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GOURMET NEWS JUNE 2019 www.gourmetnews.com NEWS & NOTES 6 FROM THE EDITOR Greetings! I have been scurrying more than usual to get this issue of Gourmet News to print on time be- cause I took a few days in the midst of this produc- tion cycle to go camping at Mojave National Preserve with a group of other women writers. Mojave National Preserve is nestled between Interstate Highway 40 on the south and Interstate 15 on the north, about midway between Las Vegas and Barstow, California, along I-15 and about midway between Barstow and Needles when you come in on I-40, which is how I made the 7-hour drive from Tuc- son over a leisurely two days, stopping for the night at Kingman, Arizona, to camp at Hualapai Mountain Park. The next morning, I rolled up my sleep- ing bag, struck the tent and stashed it all away in the back of my Jeep, then snapped a few last pictures and made my way down the two-lane highway to Kingman for a $12 skillet scramble and another cup of tea at a cafe with a "Blue Lives Matter" sign above the door and a cadre of gray- haired regulars gathered around patio ta- bles. "Officer Frank, Fraud Squad," a gray-bearded man wearing a t-shirt, cargo shorts and a ball cap answered when his cell phone rang. At the table next to me, a group of women talked about other women who weren't there and discussed whether tomorrow was the day they should all switch from coffee to iced tea with their breakfasts. My skillet scramble took its time about coming, and the break- fasts ordered at the next table before I'd ar- rived took even longer. By the time I'd finished my own meal, no one else on the patio looked at all ready to leave. I'd lolly- gagged enough, though, so I wandered in- side to find the proprietor and pay my check. A couple of hours later, I could see even as I approached my exit from Interstate 40, that the Mojave is very much the desert I'd expected. It's more of a clumpy, brushy kind of a desert than the thorns and cacti of my own Sonoran Desert, but like my own desert, it's a place of snakes and jackrabbits, coyotes and lizards. Wildflow- ers bloomed riotously in gold, purple, fuch- sia and orange. I spent the next few days with half a dozen other writers hiking, scribbling in our notebooks, assuring a novice camper that the coyotes who'd yipped half the night were harmless, talking about how our writing lives are going, encouraging each other to put our hearts on the page and chatting about cheese. Yes, I'd volunteered to bring cheese. Rogue Creamery converted a woman who started out shying away from blue cheese; I encouraged a woman who said she'd never thought about cheese to re- order her life choices; a woman who had her first experience with Pecorino Sardo DOP said that she tasted "all of Italy in a piece of cheese!" It was all a reminder of the power that our food has to bring us to- gether into something greater than our- selves – the friendships that we make and share around the table, the bonds created and nurtured even while we're deciding if the weather is hot enough yet to switch from coffee to iced tea or learning to taste all of Italy or the Rogue River Valley in a bite of cheese. I am very deeply looking for- ward to this year's Summer Fancy Food Show and the chance to renew my bonds with the friends I'll meet there. Safe journeys, one and all! GN — Lorrie Baumann Editorial Director FROM THE EDITOR WWW.GOURMETNEWS.COM PUBLISHER Kimberly Oser SENIOR ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Jules Denton-Card jules_d@oser.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Lorrie Baumann editor@oser.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Anthony Socci anthony_s@oser.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS Greg Gonzales Jeanie Catron ART DIRECTOR Yasmine Brown GRAPHIC DESIGNER Jonathan Schieffer CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGERS Caitlyn McGrath Susan Stein CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Tara Neal tara_n@oser.com CIRCULATION MANAGER Jamie Green jamie_g@oser.com EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT Heather Albrecht heather_a@oser.com PUBLISHING OFFICE 1877 N. Kolb Road P.O. Box 1056 Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300 Fax 520.721.6300 SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Gourmet News P.O. Box 30520 Tucson, AZ 85751 520.721.1300 G OURMET N EWS ® OSER COMMUNICATIONS GROUP FOUNDER Lee M. Oser MEMBER OF: Periodicals postage paid at Tucson, AZ, and additional mailing office. Gourmet News (ISSN 1052-4630) is published monthly by Oser Communications Group, 1877 North Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715; 520.721.1300. Publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material or prices quoted in newspaper. Contributors are responsible for proper release of pro- prietary classified information. ©2019 by Oser Communications Group. All rights re- served. Reproduction, in whole or in part, without writ- ten permission of the publisher, is expressly prohibited. Back issues, when available, cost $7 each within the past 12 months, $12 each prior to the past 12 months. Back orders must be paid in advance either by check or charged to American Express, Visa, or Master Card. Gourmet News is distributed without charge in North America to qualified professionals in the retail and dis- tribution channels of the specialty foods and hardgoods trade; paid subscriptions cost $65 annually to the U.S. and Canada. All foreign subscriptions cost $150 annu- ally to cover air delivery. All payments must be made in U.S. funds and drawn on a U.S. bank. For subscriber services, including subscription information, call 520.721.1300. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Gourmet News, 1877 North Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715. CORRECTION An article referencing Hammonds Brands that appeared in the May issue of Gourmet News included an image of a product not mentioned in the story. We apologize for the error.

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