12:02: Back at Rick’s Picks, two buxom, silver-haired buyers nibble Bee’n’ Beez “turbocharged” bread and butter pickles. One woman eyes Rick sternly and in a deep Southern accent says: “Where we’re from we wouldn’t call these bread and butter pickles…” “You’re right, of course,” Rick agrees smoothly. As I edge off, he’s spinning a web baited with dried cherries, ginger and coconut… www.rickspicksnyc.com
12:03: Next door a ravenous crowd is clustered around Creme Cremaillere, eager for licks of the venerable Westchester restaurant’s newish line of French custard ice creams. Hmmm…what to choose…there’s crème brulee, mango sorbet…Lavender honey, a hard-to-get right-flavor, is mellow, with just a hint of the flower. www.cremecremaillere.com
At Lotus Foods, Ken Lee serves a dish of Kalijira basmati-style rice.
12:07: Ken Lee, a founder of Lotus Foods, presides graciously at a low table of exotic rice. Cooked, of course. “Sit down. Please,” he smiles benignly. I already love the red rice from Bhutan, but what’s that pale green stuff? “Bamboo rice. They extract the juice from young bamboo and use it to infuse sushi-style pearl rice.” It’s subtle, with a delicate vegetal flavor that would in fact be great with raw tuna or salmon. Neat non-stick rice cookers, by the way. www.aworldofrice.com
12:13: At Dagoba Organic Chocolate, plates of slivered single origin bars, bowls of cocoa nibs. Peruvian Milagros, 68% cacao, has a beguiling, mildly fruity taste. “It’s from a co-op in the rainforest. You’re tasting banana and orchids that grow alongside the cacao trees,” says a helpful young man. I inhale a handful of Xocolatl nibs flavored, Aztec-style, with chilies and nearly choke as the peppers grab at my throat. “Gosh, are you OK?” asks the rep worriedly, passing me a plate of mint-flavored dark chocolate as an antidote. “I guess we’re still refining the formula.” www.dagobachocolate.com
12:20: Heading upstairs now. Huge, intimidating corporate pavilions from France and Italy. Bottles of wine, olive oil, pasta, showcased like perfume and cameras in duty free shops. I pass tables of sleekly coiffed, dark-suited men and women deep in meaningful conversation. Not many samples here.
12:26: Veering off into the Jordanian quarter. At one booth an olive oil is acidic with a bitter bite. But there’s a tempting bowl of za’atar, a thyme-like herb with sesame seeds and powdered sumac, for mixing with olive oil and hunks of bread for dipping. “Not for sale,” says the rep regretfully.
A quartz-like chunk of Himalayan crystal salt is displayed at Chef Stefan's booth.
12:37: Nearly trip over a huge chunk of pink Himalayan crystal salt. Chef Stefan is waxing eloquent about flat disks made of the same stuff. “You don’t even have to salt your food. Just put it on the plate and it’ll absorb the taste of the salt!” Stefan is seriously into salt: His bestselling kit includes exotic salts from Australia, Hawaii, the Dead Sea, Trapani and other parts of the saline world. www.saltsoftheworld.com
12:43: Is that Carmen Miranda in a banana headdress?
12:48: Cheery Hawaiian girls dishing out Bubbies Homemade Mochi Ice Cream from a refrigerated cart. Bubbies made the coveted “O” List in June, 2006. I’m munching on a “bitesize, delectable one and a quarter ounce ball of happiness”—that is to say, a rounded scoop of creamy lihing mango ice cream in an edible sweet rice wrapper. Have consumed 5,000 calories in the last three hours. www.bubbiesicecream.gourmetfoodmall.com
1:02: Natural handmade Lithuanian dark rye. Sour, dense, chewy with aromatic pumpernickel seeds.
1:09: The world does not need another sauce.
1:12: Quaffing a bottle of Ferrarelle, notice everyone is watching World Cup Soccer on TV.
1:15: The world does not need another olive.
1:17: Adorable perline—tiny “pearls” of buffalo mozzarella. Creamy.
1:19: “That’s some smelly cheese,” says a woman, spearing a hunk of overripe French cheese covered with big, black flies. Surely she’s not going to eat it…
1:20: She eats it.
1:24: Retracting previous statement about olives. Exquisite fresh olives, some flavored with herbs, made by the Arnauds, a third generation Provencal family. Love the flesh-colored tournante olives, pale green early harvest olives with lemon, delicately flavored lou pistou…. Want to take the entire table home with me. Reason #942 to go to Provence… www.olives-arnaud.com/UK/index2.html
1:31: Chatting with Morton Gothelf of Morton & Bassett Spices in San Francisco. Morton has laid out samples of his own intensely pungent vibrant green bay leaves and the decidedly lackluster, brownish leaves of a much larger competitor. “That’s the difference between paying $60 a pound and $3 a pound,” he explains with a fierce smile. I sniff a jar of his Herbs from Provence: Dreamy, like falling into a bed of fresh rosemary, thyme and lavender. www.mortonbassett.com
1:42: Everyone suddenly has chocolate lollipops plastered with photo labels of their own faces.
1:49: A crowd on the other side of the floor roars. France has just scored.
1:56: Purveyor of gourmet dog food, not giving out samples.
1:59: Purely Organic CEO Carl Jorgenson is passing out tiny paper cups of pink Magliano Siroppe di Rose (rose syrup) from Tuscany. “It’s made by a woman who grows antique Gallica roses in the Chianti Hills. She harvests them in the morning when the fragrance is strongest and takes the petals into her kitchen laboratory where she cooks them in sugar syrup.” Sheer bliss, like drinking sweet rose essence. Jorgenson has a million ideas for using the syrup syrup: over vanilla ice cream or lemon sorbet, in cheesecake or panna cotta, with chilled champagne…this is a must-have.
www.purelyorganic.com
2:09: At the France Terre de Cultures pavilion, no one is remotely thinking about food. It’s soccer, soccer, soccer, with flat screen TVS set up at every other booth. Throngs of fans blockade the aisles, everyone shouting each time the Italians come close to scoring against the home team. Naturally, similar scenes are being played out on the Italian side of the floor.
(To see what everyone was watching—and for great commentary on the 2006 World Cup go to www.soccerblog.com )
2:10: Even everyone at Valrhona is glued to the TV. But there is wondrous chocolate to try, especially the addictive strips of candied orange zest dipped in bittersweet chocolate. www.valrhona.com
2:13: At D’Artagnan, straw baskets are brimming with the most fabulous fresh mushrooms, from black summer truffles and chantarelles to furry-gilled hedgehog and blue foot mushrooms. Fat white asparagus is tucked into this gorgeous display, which absolutely everyone is ignoring in favor of the soccer match. Nearby, Pain Poilane and pots of foie gras languish unheeded…
www.dartagnan.com
2:15: Back to Valrhona for more chocolate-covered orange zest…
2:17: Narrowly evade rep pushing rambutan in pineapple syrup…
2:24: One more visit to Valrhona…
2:26: Do I want to try pink guava nectar?
2:27: No.
2:32: I’m done. Out of service taxis, garbage cans, dead plants on the sidewalk. Back to the real world…