Fancy Food Show love

Candy Blog liked this post and included it in a round up on the show. I'm showing off some Fancy Food Show loot. Working as a booth babe has its bennies!

The last day of the show always fills me with anticipation and strong desire. This past Tuesday, I had a list of items I wanted to scavenge. Competition was tight with my co-workers at the booth. I noticed the two first days of the show, they'd mutter and eye the cold case of items, and debate which ones they hoped to take. For starters, I am a lot more sneaky at getting what I want. But, I also had a competitive edge. I brought a gigantic suitcase (Rule Number Four: make sure your bags have tons of pockets!), back pack (see Rule Number Four), and one other bag. While my co-workers said stuff like "You're so funny!" as they noticed me dropping bottles and packages into my suitcase, I wanted to tell them I'm more like deadly serious. But that might've been too dramatic and scary so I smiled and kept moving.

I planned on stuffing my suitcase with as much food as possible, and had been smiling and flirting at other booths so as to raid their loot. I didn't come home with a whole prosciutto or Serrano ham leg, which I really was hoping for. I asked and asked at various Italian and Euro themed booths, but most whole legs were being given back to the distributor locally, or shipped home. Sad! And no, I didn't want to buy one, that is so(!) beside the point of Ms.-Don't-Mind-If-I-Do living. I put so much pressure on myself to get the prosciutto leg or other giant piece of cheese, I was ready to barf mid-afternoon. My breathing was faster than normal, and walking the show floor only made it speed up even more.

The dreamy thoughts I had at this point kept jumping all over the place: chocolate! Cheese! Honey! Olive Oil! Cookies! Tea! Coffee (dare I ask for whole beans for free? Nahhhh.) The overall take of most of the items just listed, with a healthy dose of cured meats, pasta, Javan spices, blood sausage, pate, and chicken, pleased Oscar and filled our cupboards and fridge. Now that the show is over, I can move on to another mental game: how many meals can I eat off one show? The other fun side game is finding out exactly how much the items cost. Last night at Bristol Farms (just looking, you picketers!), half of one of our cheese wheels was priced at a whopping $64. Yeesh.

Comments

[Jesse]

Pretty sad on your part. Did you feel that you really needed those items more than the charity that was collecting them at the end of the show? Hope you will think twice next time.

[Mary]

I don't feel bad about taking those items from the show. Obviously I am different from you. I also have never "thought twice" or felt any sort of guilt over taking home food. Receiving these food items is a reward for hard work. Also, I work with and write about food, and this is one of many events I cover regularly.