Frozen falafel

New York City's annual Fancy Food Show is underway now through Tuesday. I was scheduled to attend the show - that is, until recent illness unfortunately curtailed my activities. So no roaming the Javits Center which features something like four football fields full of 140,000 plus specialty food/beverage products.



(This show is always a crazy food circus - Chicago chef Rick Bayless who just won last week's Top Chef Masters competition was making tacos there yesterday! - and I'm pretty bummed to be missing out on the activities.)



While this is no substitute for attending the show, I will share a new product that I just tried from Veggie Patch, one of the fastest growing brands in the $300 million meat alternative retail market.



OK, so I'm not much of a frozen food fan, but I enjoyed the new Falafel line, which is fully cooked, spiced chickpea balls. (Three meatballs are about 80 calories.)


The meatballs, which are frozen or can be refrigerated, are flash fried and oven baked. You just zap 'em in the microwave and eat in a pita or as a side dish or appetizer. No artificial ingredients and trans-fat free.


I've topped them with a homemade tzaziki (Greek yogurt with shredded cucumbers) or hummus. Tahini also is good. It's a quick, good lunch or light dinner.


You can find Veggie Patch Falafel at Acme Market, Costco Wholesale, Pathmark and Shop Rite.