The Summer 2023 Fancy Food Show
Note: This is a super-sized dispatch, and will likely be truncated in your Inbox, so be sure to click the link to expand.
I spent most of yesterday walking the floors of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center attending the Specialty Food Association’s Summer Fancy Food Show. Like the word “classy,” “fancy” always feels like it conveys the exact opposite of what is intended. Case in point: the new, depressing-looking smoke shop up the block from me with a cheap banner draped over the storefront advertising “HIGH CLASS CIGARS.” But I’ll make an exception for the Fancy Food Show as it’s an occasion for thousands of attendees (restaurateurs, chefs, grocery and speciality buyers, trend-spotters, media) to sample, meet, and interact with thousands of businesses and brands from around the world presenting everything from candy, confections, charcuterie and cheese; to popcorn, chips, pretzels, and mustards; to spices, flour, pasta, and rice (and so much more).
I’ve spent many years in those expansive halls of the Javits Center, primarily attending BookExpo when I was an editor at Amazon and later on the other side of the booth when I worked in publishing here in New York. (The last time I was at the Javits was when I received my first two rounds of the COVID-19 vaccine.)
This was my third time attending the Fancy Food Show, and I applied for and received a press pass on this occasion. My first time was back in the early ‘90s when I was in graduate school in New York and joined my friend and former boss, Rick Stewart (see LAST CALL dispatches “Dive Bar Jukebox: Harpoon Eddie’s Summer Flashback” and “A Harpoon Eddie’s Homecoming”), who oversees his family restaurant businesses, Eddie’s and Harpoon Eddie’s. Rick called me from the car phone of his Suburban and said, “Brad! I’m an hour out of the City. I’m going to pick you up and we’re going to the Fancy Food Show and then I’ll buy you a hot meal.” The show is for trade professionals only but Rick had an extra badge that he had changed to read “Chef Brad.” When I was asked by vendors about the restaurant where I was the alleged chef I would change my answer with each person: We specialize in high-end regional American cuisine… A classic chophouse with a contemporary point of view…. Teppanyaki-style Japanese… New England clam shack… Rick would laugh at the many vendor pitch letters that continued to arrive for years at Eddie’s addressed to “Chef Brad.”
I was also there in 2018 with David Lebovitz, who was invited by Bonne Maman (I’m still trying to get on the media list for their annual Advent Calendar), who supplied us both with some random badges (David’s read: “Joab Shepherd”). As you might imagine, attending a specialty food conference with David (I mean, Joab) is a blast and people were quite generous with the samples of cheese and salumi and would press some sample-size products upon us to take home.
I rolled solo this year and my primary plan of attack was to spend the most time in the sprawling Italy Pavilion, but I made time to dip around some of the other International-themed sections and other purveyors. Read on for some snapshots and commentary about my day at the Summer Fancy Food Show.
Discoveries on the Show Floor
I spent Saturday night going through the FFS app (which was extremely detailed and quite helpful) to map out my checklist of must-visit vendors. After getting my credentials and press materials I high-tailed it to Lady Edison Pork, in town from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I love country ham and first encountered their Lady Edison Extra Fancy Country Ham at the original Momofuku Ssäm Bar. It’s also featured at The Four Horsemen and used to be on the menu at Rolo’s. Lady Edison’s Sam Suchoff was still setting up the carving station so I did a lap to come back for one of the first slices of the day (he was also kind enough to send me home with two packages of their pre-sliced country ham).
Oh, how I love Chicago’s Garrett Popcorn. We had our own Garret Popcorn Shop here in New York near Penn Station that is sadly no more. Their Chicago Mix of caramel-and-cheese popcorn is their bestseller, but my move when I’m in Chicago is the caramel popcorn with cashews. It’s expensive, and expensive to ship, but it’s worth it upon occasion. I had a sample size cup of caramel corn though I was eyeballing the bigger display-only bags.
As The Mix’s Robert Simonson recently observed concerning the many Old Bay-seasoned cross-promotional foodstuffs, “It’s Old Bay’s world and we’re just living in it.” Curiously, no samples of Fisher’s Old Bay-Seasoned Caramel Popcorn were offered.
I never pass by a pie stand and the good people of Michigan’s Achatz Handmade Pie Co. had a very crowded, and attractive table filled with pies. A cherry hand pie seemed in order.
There were a lot of mustards to take in and sample, Including this lineup of familiar and unexpected expressions from Hillsboro, Oregon’s Beaverton Foods. I’m especially fond of the Inglehoffer Sweet Hot Mustard with grilled alapeño-cheddar sausage.
Based out of Manteno, Illinois, Plochman’s dates back to 1852 and in 1957 pioneered a distinctive yellow squeeze barrel, marking the first successful squeeze condiment in the United States.
While securing a reservation at Carbone is next to impossible, even their expansive booth was crowded with passersby eager to try their popular line of jarred sauces. Who am I to resist a little bowl of rigatoni and arrabbiata sauce?
When I told people I mostly wrote about drinks many would quickly pivot to cocktail applications. I had a nice time talking with Jessica Zander, the Director of Retail and Grocery at Spiceology, a chef-owned and operated business from Spokane, Washington. Their Periodic Table of Flavor design featured a variety of spice blends and even popcorn seasonings. I tried the Smoky Honey Habanero with a slice of pineapple for a refreshing bite with a bit of heat, and Jessica sent me home with some samples to try in the kitchen (or the bar).
I also sampled a lot of salt, and really liked the lineup of sustainable flaky sea salt from Iceland’s Saltverk. I even got to pick out three personalized tiny tins to take home. I went with the classic Flaky Sea Salt, Licorice Salt, and Seaweed Salt.
Not discounting all of the wonderful Italian products and producers I encountered at the FFS, stumbling upon a table with stacks of boxes of REGGIE! bars was my favorite stop of the day. And my apology to the distributor for absconding with so many samples. The REGGIE! bar was first introduced on April 13, 1978 and was sadly retired in the early 1980s. But with a new owner and distributor, starting in New York, the REGGIE! bar has been making its way back wherever candy bars are sold.
I have such a personal connection with this confection as in the late ‘70s the Syracuse Chiefs (now Syracuse Mets) were the minor league farm club of the New York Yankees and I loved Reggie Jackson (44 remains my “lucky” number). My father worked as a mechanic at the Syracuse Airport and since these weren’t yet available in Central New York, a fellow mechanic at Laguardia would mule a box of REGGIE! bars up to Syracuse for a very special delivery. I would even save the wrappers among my baseball card collection.
The Italy Pavilion
The Italy Pavilion was packed and where I spent most of the day bouncing from booth to booth to talk with vendors and sampling olive oil, Italian sodas, potato chips, taralli, cheese, salumi, pasta, pizza, candy, honey, pistachio spreads, and countless bottles of Italian water.
I’m lucky that I can find San Carlo potato chips—which come in flavors like Pesto, Mint and Chili Pepper, and Paprkia—at Eataly and at some Italian-American shops in the neighborhood. They’re the perfect aperitivo potato chips, and the two kind Italian women sent me off with a shopping bag filled with various bags of chips.
While I was checking out these smartly packaged Amica Chips the two Italian women representing Amica motioned to my San Carlo Chips-branded bag as if I had made a grave offense. Everything was resolved when they tossed a few bags of Amica Chips into the bag and sent me on my way.
Terre di Puglia is another Italian producer I’m able to procure at Eataly here in New York. I always have a bag or two in my pantry for quick aperitivo snacks and was happy to meet someone from the brand in person. He tasted me through their various styles and flavors, including two newer offerings, Cacio e Peppe and Parmigiano Reggiano.
Speaking of Parmigiano Reggiano… There were a lot of booths in the Italy Pavilion with wheels of cheese for the tasting. I wasn’t complaining.
Follow Brad Thomas Parsons on Instagram and Twitter.
Links to some featured books and products are shared via Bookshop.org or Amazon.com affiliate programs.
LAST CALL logo and design by Ed Anderson.
I think handing out whole cannolis as samples awesome - like the people who gave out whole candy bars when we were kids! 😃
I'm catching up on old dispatches during some holiday downtime and this one has me pulling together another big Eataly order. So much good stuff!