Culinary Anthropology

My good friend Stacey was an exhibitor at the 55th Annual Fancy Food show this year, and being the little doll she is, she got me a pass for the final day.  I have never been to the fancy food show, but it sounded fun and why not?  I would get to see Stacey and there is the added bonus that I would get to hang out with her live in boyfriend for a bit - he happens to be my little brother.  Yesterday was one was of those urban summer days that starts off hot and humid and you can't help but to think that even the concrete is inconvenienced by the heat.  Worst yet, I had to do that dreaded walk to the Javits Center which is like walking through another city--a crappy one, at that.  They shouldn't even call that corner New York City.  It should just sort of be something else.  For now I shall call it "Javitstown".  Sorry Jacob, your town kinda sucks a little.

Alas, once I got there I was happy I made the effort.  Nice cool open spaces full of delicacies from around the world. Nice nice nice...now how to find the Promise Me Chocolate booth?  Whilst consulting the vendor tome trying to make sense of it all, a plate of truffled triple cream brie and mini toasts with an onion marmalade was thrust under my nose.  A perky cheese monger with a grey bob I immediately coveted was plying her wares.  What the hell? I was hungry and a bit hungover, and it isn't as though I sought her out, she came to me.  Thank you wonderful breakfast delivery lady!   Happily licking my fingers free of crumbs and cheese, I headed towards booth 5400 with resolve and determination.  

After a few moments of greetings and congratulations, I took some time to walk through the enormous space and check out what people were trying to pass off onto the rest of the world.  I was in the New York State section, where everything was very colorful and the exhibitors were quite eager to give samples and talk about their products.  I tried blueberry pesto, pomegranate Greek style yogurt, pineapple coconut water, and whole wheat pasta shaped like a dinosaur in the first 20 minutes.   At the next row things got a bit weirder with crunchy corn snacks whose packaging boasted of "fire" flavor (Asia), apple gummy candies and a spicy paneer masala that came in a tiny box.  Finally, I decided to head upstairs the Mediterranean section.  The stark contrast was incredible.  Clean white modern booths with rows and rows of oil and brined goods stood on shelves with a small tray of bread cubes and tiny bowls of their goods.   Most booths had tiny cafe tables and well dressed men (and a very few women) sat with leather binders and Mont Blancs and talked to one another.  It looked like everyone was having a business meeting, and they were, but the difference was that the rest of us could just walk on by without a glance.  At first it was nice to be able to amble along at my own pace and pick and choose what I wanted to taste or inspect.  But after about an hour I sort of missed the chatting and being persuaded to try new things.  I felt intimidated by my lack of knowledge in the canned sardine realm.  I wanted to go back to where I was wanted.  I wanted to go back to where I belonged - in the New York aisle.  Mostly, I wanted more Greek style pomegranate yogurt, from New York.