A fragrant and flavorful Fancy Food Show arrived with spring Sunday at the McCormick Place Lakeside Center, offering an esoteric menu of gourmet goodies far too broad for any one person to sample completely.
Products from the Mediterranean, or based on Mediterranean foods, were very visible. Among them were beautifully packaged olives and olive oils, condiments such as the vegetable mixture ratatouille, the black olive spread called tapenade, and sauces and dressings including garlic mayonnaise (aioli).
The three-day exhibition of more than 30,000 food products was expected to draw about 14,000 of the people who produce, import, distribute and market this country’s gourmet products. Typical attendees are gourmet shop retailers, grocers, chefs, restaurateurs and caterers.
In the 100,000 square feet of exhibition space exhibitors were greeting and often feeding passers-by. The longest lines formed at displays of deli meats, ice cream, coffee and seafood. Sampling wine at an area designated the International Wine & Spirits Pavilion proved popular as well.
Among the products on display were many that have made the Fancy Food Show fancy for many years: Chocolate and hard candy, biscuits and crackers, jams and jellies, condiments, tea and coffee and olive oil–lots and lots of oil.
Product line extensions were much in evidence as well, with products such as late harvest riesling vinegar (Cuisine Perel), ginger peach decaffeinated tea (Republic of Tea), preserved lemons and artichoke lemon pesto (Bella Cucina Artful Food), amber sugar crystals (The Gilway Co.), and a herb and spice rub for vegetables (Stonewall Kitchens).
Though the show was not open to the public, products the merchants purchased will be available in retail stores and restaurants throughout the Midwest in the months ahead.
“We are delighted,” said John Roberts, executive director of the sponsoring organization, the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. “About 70 percent of those registered came from within a 300-mile radius of Chicago. They’ve filled our seminars and tastings. They’ve been placing orders. I think it’s a real success.”
This show is brand new, an addition to a line up that includes a summer Fancy Food Show in New York City and a winter show in San Francisco. Attendance at a show staged here in 1988 was disappointing. But interest in specialty foods through the Midwest has grown faster during this decade than product availability, Roberts said.
“We were slow to respond to creativity and leadership of food people in this region,” he said. “But we woke up and we will be here for the next five years. I already have commitments for next year’s show that add up to nearly half the exhibit space we used this year.”
Italy and its now familiar roster of products dominated the international food area. The nation of Turkey, which had several booths, displayed tuna fish, olives, olive oil, raisins, pasta and capers. At John’s Imports, a sales representative said Greek products were increasingly popular in “mainstream” markets.
“Calamata olives are the No. 1 seller,” he said, adding that canned dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), mild cheeses and olive oil also are in demand.
But other fad regions, including the Caribbean, Latin America and the American Southwest, were relatively inconspicuous. There also were fewer silly health claims, such as “Cholesterol-free!” labels on products that had no cholesterol to begin with. Exhibitors in booths exhibiting organic products were busy with inquiries, however.
Here are some impressive new products and product lines displayed at the Fancy Food Show. Any orders placed at the show will take a while to arrive in stores, and some of these products may not reach Chicago at all.
– Critelli California organic lemon extra-virgin and California garlic extra-virgin olive oils: The lemon or garlic is crushed with the olives, not infused.
– Dean Jacobs Bread Dipping Seasonings from Xcell: The four-compartment jar holds four seasoning mixtures to be placed in a saucer and covered with olive oil for dipping vegetables or bread as nibbles.
– Stonewall Kitchen offered a very harmonious strawberry-rhubarb-apple jam.
– Alexian Vegan Terrines brought 3- or 5-pound loaves of “earthy mushroom,” “green etouffe” and “tomato-basil al fresco.”
– Cape Cod Provisions made tangy yogurt-covered cranberries.
– SeaStar sea salt is a gray-tinged, intense salt from Brittany in France.
– Moose Lodge Ltd. supplies fruit and candy toppings and savory condiments including Fly Fisherman’s Fudge, Sweet Melinda Sue’s Hot Honey Mustard and Camper’s Caramel.
– Restaurant Lulu Gourmet Products: The California-made line includes a lovely mayonnaise, garlic-flavored aioli, red pepper-flavored rouille, seductive fig balsamic vinegar and white truffle honey.
– Kids Cooking Kits: Complete projects with ingredients, cookie cutters, cut-out patterns and recipes from the company of the same name.
– Hodgson Mill: New organic flours from this 117-year-old mill include whole-wheat graham, white unbleached, whole-wheat pastry, rye, spelt, oat bran and soy in 2-pound bags.
– Life in Provence: Beautifully packaged dressings, mayonnaise sauces, ratatouille and sauteed eggplant.
– Sonny’s Ice Cream: Fifty-four years later, Sonny Siron still makes his 16 percent butterfat ice cream in five-gallon batches and creates memorable flavor combinations such as cherry Bordeaux, raspberry chocolate chip and black pepper-cardamom.
– Bella Vista certified organic jams: Red raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, blackberry and tart cherry come from Fennville, Mich.
– Nicole’s Divine Crackers: “Oh, for the love of herb” and “risky rye” are new to the seven-flavor line of crisp snack crackers.
– Ciao Bella gelato and fresh fruit sorbets: Chicago distribution has begun for this New York City brand, popular in many restaurants.
