Natural Products Expo West took over the Anaheim Convention Center last week. It was my first time attending what is basically the Coachella of food trade shows, where thousands of vendors show off their wares amid long lines for both shuttles and bathrooms.
Expo West is a window into the food trends that may lie in our near future, as well as what the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry is cooking up. As usual, plant-based meats held strong and nutty milks are still the rage.
Here are three trends I noticed at this year’s Expo West and ten stand-out brands I sampled. Check them out here before you see them everywhere.
Three Trends from Expo West 2025
Protein Snacks
Protein. It was everywhere I turned, with companies trying to tuck protein inside snacks, chips, and pasta. To give you an idea of how much protein was available to me, here are some of the many mutations I sampled:
Protein chips from three different brands; protein balls; protein jam; protein ramen; protein yogurt; protein pasta; protein donuts, and more.
The problem with protein is that it’s still quite challenging to mask its taste—the high-protein instant ramen, in particular, was so distasteful I couldn’t even finish my tiny cup-size sample.
There was a lot of talk at this trade show about how CPG brands may soon be attempting to add GLP-1 to things like chips and snacks. People want high value in their snacks—why pop regular chips in your mouth when you could be getting a dose of protein or GLP-1 while you’re at it? I’d advocate for making protein taste good first—we still have a long way to go on that front.
Prebiotic Drinks
Just as protein seemed to be on every chip and donut, beverages were branding themselves as prebiotic and good for gut health. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the success of prebiotic soda brands such as Poppi and Olipop over the last year. At Expo West, I sampled a number of prebiotic drinks, but I preferred the probiotic products.
Pecans
Rounding out our three Ps is pecans—while oat milk and almond milk have staked their claim in the alternative milks aisle, pecan milk is still fighting for recognition. I tried at least two different pecan-based milks and found both of them middling and a bit chalky. At least they tasted better than the pea protein milk at another booth.
Here are ten brands that stood out at Natural Products Expo West:
Naan-Based Pretzels
Niramaya Foods began when founder Mehek Khera converted her grandmother's recipes into Indian-flavored dips. Since then, she’s expanded into naan-based pretzels, which are exactly what they sound like: pretzels made from naan bread.
At Expo West, the Niramaya booth had a few flavors available, including pink salt and tandoori BBQ. But the standout was the sweet jalebi. Imitating the Indian sweet, this variety of naan pretzel tasted exactly how you would expect it to—a delightful mix of sweet, salty, and crunchy.
Scott's Protein Balls
One of the many protein products at Expo West, Scott’s Protein Balls came with a moving backstory. When Lori Levine contracted breast cancer, she was forced to completely revamp her diet. Her husband, Scott Levine, began making protein balls for her in place of the overly processed bars found in stores. After finishing treatments, Lori decided to turn Scott’s protein balls into a business opportunity.
I got a chance to speak to Scott, who was extremely proud of his wife’s business acumen. His protein balls come in a number of flavors, from brownie batter to peanut butter cacao. I was partial to the cinnamon almond butter one.
Oo Mee Red Algae Drinks
Oo Mee, a beverage brand known for its greens drink, was promoting a red algae-based marine plant soda. I sampled the strawberry hibiscus flavor—it retained a refreshingly light tint of sweetness and tasted like a healthy fizzy soda.
Sun Noodle Craft Ramen
I have a very high standard for instant or frozen noodles and tried many a cup or small platter at Expo West. One standout was the craft ramen from Sun Noodle, a brand originally from Hawaii and now available nationwide. The noodles, despite coming out of a package, retained a surprising amount of bounce to them, not the usual flat noodles that you’re used to getting out of a cupped ramen. Of all the packaged or frozen noodles I tried, Sun Noodle’s had the best pure noodle.
Saiga Pho
But speaking of noodles, it should come as no surprise that my favorite sample by a wide mile was a shockingly good packaged pho. Founded by first-generation Vietnamese-Americans, Saiga is also a restaurant and eatery with two locations in Orange County run by Thu, Tram, and Mimi.
I have historically disdained packaged pho—it’s never able to quite capture the flavor of the real thing and tastes like a sad, watered down version. But when I tried the Saiga Pho sample, I knew they were the real deal. It is, to date, the only packaged pho I’ve had that I would wholeheartedly go out to a Sprouts Farmers Markets grocery store to buy.
Epoca Probiotic Shots
The Epoca dairy shots are packaged to look a lot like Yakult, the Japanese dairy drink that was a staple of many Asian American childhoods. These probiotic shots, which come in probiotic almond flavors, taste very similar to Yakult and keep the same delicious sweetness to them.
Hot Pot Queen Chili Crisp
Hailing from Chongqing, China, the founder of Hot Pot Queen is bringing the bold, mala (spicy numbing) flavors that CQ is known for and packing them into a chili crisp. I happen to be from CQ myself and took one bite and knew Jia had nailed it. This chili crisp should be giving all the other chili crisps in this crowded space a run for their money.
O’s Bubble Popping Boba
The Taiwanese brand O’s Bubble has a wide assortment of drinks, from sparkling white tea to boba jelly kits. But the one they advertised at Expo West was their popping boba tea, which also happens to be vegan and gluten-free. The boba jelly explodes in your mouth in a fun squirt of sugar. It’s a great chew-chew-pop sensation to go along with an extremely solid milk tea.
Le Zette Sheep Yogurt
An L.A.-based brand, Le Zette notably uses sheep’s milk instead of cow’s milk for all of their products. The sheep’s milk frozen yogurt, which has probiotic properties, was just as good as a cow’s milk frozen yogurt, with a nice tartness at the end. Dare I say it had a touch more tartness than a traditional frozen yogurt, which is exactly what I want out of a froyo?
Australian-Style Thunder Coffeemilk Mocha
Founded by two friends, one Australian and one American, Thunder CoffeeMilk makes canned coffee drinks in the Australian style (with more milk steamed in). I had a chance to sample the mocha flavor and chatted with Ed, one of the founders, who was passionate about their two-man founder’s story. It was my favorite caffeine-based beverage of the weekend.
