Oser Communications Group

GOURMET NEWS JUNE 2017 www.gourmetnews.com FROM THE EDITOR 4 I've been re-reading John Steinbeck's "Travels with Charley" lately, and today I came across the bit in which he marvels over Wisconsin's scenic beauty and wealth of cheese and then misses Minnesota in a traffic jam before settling down for the rest of the day and the night at a roadside pull-out somewhere outside Fargo, North Dakota. There, he muses to his dog about the lessons of his trip so far. He had calculated that Fargo lay at the center point of his trip from Sag Harbor, New York to Seattle, and he was starting to worry about whether he was learning anything from a trip that was supposed to put him back in touch with America so he could write about the country and its people as they were in 1960 instead of as he remembered them from the days be- fore he was rich, famous and lived in New York City. What jerked me upright was a com- ment that the food that Steinbeck had been eating in restaurants along the road had been "clean, tasteless, colorless, and of a complete sameness. It was almost as though the customers had no interest in what they ate as long as it had no charac- ter to embarrass them." Now some of this is undoubtedly because he was eating at the 1960 equivalent of today's fast food stops along the highway. Then, as now, their customers probably weren't looking for haute cuisine, so it's not really fair to judge the quality of American food from those experiences. Steinbeck himself acknowledges that on those occasions when a diner's sign offered "home-made sausage" or "home-smoked bacons and hams," he got something better than the flavorless mediocrity that charac- terized most of the food he was eating. But then he goes on to suggest that tasteless food might be responsible for a general de- cline in American culture. "If this people has so atrophied its taste buds as to find tasteless food not only acceptable but de- sirable, what of the emotional life of the na- tion?" he asked. Steinbeck suggested that a diet of bland food might explain why Americans were eagerly consuming so much sex and vio- lence through their choices in literature and news media. "And if this is so, why are there no condiments save ketchup and mustard to enhance their foods?" he wrote. It would be unkind for me to suggest that Steinbeck's thought process here was un- doubtedly lubricated by a liberal dose of the bourbon, scotch, gin, vermouth, vodka, brandy, applejack and beer he bought and loaded into his camper just about as soon as he was safely out from under his wife's eye, so I won't do that. Steinbeck died in 1968, but if he were alive now, some of the food that's being produced in this country now would rap- idly disabuse him of his notion that Americans' sense of taste was about to disappear, so that strong or exotic flavors would arouse suspicion or dislike. As ev- idence, let me point to the winners of this year's sofi Awards from the Specialty Food Association, which include Wild Thymes Farm's Mad Moroccan BBQ Sauce, Cheeky Cheeky Churro Chocolate from Chuao Chocolatier and Tomato and White Sultana Chutney with Ginger and Garam Masala from Le Bon Magot. Food like this does nothing to suggest that Americans' taste buds have so atrophied that our opinions on other matters have followed. But just in case, let's all continue to em- brace handmade food that's full of flavor. It's the least we can do if it'll save our whole culture.. GN — Lorrie Baumann Editorial Director FROM THE EDITOR WWW.GOURMETNEWS.COM PUBLISHER Kimberly Oser SENIOR ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Jules Denton jules_d@oser.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Lorrie Baumann lorrie_b@oser.com SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR Robin Mather robin_m@oser.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS Jeanie Catron jeanie_c@oser.com Micah Cheek micah_c@oser.com Greg Gonzales greg_g@oser.com ART DIRECTOR Yasmine Brown GRAPHIC DESIGNER Jonathan Schieffer CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGERS Sarah Glenn sarah_g@oser.com Caitlyn McGrath caitlyn_m@oser.com CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Tara Neal tara_n@oser.com CIRCULATION MANAGER Jamie Green jamie_g@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. ©2017 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.

• Cover