Fancy Food Show

For the last few weeks, every time I felt a little low all I had to do was think of three little words, and a tingle of excitement would shiver through my body. I would start to smile uncontrollably, and a bright glow of anticipation would be apparent for all to see. Fancy food show. Fancy food show. God, I love the Fancy Food Show. Imagine discovering hundreds upon hundreds of the most interesting, delicious gourmet foods out there – and when I say “discovering” I mean eating. Basically, it’s like dying and going to food heaven, if heaven were located in the thoroughly depressing Javits Center (sorry if link isn’t working… the site isn’t really worth visiting anyways.).

The Fancy Food Show is a trade show for food professionals sponsored by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. It takes place in New York every summer and San Francisco each winter. Food importers and manufacturers from around the world exhibit their products for chefs, grocery store owners, caterers and other food professionals to try – and hopefully buy.

Dave and I went for several hours this afternoon, and, for the record, neither of us ate lunch beforehand…and neither of us are eating dinner tonight.

Dave had never attended the Fancy Food Show before, and I warned him right away to pace himself. He got the message after walking down the first of dozens of aisles and sampling several types of cheeses and charcuterie, plus various olive oils and chocolates. In the three and a half hours we spent tasting, he cites these three products as his favorites:

- Fabrique Delices truffle mousse paté – “A perfect combination of the richness that you love in patés, but not too much. It was paté to the nth degree, but not over the cliff.”
- Numerous Peppadew products, especially the peppadew sausages and cheese-stuffed peppadew. – “Just tasty, a good combo of sweetness and spiciness. With the added cheese, the spiciness was reduced so I could appreciate the sweetness more.” For those of you who haven’t tried peppadew before, it’s a spicy-sweet South African fruit that comes in a jar.
- Mortadella…there was a good bit of mortadella around, in slices and chunks. Dave seemed to like it all.

His biggest frustration? Too much cheese and chocolate. And, it’s true – there is an enormous amount of cheese and chocolate being produced by the gourmet food world. Unlike Dave, however, I’m not one to complain.

In upcoming posts, I will highlight my three favorites and some of the more interesting products we tried.