Watching the World Cup With Gourmet Food Experts

Photo: Specialty Food Association

Earlier this week, 2,500 exhibitors and 8,000 buyers convened upon the Javits Center for three days for the Summer Fancy Food Show. I was there, too, on Monday afternoon, trying things like Stella and Milo’s tallow-fried chips, powdered pesto, and La Milpa tortillas. Products, and the people selling them, fly in from around the world; the Fancy Food Show is the closest thing we have to a gourmet U.N., with a large part of the convention dedicated to country-sponsored pavilions promoting regional specialties, like Peruvian peppers and Tunisian olives. Every year, Italy’s zone claims the most real estate, taking over nearly a quarter of a floor with rows of recognizable cheeses, salumi, espresso machines, and cooking demonstrations. This year, however, all that fettuccine had some competition from the World Cup.

During the day, a crowd congested around a screen in the lobby, sending a cheer through the entire building when Brazil secured a winning goal against Japan. That enthusiasm bode well for that night’s Fancy Food watch party, which — thanks to its diversity of fans — seemed like an ideal place to see the game while eating great food from anyone else who showed up.

Fifteen minutes before the start of the Morocco-Netherlands match, I grabbed a seat at the head of the bar at D.B. Cooper’s, and it wasn’t too long before the two spots next to me were filled by a couple from Houston who had come to promote Ocean Root, a range of flavored salts made with Mexican fleur de sel. After discussing the mineral content of their hand-harvested flakes, we started talking about book clubs and were making plans to hang out on their next trip to the city by the time the national anthems were being sung. I slipped on my lanyard to mingle further.

I was quickly spotted by an attendee who offered to buy me a drink. He was there on behalf of his family’s beverage business, Sangaria, which makes ramune, the Japanese soda famously sealed in a fish-shaped bottle with a trapped marble that clinks with every sip. (It tastes like bubblegum-flavored Sprite.) Despite being born to beverage royalty, this soda scion had never heard of “splitting the G” on the freshly poured Guinness in his hand. A nearby tourist from England heard this admission and insisted on coaching him through it. “Stop there!” he said repeatedly until it became clear that the Ramune heir was instead going to down his entire beer.

A nearby group of six Welsh guys in their mid-20s who were wearing English jerseys looked baffled when I asked if they had been at the Fancy Food Show; they were just here because it was a giant sports bar. They seemed impressed when I mentioned that Wales has its own section at the show, however small, though none could guess what they would have had on offer (whiskey and apple-cider vinegar). The guys from Wales said it was their sixth week in a multi-city tour of the states that had previously included L.A. and Memphis. I asked if they, like other World Cup tourists, had acquired a taste for ranch dressing and blissed out over Waffle House breakfast, but one told me the best thing they’d eaten here was “healthy food.”

Elsewhere at the bar, a New Jersey man who sources matcha from Taiwan said “talk to this guy,” pointing to a spice dealer from Madagascar who had enchanted everyone with pictures of vanilla production on the island. In French, I confirmed that he was rooting for Morocco, which still hadn’t scored their equalizer by this point. (Later, he let me know that he moonlights as a travel agent should I want to smell a vanilla orchid in person.)

A pair of sisters from Oklahoma across the table inspired me to order a “tequila Moscow mule” while I was getting them a second round of the same. They were representing Alberto’s Brand, a line of spicy condiments and vegetable relishes started by their father, who came up with their flagship sweet jalapeño relish in retirement. The sisters said they’ve eaten it every day for decades. “We put it on hot dogs, hamburgers, sandwiches, tuna, baked potatoes,” said one. “There’s so much I don’t eat without it.”

I circled back to the bar, where my Houston friends were still sitting, committed to seeing this game through to the end of its penalty-kick shootout, and I started talking to an attendee about his vision to overhaul thermal food packaging. “If you like the Fancy Food Show, you would love Pack Expo West,” he said.