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FROM THE EDITOR KITCHENWARE NEWS & HOUSEWARES REVIEW n JUNE 2017 n www.kitchenwarenews.com Periodicals postage paid at Tucson, AZ and additional mail- ing office. Kitchenware News & Housewares Review (USPS012-625) is published 12 times per year (Jan., Feb., March, April, May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec.) by Oser Communications Group, 1877 N. Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ, 85715 520.721.1300. Publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material or prices quoted in newspaper. Contributors are responsi- ble for proper release of proprietary classified information. ©2017 by Oser Communications Group. All rightsreserved Reproduction, in whole or in part, without written permis- sion of the publisher, is expressly prohibited. Back issues, when available, cost $8 each within the past 12 months. Back issue orders must be paid in advance by check. Kitchenware News & Housewares Review is distributed without charge in North America to qualified professionals in the retail and distribution channels of the upscale kitchenware and tabletop trade. For subscriber services, in- cluding subscription information, call 520.721.1300. Printed in the USA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Kitchenware News & Housewares Review, 1877 N. Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715. PUBLISHER Kim Oser SR. ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Jules Denton jules_d@oser.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Lorrie Baumann lorrie_b@oser.com EDITOR Micah Cheek micah_c@oser.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Greg Gonzales greg_g@oser.com GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Jonathan Schieffer Yasmine Brown CUSTOMER SERVICE Caitlyn McGrath MANAGERS caitlyn_m@oser.com Sarah Glenn sarah_g@oser.com CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Tara Neal CIRCULATION MANAGER Jamie Green jamie_g@oser.com Kitchenware News & Housewares Review is a publication of Oser Communications Group Inc. 1877 N. Kolb Road • Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300 www.kitchenwarenews.com www.oser.com OSER COMMUNICATIONS GROUP H o u s e w a r e s R e v i e w KITCHENWARE NEWS S E R V I N G K I T C H E N WA R E, H O M E D E C O R A N D G I F T WA R E M A R K E T S editor from the 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 before he was rich, famous and lived in New York City. What jerked me upright was a comment 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 character 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 characterized most of the food he was eating. But then he goes on to suggest that tasteless food might be responsible for a general decline in American culture. "If this people has so atrophied its taste buds as to find tasteless food not only acceptable but desirable, what of the emotional life of the nation?" he asked. Steinbeck suggested that a diet of bland food might explain why Americans were eagerly consuming so much sex and violence 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 undoubtedly 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 rapidly 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 evidence, 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 embrace handmade food that's full of flavor. It's the least we can do if it'll save our whole culture. KN Lorrie Baumann, Editorial Director 4

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