Ayurvedic foods

Ayurveda is the Indian practice of holistic medicine in which certain foods and herbs are eaten together to balance a person’s health and to benefit digestion, immunity and more. While many Indian foods are Ayurvedic, specialty brands are now expressly branding their products with the term.

A company named Dancing Elephant is producing packaged cups of kitchari, an Indian stew that boasts healing spices, in three flavors. Atina Foods makes traditional Indian herbal jams, pickles and pastes, from “home recipes evolved from Indian Ayurvedic healing traditions.” Davidson’s Organics has introduced a line of Ayurvedic teas, each with a specific function: weight loss, sleep, digestion, decongestion and general detoxification. Vegan Rob’s makes an “Ashwagandhabar,” an energy bar that the company says reduces stress, anxiety and depression. Ashwagandha, “one of the most powerful herbs in Ayurvedic healing,” according to the Chopra Center, also appears in a Remedy Organics protein shake. And Bohana, a snack food company, makes bags of airpopped water lily seeds, “one of the most popular seeds in Ayurveda.” They’re similar to popcorn or puffed rice. the bandwagon, offering a sardine salad kit in three flavors. The kits come with a spoon and crackers.

Freshé has four flavors of tinned tuna salad, all packed full of veggies in an attractively designed can. Its fish salads are made in Portugal, which is where some of the best tinned seafood in the world originates. a detoxifying weight-loss cure-all. The science on that is pretty murky, but plenty of brands have jumped into the market. Plain apple cider vinegar is, for most people, unpleasant to drink — throat burn! — so many versions of the drink sweeten it with maple syrup or juice to make it more palatable — such as BluePrint Organic, which makes a blueberry hibiscus version of the drink, or Crafted, which has turned it into a sparkling fruit soda.

But this year, several companies are taking a cue from a traditional folk recipe and leaning into the burn: Fire Brew, based in Portland, Ore., has a line of “health tonics.” Fire Cider has an extra-spicy take on the drink. Red Root & Co. calls its version Fire Tonic. A little goes a long way. Medleys, a line of readyto-eat morning grain bowls, or try Prime Planet’s instant quinoa cereal. The brand Tiny Hero, too, has three flavors of quinoa and oat breakfast bowls and is also putting quinoa in mac and cheese, er, excuse me, “maq and cheese.” Chuao Chocolatier is introducing Moon Bark, a line of outdoorsy, trail mix-inspired bars. Quinoa pairs with agave and sesame in one of Jcoco’s bars of “culinary inspired chocolates.” Unreal is selling crispy quinoa-filled versions of M&Ms and Reese’s peanut butter cups. The most blatant expression of this trend might be Undercover Quinoa, chocolatecovered quinoa snacks.

MAURA JUDKIS/THE WASHINGTON POST Some of the new products that were on display at the recent Fancy Foods Show.