The Message Is "In" The Bottle

The work that goes into making the simplest of food products like extra virgin olive oil, piquillo peppers, and canned tuna is significant. The repertoire of what can be made with naturally preserved foods like these is enormous.

High quality tuna packed in olive oil from Portugal, Spain, and Italy makes for a great food souvenir from traveling. These days more and more is also becoming available in the US. (Photo by Paul Moore)

The showstopper.  

Walking the aisles at a specialty food trade show is an eye opener. The hundreds of exhibitors, beautifully decorated booths, well-heeled company representatives, and the abundance of products on display is magnificent. There are seasoned importers with inviting spaces adjacent to small producers able to rent coveted half-booths or nascent start-ups at folding tables doing everything they can to get noticed. The onslaught of enthusiastic promotion, energetic peddling, personal introductions, deal making, and a lot to taste makes sensory overload the order du jour.  

It’s cool to see new products debut and first-time entrants with clever offerings. And every year there’s a cadre of something hot. One year it was lots of dark chocolate with savory combinations, another had a plethora of flavored water with electrolytes, there was a wave of artisanal cured meats, then a lot of pickled vegetables, another was infiltrated with products from Vermont, then it was all about being “natural”, non-GMO, clean label, and no doubt the plant-based genre will show itself among numerous categories.  

In order for a food product to be successful it has to be much more than delicious. It must have its margins in line, be properly capitalized, show itself to be better or different, have a great back story, a solid marketing plan, and be scalable.  

When a trend hits a lot of similar products enter the marketplace. For every one at the food show no doubt there are others vying for shelf space in the stores. Gourmet glamour cedes to reality behind the scenes. Increased competition tightens the distribution network, producers get squeezed, store buyers are tasked with more risk/reward decisions, knock-offs appear, and in the end consumers can face a lot of choice. Just look at how much bottled tomato sauce, flavored water, and nut butters there are these days!  

Over the years I have honed myself to walk the shows with a focus on things relevant to a Mediterranean style of cooking. I love seeing more and more cured meats, imported cheeses, and the staples of a Mediterranean pantry like extra virgin olive oil, vinegars, Dijon mustard, and sea salt. Some of the most intriguing displays of these food products include beautiful photographs of the places where they come from, the people who make them, or how they’re made. The depictions of the product’s origin are alluring and no doubt there’s a lot of story about people and provenance. Sadly very little of this accompanies the product when it is on the shelf at the store.  

The ingredients that make up the Mediterranean pantry are inherently special. They deserve a fair price but should also be positioned for everyday use. And one of their most remarkable attributes is they will always be among the purist items at the food show.   

An awesome Heritage.  

Mediterranean cooking is for everyone. Its origins come from humble beginnings, basic necessity, perfect growing conditions, attentive producers, and loyal consumers. The world loves the Mediterranean diet and the dolce vita lifestyle image it creates. There’s no need for “unique selling propositions” and “proof of concept” because on it’s own it is the perfect brand.  

For thousands of years, plant oils, lard, syrup, honey, salt, sugar, spirits, and vinegar have been used to preserve food along with the methods of curing, smoking, canning, pickling, fermenting, aging, and drying. These means of conservation capture seasonal offerings, make fresh foods shelf stable, and build a pantry. As is the same for fresh ingredients, quality is paramount. The work that goes into making the simplest of foodstuffs like extra virgin olive oil, piquillo peppers, and canned tuna is significant. The repertoire of what can be made with naturally preserved foods like these is enormous.   

Provenance can determine many of an ingredient’s unique characteristics. Extra virgin olive oil is a huge topic by itself. I liken that conversation to that of wine. There are the vinegars of Jerez, Spain. Capers from the island of Pantelleria. Almonds from the Noto area of Sicily. Beans from the Lamon Valley in Northern Italy. Flaked sea salt from the Piran Bay in Slovenia. Greek dried oregano. This looks like a cruise itinerary!  

In fact, there could be an entire food show dedicated to products made with these methods of conservation. I’d be the perfect buyer because the middle aisles of the grocery store of my dreams shall be heavily weighted with these products. 

Progress… or not?  

Unfortunately, all of this goodness has also bred scandals. There are many stories about counterfeit extra virgin olive oil, buffalo mozzarella, San Marzano tomatoes, truffles, and Greek yogurt. And there’s no shortage of authenticity claims. A colleague of mine who works for the Italian Minister of Agriculture told me he once received a gift of a Parma style prosciutto in a box that said, “Made in China.” He thought it was a joke. It wasn’t. Good thing there are now protections to help make sure things of a place are indeed from where they say they are.  

The industrial era brought forth larger and faster ships, extensive railways systems, trucks, and super highways that opened the door to a very efficient global distribution system. Clever minds took ordinary food products and made them extraordinary in part by putting them in better bottles and jars and wrapping them in attractive and tasteful packaging. Something to export turns into something special to import creating a perception of gourmet that fosters a premium. 

Toward deliciousness.  

Demand over supply will always increase prices. There is only a limited amount of beans that can come from the Lamon valleys. But the ingredients of the Mediterranean pantry on the whole are and should always be approachable. They are the backbone to a wonderful way of cooking, a treasure trove of time-honored traditions, and dedicated work. The pantry itself can be an armoire filled with edible souvenirs that recall wonderful memories from travels abroad.  

Whether in fancy or basic packaging, it is the quality of the ingredients inside that can make what we eat absolutely delicious.