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Walking around the show sampling all manner of bonbons, crackers, snacks, oils, coffees, wines, create-your-own-cookie kits, sauces, and jellies produces the sort of addled sensory dislocation associated with the early stages of a lysergic tweak. For example, the industry types piled up to sample the Serrano at the table run by Ravenswood Spanish Food importer Solex, or the pate de foie de porc et gras smeared on water crackers by Elston Avenue’s European Imports Ltd., contrasted weirdly with the desolation at the loneliest of booths–the one offering the salted hog casings of Jiangsu, China.
The Milwaukee-based World Artisan Guild is the sole U.S. importer of Moroccan Argan oil. This rare, nutty, and extremely expensive elixir is produced solely in a tiny region of southwest Morocco by Berber women. It makes its first U.S. appearance this month. World Artisan’s Stefan Hauke was a passionate salesman. I later saw him working the server at the makeshift Trotter’s To Go Cafe, but with little luck he said.
