OliveNation and The New York Fancy Food Show

OliveNation and The New York Fancy Food Show

July is my favorite month because we get to go to The Fancy Food Show in New York City. The Food Show may be the reason we started the OliveNation website. It has to be the most fun you can have with your palate. Three full days of tasting the best the world has to offerfrom North and South America, to Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, all gastronomical countries have booths. We are a bit partial to Italy, France and Spain, but we feel it is our duty to you, our OliveNation customers, to leave no food untasted, and in many cases, to try some foods twice, especially olive oil and cheese.

Maybe some day we will be able to offer burrata (a type of mozzarella from Apulia that is so creamy it almost tastes like butter,) prosciutto (we love San Daniele, of course, but La Quercia, a domestic brand is just as delicious, possibly even sweeter, ) big chunks of Parmigiano, bresaola, and Amit's favorite, sheep ricotta. So for three straight days we roamed the Javits Convention Center and visited the Italian booths first, and then all the others. Sometimes we felt exausted, but we kept on, and in the process made friends with all the espresso vendors. I should also thank the chocolate booths, who made a great point: sipping chocolate is not only a winter treat (and here in Boston we appreciate that) but a fantastic summer party in a glass. We tasted several chilled chocolate martinis (shake sipping chocolate with ice and vodka) and smoothies (blend with ice) and those, too, kept us focused on our mission.

Our friend John Rusnak, of www.jrmushrooms.com, who was also attending the show, helped us to stay on track and introduced us, among many other delicacies, to new truffles and vanilla beans (he has the best ones from Madagascar.) My cousin Edoardo Lucia, also met us at the show (he lives upstate) and, after much tasting and pondering, he remembered some old family recipes that we will post soon. We took some time out to see the soccer final for the UEFA Cup: Spain vs. Germany. The Spanish team was excellent, and won the cup. You should have heard the cheering from the Spanish booths every time their team scored a goal. OL!

Right now we are tasting a stack of exciting new pastas (both durum wheat and gluten-free varieties) we found at the show, as well as pasta sauces, balsamic vinegars, and infused extra virgin olive oils. Mission accomplished. We'll keep you posted.