WILL TRAVEL TO TASTE!

 

Are you the kind of person who enjoys tasting new flavors, trying new foods and being the “first to know”? Then you might enjoy going to the Fancy Food Show put on by the Specialty Food Association.  We recently returned from the winter show in San Francisco.  On entering, the halls look and feel like almost all other large conventions: football fields of booths with thousands of participants milling about.  Of course, what made this convention so exciting for us was that all those booths were focused on FOOD, specifically ways of marketing or bringing to market specialty food products from all over the world.  Almost 1,500 exhibitors displayed more than 80,000 food products.  Importers met with producers and buyers sampled the newest products.  Three days of convention wasn’t enough time to try everything.  The convention was both wonderful and overwhelming.

As you may know, Giuliano and I have been working on creating a small line of refined Italian food products that we use frequently.  We went to the convention to meet with potential distributors and to learn more about marketing our products. The show was a great equalizer.  Attendees included some of the great American specialty food store owners such as Ari Weinzweig of Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor as well as Darrell Corti of Corti Brothers in Sacramento.  Small specialty marketers mingled with national retailers such as Honest Tea, Harry and David’s, Nielsen-Massey Vanilla, as well as smaller first time presenters such as Jamones Blàzquez with delicious Jamon Iberico, Balfegó bluefin tuna, ;  and a marvelous booth of presenters in full formal regalia sampling a dessert that I still don’t understand.

Although every specialty food category seemed to be represented, I would say that the theme of the convention was cheese, power drinks, and pork products.  There is a difference between knowing that there are thousands of variations of cheeses and seeing them in one place.  We tasted extraordinary cheeses from Italy presented by cheese-man extraordinare Giovanni Guffanti Fiori of Luigi Guffanti Formaggi 1876 that even most people who live in the country haven’t yet discovered.  We also tasted items that weren’t quite ready for prime time. Fortunately, there were discreet garbage cans to get rid of items that your palate was not quite ready for. By the afternoon of the first day it was pretty obvious which foods were fan favorites.  The Balfegó bluefin tuna kiosk always had long lines for the sushi and sashimi they were sampling.  We also saw the same people standing in the same lines more than once.  We were thrilled that popular Felicetti pasta was using our sauce and our porcini mushrooms to assist them as they showcased their pasta.  They too had fans, people coming back multiple times to sample.

 

WHO FANCIES FANCY FOOD?

 

Most attendees  either  tried to make it through all of the exhibits and make connections while visiting producers, or focus only on their specific area. In addition to the showcases, there was an educational feature of the show as well, with sessions that focused on the latest trends and innovations in the business.  There were also showcases where potential buyers could learn about the more innovative products.  There was even a place for UC Davis students to showcase their concepts, although I must admit I never tasted the brown bite sized cube that a student had entitled “from waste to food”.  Maybe rethink the title?

 

It was a FASCINATING experience, one that I highly recommend to anyone who participates in the specialty food world.  Giuliano and I had such a good time that we will be exhibiting at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York from June 30-July 2^nd.  That show is even larger than San Francisco and should be a feast for both your eyes and stomach!

 

THE SECRET REASON GIULIANO HAZAN WENT TO THE WINTER FANCY FOOD SHOW.

While the reason we went to San Francisco was ostensibly for the Winter Fancy Food Show, my husband and a second reason.  At the time of this writing, there are very few Tesla stores displaying the Model 3, and one of them was at the Stanford Mall Tesla Store.  My husband has been on the waiting list for the “affordable” Tesla for almost 18 months, of course we had to see it!