beXnlog

Fancy Foods

I spent most of Tuesday morning/early afternoon at The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade's Fancy Food Show at the Javits Center! Thanks to my secret connection, i attended this trade-only food-gorge-o-rama and picked up a bag of loot for later!

First off, it was a full two floors of the Javits Center, rows and rows of vendors large and tiny, most passing out free tasting samples and some giving out loot. The top floor was mainly international vendors arranged by country, interspersed with some of the larger U.S. vendors. On the basement floor were smaller U.S. vendors, mostly specialty food products and new companies. I started my 2.5 hour romp tasting each and every sample from the first few rows, then briskly walking through the rest of the main floor and tasting things once in a while. By the time i reached the basement floor, i was in a complete daze and wandering around about to keel over from mishmash-in-my-stomach overload. I visited a few companies and hightailed it back to work, where i called be to tell him: 1) under any circumstances, we both must attend next year, and 2) don't try to see it all in one day.

Imagine countless gourmet food products ready to be sampled or given away. Now imagine a space the size of 10 supermarkets and you can see why one would need 3 full days to see/eat it all. The products ranged from soup to glass bottles, candy to cured meats and jams. A large percentage of the vendors were sampling chocolates, olive oils, loose teas, cheeses and cookies/crackers. I ate everything from pizza and olives to lemonade, countless cheese cubes, peppermint bark (chocolate) and ginger juice. Some noteworthy items consumed: coffee jelly, carica (a Chilean fruit), lavender scented milk chocolate, a gooseberry, Spicy Thai potato chips, Medjool dates, Rao's Arribiatta sauce, 3 kinds of delicious Indian jarred pickles, basalmic vinegar biscuits, the Bertie Bott's bacon jellybean and Walker's stem ginger shortbread.

Some of the vendors were ultra nice, giving me extra loot when i expressed my love for their product, like the Di Camillo Bakery guy who gave me 1 of every biscotti and cookie he had; the New Tree chocolates woman who gave me 1 of every flavor chocolate bar when i told her the lavender one was awesome; and H's friend at Vere - a new low-sugar chocolate company that specializes in natural sweeteners and offers some vegan pieces. On the flip side, some vendors weren't as nice and treated everyone like they were stealing - i mean, come on! Their job is to give out food and be nice for potential future sales!

Some of things i picked up and am excited about eating (and sharing with be): the Jelly Belly Sport Beans in orange, a chocolate macaroon from Manischewitz, 2 kinds of marzipan from Spain and Germany and all those mini chocolate bars from all over! Yaay for food shows!

posted by beXn @ 11:22 PM