Last week I've had the pleasure to attend America's largest food show (I think the worlds' largest) - the 56th NASFT Annual Summer Fancy Food Show. I know that the longer the name, the smaller the event is usually, but this one is a true behemoth with 180,000 specialty foods and beverages, 2,500 exhibitors from 80+ countries and 24,000+ attendees - all of which must be either press or in the food business. My stomach could barely contain the HUNDREDS of tastings of chocolates, olive oils, ice creams, pickles, cured meats, pastas, tequila, pastries, coffees and of course ....CHEESE!!! LOTS OF CHEESE!!!
I would not be exaggerating if I estimate that I've tasted 300 types of cheese in this 3 day event. (where are the Guinness World Records people?) Anything from creamy to process to stinky to extreme, from France, Italy, Greece, Spain, USA, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Argentina, Mexico, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Holland, Chile... to name a few. Luckily I could always reset my palate with stuff from the next booth over; chocolate truffles, caviar, foie gras or refreshing drink were always an arm length away. This was a truly fantastic event.
What made it really special was that I got to meet a lot of people; from French master cheese makers to dutch cheese tooling makers to the many "big cheeses", including the nice people of Cypress Grove Chèvre (the makers of Humboldt Fog), the friendly cheesemakers of Rouge Creamery (makers of Caveman Blue amongst others), the guys from The Cellars at Jasper Hill that came with some of their cheesemakers, the people of Culture Magazine and the new Cheese Connoisseur Magazine and even the ACS people.
Lots of giveaways at the end of the show: I picked up a huge slab of Humboldt Fog, a box of Cremeux de Borgongne, a wheel of Brillat Savarin Frais, a huge piece of Caveman Blue, an entire Ile de France Brie and a really nice spreadable Argentinian cream cheese. Heck, the French people even gave me all of their hay used for cheese staging in their glass display refrigerators - it is now lining the shelves of my cheese cave. ...and that was just the cheese - don't get me started with the chocolates and coffees...
Here are some photos from this amazing event. The next one is in Washington DC next year, but there is a winter show in San Francisco in January. If anyone is attending - please mention it!
