato Chips‘ mission statement is to source the best ingredients, healthier oils, and farm fresh potatoes while being transparent at every stage. Their Idaho grown potatoes use methods of regenerative agriculture, including cover crops, pollination, crop rotation, soil health, composting, and animal integration. They’re certified regenerative by the Soil & Climate Initiative. Roots reduces its food waste by using the entire potatoes, skin and all. They’re also certified plastic neutral by rePurpose as they support global waste recovery projects to fund the recovery of the same amount of plastic waste as their footprint while supporting waste workers. They include a QR code to learn about the farmer where the potatoes came from in that specific bag. Roots began with avocado oil potato chips and more recently added 100% grass fed beef tallow chips to their line. Their tallow chips come in sea salt with the choice of regular or purple potatoes.

Rosie’s Chips

Being originally from Central Pennsylvania, the potato chip capital of the world, Rosie’s Chips began with a vision of introducing to the world an all natural potato chip using the simple three ingredients of potatoes, grass fed & finished beef tallow, and microplastic free sea salt. The chips are kettle cooked in small batches. The name Rosie’s Chips comes from 102-year-old Central Pennsylvania icon Rose Adams, who raised the founders’ family and was known for her delicious comfort foods and snacks.

Stella & Milos

The name Stella & Milo’s refers to the founder’s dogs. Whenever they would open a bag of chips, their dog Stella wandered over in hopes that they’d share the chips. As they learned about the chips’ additives  and how the chips were processed, the founders knew it was time to concoct something better. So the founders set out to make potato chips the way they used to be done. This meant kettle cooked chips from the three simple ingredients of potatoes, grass fed beef tallow, and mineral-rich salt. Their current dog Milo now continues the tradition of being their most enthusiastic taste tester.

Tasty Nate’s

Nathan Childs had a bold vision to revolutionize the snack industry with seed oil free potato chips. So Nathan started Tasty Nate’s, which offered potato chips with the three basic ingredients of potatoes, beef tallow, and sea salt. His chips are not only seed oil free, but also avoid any fillers or hard to pronounce ingredients. Along with the original flavor, Tasty Nate’s also has game day BBQ and summer burger.

Teddy’s Tallow Chips

As a child, founder Teddy Horvath was diagnosed with asthma and severe food allergies. Having an intolerance toward gluten, eggs, dairy, and most processed foods, Teddy had trouble even with a single potato chip or pretzel. So his mother Katherine began looking for alternatives which he could consume. With the suggestion of her grandmother, Katherine attempted cooking potatoes in traditional beef tallow. Much to their surprise, they discovered Teddy could eat the chips and not get sick. In 2025, as Teddy saw people now realizing  the dangers of seed oils and the benefits of tallow, he came up with a plan for Teddy’s Tallow Chips to be a business. After creating a bag design, his mom said she was in and the company was born.

Tips

Tips came about as wherever its founders looked for snacks, they were cooked in seed oils. The founders were health conscious and wanted a chip they could trust. So they began frying ones themselves; using beef tallow instead of seed oil, sourcing real, quality ingredients, and cooking the potato chips kettle style. Tips can be found in the varieties of sea salt, salt & vinegar, and jalapeño.

Vandy

Unsatisfied with all of the chips on the market, Ancient Crunch founder Steven A. set out to create a chips with two simple requirements. First, the corn must be naturally grown and the tortillas must be naturally prepared. Second, the tortillas need to be free of any inflammatory seed oils. So he came up with MASA, the first tortilla chips made with both organic corn and grass fed tallow. After MASA, Steve followed up Vandy, potato chips cooked with out seed oils, pesticides, or other additives. He uses the three basic ingredients of potatoes grown naturally and free of CIPC, grass fed & finished tallow, and unrefined sea salt. Vandy comes in original, French onion, herbs de Provence, and smokehouse BBQ.

Here are my 10 tips for making the most of your time at the Expo:

1. Take a look at the exhibitor list on their website

You don’t going exploring without a compass or a map. Similarly, it’s best to attend Expo West knowing what businesses will be there and where they’ll be located. Their website has a list of all of the exhibitors and a floor plan of where they’re located. Also on the Expo West website is a search engine containing many functions. The most basic one is searching by exhibitor name. Having gone many times, I have my favorites which I look for. These include Alexander Family Farm Cleveland Kitchen, Jackson’s Chips, Philosopher Foods, Pure Indian Foods, Sioux Honey, Jovial Foods, and Biora. A more advanced search option on the website allows you to search for key words with exhibitors. By using this tool, I’m able to learn about companies I might not have thought of or even known about. Some of the key words I type in are “grass fed”, “paleo”, “broth, “ferment”, “sauerkraut”, and “kombucha”.

2. Take a look at the NEXTY Awards finalists and winners

Expo West is where the natural food companies introduce new products to their line. To highlight some of the new products, the New Hope Network which puts on the show, holds awards for what they see as the best. You can see who the finalists are on the website and then search for where the companies’ booths are located.

3. Use the app

The Natural Products Expo  has an app which can be downloaded on your smart phone or tablet. Along with the website, the app also allows you to search for exhibitors, which can be added to your favorites on there. Other perks of the app are a map of all the exhibit halls and being able to pull up your badge registration on it. As Expo West is about sustainability, what’s better than being able to save on paper and not having to print out your registration confirmation?

4. If you need help with anything at the Expo, use SPARKY the EventBot

The app is one way to find get information on Expo West. Another option is using SPARKY the EventBot. You can access SPARKY at this link. The EventBot can answer all types of questions regarding the exhibitors, the schedule of the entire week, and even directions on how to get to the Anaheim Convention Center.

5. Don’t skip the exhibitors off the main floor

While the most well known names in organics will be found by and large on the main floor, the exhibitors on other floors in the Anaheim Convention Center as well as in the nearby hotels are also worth checking out. The other floors are great for discovering new products and being the first to know what they’re all about.

6. Attend the day before the main floor opens

The main floor opens on Thursday, but the North Hall of the Convention Center and the Anaheim Hilton are filled with over 1,000 exhibitors known as the Hot Products. I’ve spend over a day visiting these businesses alone. Attending a day early makes it easier to be able to see both the newer smaller companies and the major organic and natural food brands.

7. Get to know the other people talking to the exhibitors

If you’re an attendee as opposed to an exhibitor, you’re obviously there to check out the booths. But the other people attending can also be a major resource into the natural foods network too. I’m always excited meet other bloggers and social media influencers to learn some new tricks of the trade. Additionally, some business don’t feel ready to exhibit yet, but like to walk the floor to get connections. So people behind the exhibitor tables aren’t the only way to learn about exciting new products out there.

8. It’s an exhibitor heavy conference, but hearing the speakers can be beneficial too

With products and expo in its title, it should be clear it’s more about exhibitors than speakers. And even spending every day and minute of the conference on the floor, it’s likely impossible to see every exhibitor there. Still there are many great panels there with valuable knowledge of the sustainable and natural worlds. So if any of the topics pique your interest, it’s worth taking a break from the floor. While some sessions require separate registration, many such as the keynotes every days are included in the general badge registration.

9. Go for seconds with your favorites

I like to hit as many exhibitors as possible, but I also want to make return visits to my favorites to learn more about them and maintain connections. Let the companies know you appreciate them by popping your head in again.

10. There are benefits of attending the last day

Many people I know tend to skip the last day, feeling they’ve covered enough in the other days. This is the day I tend to spend going for seconds with my favorites. It’s also the best day to get samples from the exhibitors as a lot of them don’t plan to take everything back with them. And you never know what you might have missed the other days. It never hurts to take one last walk around all the halls.

I love the wealth of connections I make at the Expo West every year and the great people I get to meet. If you’re attending this year, be sure to look for me.

I continue with more Super Bowl party coverage and more potato chip options. I previously discussed the new popularity of beef tallow chips. There are many other seed oil free options with use of such oils as avocado, coconut, palm, and olive. Potato chips fried in these oils are great options for parties with vegetarians/vegans attending. 

In alphabetical order, here are the 14 best seed oil free chips: 

Boulder Canyon

In 1994, brothers John and Mark Maggio founded Boulder Canyon to create snacks which were both healthy and delicious. The two learned how to make potato chips and soon started frying them in better oils, such as avocado oil. Boulder Canyon’s potato chips come in both ridged and thin textures and in the flavors of sea salt, malt vinegar and sea salt, cheddar sour cream, jalapeño, and limited edition offerings.

Enso

The world’s longest living culture is Okinawa Japan. And the Okinowan sweet potato is a food that the population has relied on for generations. At one point, more than half of their daily calories consisted of sweet potatoes. Enso Chips is inspired by the Okinawan culture and fries Okinawan sweet potatoes in avocado oil. Their sweet chip potato chips come in sea salt, rosemary & garlic, and sweet chili. 

FC Snacks

FC Snacks was formed in 2007 as a family owned importer and distributor of natural snacks. They support local farmers, many of whom are direct descendants of families who first settled in the lands. Some of them even came before the Spanish conquest. FC Snacks is also involved in an initiative to engage local manufacturers in bringing back endemic plants and trees to help restore the diversity of native species. There are three labels for FC Snacks: Andean Gourmet, Samai, and Shegraa. All of the brands use palm olein. Their Andean Gourmet label has a sweet potato option. 

Good Health

Good Health prides themselves on innovative ingredients and great tasting tasting flavors. Their slogan is “Enjoy Being Good”. Good Health makes a number of avocado and olive oil potato chip flavors from sea salt to lime ranch to barbecue.

Hardbite

Originating in British Columbia, the folks at Hardbite were determined to handcraft an all natural chip which tasted as good as the big brands but didn’t have any artificial flavors or preservatives. They experimented with cooking them until they got the perfect crunch, taste, and flavor. Along with using all natural ingredients, they were advocates of non-GMO before the movement was well known. Hardbite also buys the highest quality potatoes from like-minded farmers. As the company has grown, its product line has grown too. More recently, Hardbite introduced its potato chips cooked in avocado oil, coming in the flavors of apple cider vinegar, black truffle sea salt, spicy honey dijon, and sweet ghost pepper. 

Jackson’s Chips

The story of Jackson’s Chips starts with the Megan and Scott Reamers’ son Jackson getting diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder. After trying various methods to improve his health and quality of life, they found that a high fat low carb diet worked the best. The entire family began living a HFLC lifestyle, but they missed eating snack foods. So they attempted cooking locally sourced and thinly sliced sweet potatoes over their stovetop. They loved how the sweet potato chips tasted. Their son Jackson’s legacy lives on through the chips he inspired and the company. Jackson’s Chips has regular potato chips in sea salt variety and sweet potato chips fried in avocado oil in the flavors of sea salt, spicy jalapeño, habanero nacho, and cheddar & sour cream. 

Kettle Brand

Cameron Healy founded Kettle Brand in 1978 with the vision of going the extra mile to make great tasting real foods available to everybody. At the beginning, Cameron was selling the food out of the back of his van. 40 years later, Kettle Brand continues with its effort to be bold with practices such as using whole potatoes cut extra thick. Recently, they also began offering avocado oil potato chips in the varieties of sea salt pink peppercorn, apple cider vinegar, and special sauce. 

Keya’s

Founder Keya Wingfield moved to the U.S. from Mumbai, India and learned everything she knew about cooking from enrolling in a culinary school. After graduating, she became a pastry chef and started a desserts company. She then competed and won the Food Network TV series Baking Championship. When the pandemic hit, Keya shifted to Indian American to-go meals. With each meal, she included a bag of Bombay chips. While the chips were originally for her caucasian husband, everybody began ordering just the chips within a week. Then the chips were spread by word of mouth and retailers approached her. Keya’s flavors are black salt and Bombay spice. 

Kiwa

Kiwa founder Martin Acosta had a calling to change the world. At the beginning, he had just five employees and basic plantain chip machinery, but he also had a room filled with dreams. It took the company a year and a half to figure out what exactly they were going to do, to put the basics of the business into practice, and to get selling. In 2009, Kiwa introduced their first product, the vegetable chips mix. Presently, Kiwa is a global leader with their vegetable chips sold in over 30 countries. They take part in the Direct Trade program. This program connects farmers to manufacturers, building long term trusting relationships between the two sides, guaranteeing better working conditions, technical support, and a higher pay for the farmers. Kiwa has also shifted from its traditional farming practices to regenerative agriculture. They work directly with farmers in eight of Ecuador’s 24 provinces and northern regions of Peru. Kiwa’s offerings are all cooked in palm and have a Native Andean potato chip choice. 

Jans

Since 1998, Jans Enterprises‘ mission has been to improve people’s quality of life by providing them with better food products. Their product line consists of everything from beverages to dairy products to desserts to chips. Among Jans’ chips are organic yellow and purple sweet potato chips fried in coconut oil. 

Nantucket Crisps

The inspiration for Nantucket Crisps comes from growing up on Nantucket’s beaches with memories of sun, surf, and, most importantly, chips. Nantucket Crisp’s chips are cooked in small batches with properly sourced seasonings. Since the end of last year, they’ve been cooking a portion of their chips in avocado oil and their chips have been sold at 350+ Sprouts Farmers Markets as part of their Innovation Program. If enough people buy their avocado oil varieties, Nantucket Crisps will switch all of their products to avocado oil nationwide. Their flavors all include New England themed names. Flavors for their avocado oil chips include Sconset sea salt, Cisco Beach BBQ, Polpis Pickle, and Hummock hot honey. 

Roots Potato Chips

Roots Potato Chips‘ mission statement is to source the best ingredients, healthier oils, and farm fresh potatoes while being transparent at every stage. Their Idaho grown potatoes use methods of regenerative agriculture, including cover crops, pollination, crop rotation, soil health, composting, and animal integration. They’re certified regenerative by the Soil & Climate Initiative. Roots reduces its food waste by using the entire potatoes, skin and all. They’re also certified plastic neutral by rePurpose as they support global waste recovery projects to fund the recovery of the same amount of plastic waste as their footprint while supporting waste workers. They include a QR code to learn about the farmer where the potatoes came from in that specific bag. Roots began with avocado oil potato chips and more recently added 100% grass fed beef tallow chips to their line. Their avocado oil chips come in sea salt, sea salt & vinegar, barbecue, and jalapeño, and red and purple potato options in sea salt. 

Siete

Siete‘s formation can be traced to founder Veronica Garza’s family of seven (or siete in Spanish) helping her overcome numerous health challenges. As a teen, Veronica was diagnosed with multiple autoimmune conditions which made her fatigued, overweight, and depressed. So her family began exercising and joined her in following a low-inflammation, grain free diet. Being a Mexican American family in South Texas, using lettuce in place of the flour and corn tortillas for tacos and fajitas wasn’t cutting it. Veronica began making grain free tortillas. When her Grandmother Campos told her that the grain free tortillas tasted better than the flour tortillas her grandmother had been making for decades, Veronica knew she had a winning product she could sell on the market. The first products were tortillas and tortilla chips made from cassava flour and fried in avocado oil. Siete has since delved into avocado oil potato chips  available in the flavors of sea salt, fuego, queso, sea salt & vinegar, chipotle BBQ, chile lime, spicy dill pickle, habanero hot honey, and sour crema & onion. 

Torres

Founder Manuel Torres, who opened a potato chip stand with his wife Ángeles Medel in Premià de Mar, Spain in 1969. The Torres business soon grew and their children moved the production of the chips to Premià de Dalt while still operating the stand. In 1995, in order to cater to increasing demands, they relocated to their current facilities in Dosrius. In 2012, the Torres introduced their 100% extra virgin olive oil potato chips. More recently Torres launched avocado oil chips in the choices of sea salt and lime and black pepper.