IMPRESSIONS FROM THE 14th ANNUAL
NATIONAL FIERY FOODS & BARBECUE SHOW

MARCH 1-3, 2002                        Page  1 of 2   Go to Page 2

Whatta show! So far, I've been to about a dozen Fiery Foods shows (half of them as an exhibitor), but this one topped it all. About 235 exhibitors showed their latest & greatest products at the 14th annual National Fiery-Foods & Barbecue Show, and during the weekend, 12,000 chileheads came to see and sample what's new in the world of heat.

This year, the official show t-shirt's motto was "Proud Sponsor of Global Warming".

Here's my annual sampling - just a small selection of the many interesting people and products. Enjoy!

Pictures and story by Harald Zoschke

  Greg and David Figueroa, also known as the famous Figueroa Brothers, proudly present the official 2002 Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show poster. As sponsors of this year's show, the manufacturers of the Melinda's line picked an artist's rendering of their trademark bottle graphics.

Greg and Dave also show the latest addition to their impressive product line, Melinda's Chipotle hot sauce.

L.C. and Nikki Norman, a couple from Florida, were the fortunate grand prize winners of the recent "Mas Melinda's" contest. They won a free trip to the Fiery Foods & Show - see story here.

  Besides veteran exhibitors, many firsttimers were here this year. Like Monty Fritts of MyHotSauces.com, with a helping hand by his dad Richard. Monty got a nice kick start after winning the Scovies with his tasty Apple Smoked Habanero Hot Sauce.

Don't believe in Santa? Well, we met him at the show, and he even had a booth! These nice folks actually grow habaneros and many other hot peppers up in North Pole, Alaska. And they bottle their own hot sauce, "Red Hot Rudolph".  Ho, Ho, Hot!  

 Another record was set at the booth of Texan salsa manufacturer Pepperama:

Dave and Robin Craft's daughter Reagan, just seven months old, had her own exhibitor's badge, listing her as "VP Marketing". Mental note to self: Call Pepperama after the show to see who's answering the phone...

Pepperama, VP Marketing   

 If you've been to previous Fiery Foods and Barbecue Shows and wondered who's inside that Gecko that always seemed to be everywhere at the same time: The guess is over.

Here's Gecko Gary (love those shorts, man!) with his wife Cindy. While outside temps where in the forties in Albuquerque, the couple from Arizona already celebrated summer at their booth, complete with artificial turf, plastic pool and -- of course -- a barbecue grill.

Now who of the two fits into the gecko costume? Keep guessing :-)

 It almost feels strange to meet "Insane Dave" without his trademark straightjacket. Here he's showing Renate and me his latest creation, a shaker with "Insanity Spice" - a dry spice, fired up with pepper extract. Whoa, this stuff is hot, why did I have to sample it. Local radio station Eagle 104 is serving free ice cream. I need to go there NOW. See you later at your cooking demo, Dave.

Just across the aisle is Hot Sauce Harry. "Wanna taste our Dead Heat sauce, Harald?" -- Later, Bob. Need to see that ice cream booth first...   

While on the subject of heat, the extreme extract sauce battle still rages on. Currently there are two players who dare to squeeze more capsaicin into small, pricy bottles than ever.

 Blair showed their 5 a.m. in uniquely styled, individually signed and numbered bottles. Heat: 6 million Scoville Units.

Original Juan did a great packaging job with The Source, which leads the pack with 7.1 million Scoville Units. Ouch!   

Many other products were "hot" in different ways.

 This "Hot Saucer" was sighted at CaJohn's booth.

In a world of more or less interesting sauce labels, everybody's favorite fireman Jim Campbell (Mild to Wild Peppers) took an alternative approach with his tasty Red Savina Garlic Sauce. The transparent label reads: "... No naked ladies, no flaming buttholes, no cartoon characters..." -- But what would Chip Hearn's hot sauce collection look like, if all sauces were labeled like Jim's?  

 Talking about collector's items ... here's Brandy Burns (love that name!), demonstrating the gimmick on Peppers' new "Pick This" hot sauce. You squeeze the nose and ...

 In the back, that's Chip, testing a chair.

Last year's tragic events triggred various politically themed fiery-foods items. Shortly after 9/11, Figueroa Brothers launched Light of Liberty hot sauce and donated all profits from the sale of this product to the Twin Towers Fund.

At the show, Gator Hammock's Buddy Taylor debuted 911 Revenge, dedicated to the lives lost and hurt at the 9/11 events. A part of the proceeds goes to a scholarship fund. Hot Sauce Harry's tries to lift spirits with two new products: Bomb Laden Mad Blast, a habanero sauce featuring everybody's "favorite" caveman, and Proud to be an American. Next to this product: Duck Stamp Hot Sauce, part of a "Wildlife Commemorative Hot Sauce Series" -- wonder what's next ...

The mad caveman couldn't stop exhibitors and attendees from around the world to come to the Fiery Foods and Barbecue Show.  Coming from Germany myself, I met fellow visitors from Canada, Mexico, England and New Zealand.

  All the way from China came Yellow Emperor, who make great sauces using a special giant yellow habanero by the same name. They were also the first sauce makers to bundle their bottles with a dispenser pump - very clever.

Three companies braved
the long trip from the land down under:

Byron Bay Chilli Co., Ashif's Chilli
Experience and Redback Chilli Co. showed
and sampled a broad variety of great
Australian fiery-foods products. 

Truly a global warming!  

  This, by the way, is the official show chair model. It did not pass the Chip test.

     But wait ... there's more cool, uhm, hot Stuff on Page Two!