March 2022 - LET US ENTERTAIN YOU: 33rd National Fiery Foods & BBQ Show

By Teresa Robinson :: Editor-in-Chief

The National Fiery Foods & BBQ Show is back in Albuquerque for its 33rd year. The event features 170 exhibitors and brings in more than 20,000 people over the three-day event. Each year the show features more than 1,000 products from all over the world, cooking and barbecue demonstrations, and samples. Event spokesperson, Gwyneth Doland, explained why she feels the event has such staying power. "It's just freaking fun! People love coming to the show and seeing people in crazy outfits, dressing up like chilis with chili pepper hats. You get to see grown men crying their eyes out after eating some ghost pepper sauce, washing it down with a local beer. It's just a good time.”

After 33 years, keeping it fresh year after year is effortless because the organization realized that the exhibitors are the show. "Partially, we don't have to do that much work because the people who come to the show, the exhibitors, change,” shared Doland. “They bring new stuff. They learn, and they develop new products. They want to surprise us and shock us, so the variety of the vendors we have - that's what keeps it fresh.

The success of the show brings a lot of repeat vendors. Doland explains that when the public likes a product, they come back year after year to see what’s next. “There are people who come every year and they're like, “I’m here for my XYZ sauce. I got it last year and the year before that.” Then there's the quest for whatever is new, and you think it's Tabasco Cholula, but it's not at all. It's Salinas Viscotitos. It's Spicy Miso Paste. It's weird types of ketchup and cool barbecue rubs. Or ice creams and cookies and stuff. You just never would have imagined. Not all of it is searing hot. It is a kind of flavor with a little smoke and spice. I am not a person who thought I’d be in the market for brittle, but Brenda's Perfect Brittle - I can't stop eating that stuff! It's amazing what they come up with!”

The Fiery Foods and Barbeque Show is March 3-5 at Sandia Resort and Casino. To find out more about the event, visit fieryfoodshow.com.