Eating breakfast before hitting the floor at Natural Products Expo West is a rookie mistake, since the annual food conference could easily qualify as the biggest multi-day sampling event in America.

Held last week at the Anaheim Convention Center just south of Los Angeles and in the shadow of Disneyland, the trade show pulled in some 70,000 attendees and 3,000 exhibitors of “natural, organic and conscious products” spanning food, supplements, and health and beauty, per organizer New Hope Network.

The shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, along with the show’s 512,000 square feet of real estate, may help to reenergize a category that has taken some lumps recently for its pricey goods and elitist marketing.

“The turnout speaks to the interest in the whole sector,” Tom Spier, founder and managing partner of investment firm BFG Partners, told ADWEEK. “The numbers suggest there’s real staying power in this industry—it isn’t a passing fad.”

While it’s not a here-and-gone segment, it may take a new form in 2024, experts say, with the proliferation of brands in recent years and the current economic climate setting off a merger-and-acquisition boom. Some brands will survive, some won’t, and some could be gobbled by CPG behemoths looking to amp up their better-for-you bona fides.

Eyes bigger than stomach

In addition to full bellies, the retail buyers and distributors, investors, entrepreneurs and lookie-loos on site got a taste of emerging and ongoing trends. Those range from the continued explosion of world flavors like Asian, Indian, Mexican and African to the omnipresence of faux meat jerky, “ugly” fruit snacks, adaptogen-boosted coffee and a Yo Egg plant-based poached egg that was practically indistinguishable from the real thing.

Dates and hot honey are having a moment, and mushrooms are still going strong—as a supplement, an ingredient and a stand-alone product in various forms. Paul Stamets, a mycologist known for his key role in the Fantastic Fungi documentary and companion book, got a rock star’s reception with consistently long meet-and-greet lines at his Host Defense Mushrooms booth.

Pistachio and pecan milk are no longer the new kids on the non-dairy block—that distinction goes to corn milk, a longtime staple in Asia and Central and South America, but largely unknown here. A startup called Maizly, readying its first U.S. distribution deal, aims to break through with its non-GMO alternative to plant- and nut-based drinks. (And speaking of alternatives to traditional milk, Lattini’s sunflower milk is also coming soon.)

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