I just back from Expo West in Anaheim last week. It’s basically the Super Bowl of the food industry.

Madalina and I walked the entire show floor (averaging 25,000 steps a day!!), met with founders, and had some really exciting meetings for Kaizen (more on that soon).

One trend was impossible to miss:

Protein in everything.

Protein soda. Protein popcorn. Protein ice cream. Protein… basically anything you can imagine.

Innovation is great, but it’s also a good reminder that “high protein” doesn’t automatically mean better. Ingredient quality matters. And sometimes the bigger serving size is doing a lot of the work behind those big protein numbers.

A few interesting things we saw:

• Honey Mama’s – finally met the founder of a brand I’ve loved for years

• Fling – protein Pop-Tarts (fun idea, nostalgia factor)

• De La Calle Tepache + Spindrift – two of my favorite drinks from the show

• Tantos – puffed pasta chips, in lots of cool flavors

• Sach’s Pizza – Indian-inspired pizzas like chicken tikka masala, probably my most interesting finds & one of the most delicious

Curious what you guys think about the protein-in-everything trend.

Helpful… or getting a little ridiculous?