The Feed told you about the UnFancy Food Show. Now, here’s a dispatch from the convention it apes. Yesterday, we milled about the Javits Center with what must have been thousands of industry professionals on the last day of this summer’s Fancy Food Show. Representatives of countries from all over the world—among them, Senegalese spice traders and sleek Italians hawking mozzarella di buffala—manned hundreds of booths devoted to indigenous products. Big-name producers like D’Artagan (we love you, smoked duck breast) shared the vast floor with smaller companies such as Udi’s Natural Artisan Granola (with standout blends like Hawaiian ginger, toasted Macadamia nut and coconut). The U.S. was also well represented, though New York clearly took the cake: Brooklyn-based Mari’s bakery was among this year’s prizewinners for their caramel sea-salt brownie. Check out The Feed’s slide show for a taste of the samples we enjoyed.—Lara Rabinovitch

Guest blogger Liz Thorpe, author of the forthcoming book The Cheese Chronicles and Murray’s Cheese guru, gives you, dear readers, the skinny on some not-so-skinny weekend diversions:

Every June, 25,000 trade types descend on the Javits Center to taste some ungodly number of specialty foods (like, 250,000 different choices) and talk shop at the Fancy Food Show. The influx of food makers from across the U.S. and Europe is what makes the FFS—I get to taste Creminelli’s wild boar salami and the first batches of Graham Kirkham’s Lancashire cheese from Goosnargh, England. But the downside is that nonindustry folks are non grata.

In response, a couple of Murray’s alums decided to create a counterpoint to the FFS two years ago. Sasha Davies and Tom Mylan (now head butcher at Marlow & Daughters) organized the UnFancy Food Show. Admittedly, its third incarnation is a bit of a Brooklyn lovefest (click here for a list of confirmed exhibitors). Don’t miss these two highlights, near and dear to my heart, for folks looking to learn and taste food with makers from farther afoot: Read more »