Imagine standing in a long line in Anaheim, California, not to get on the best new Star Wars ride, nor to snap a picture with Mickey, but to taste a sample of “eggs” made from pea proteins, washed down with “science-backed” pickle juice. That’s what you get at Natural Products Expo West, which is a stone’s throw from Disney but also worlds away.Depending on who you ask, Expo West, which is how most folks refer to it, is the Super Bowl — or the Disneyland — of the food industry. It’s where new products, often called CPG or consumer-packaged goods by insiders, make their splashy debuts — not to consumers, but to the professionals who decide what will make it onto your grocery store shelves. That viral Trader Joe’s product? It was probably selected over a year ago by TJ’s buyers at trade shows like this one.It is a great place to suss out upcoming food trends, which is exactly what Wirecutter journalists set out to do at this year’s Expo.So what did our colleagues come home salivating over? In a sea of hype-driven wellness fodder, we gravitated toward the trend-proof: foods and drinks that we’d actually want to consume again and again.There were snacks we can’t stop thinking about (pizza cupcakes, instant sesame noodles, candy-coated dates, for starters), and a few we wish we could forget (fiber-packed drinks galore, some questionable mushrooms, and so many beef tallow chips).Of the thousands of products exhibited, these are the standouts.