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Every January, the Fancy Food Show rolls into San Francisco for a 3 day eating extravaganza. This trade show is put on by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. The show fills up both the north and south exhibition halls of the Moscone Center. It is a ginormous feast.

What is a “fancy food”? Think gourmet. Jams, dips, tea, popcorn, shortbread, biscotti, olives, olive oil, cured meats, cheese, cheese and more cheese. Pasta sauces, BBQ rubs and sauces. Plus a lot of chocolate. From all over the world. Samples abound, and pacing is a must. One small bite, and ditch the rest of the sample.

Out of 80,000 food and drink samples, I’ve distilled it down to these absolute favorites. (And no, I didn’t get anywhere close to trying even 1% of that.)

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This post’s title, Snack on This! I have totally borrowed from friend and colleague Mark Oltz. Whenever we were looking for new titles to segments on In Wine Country he’d always throw out “snack on this.” Today’s the last day of the three day Fancy Food show in San Francisco. There are hundreds of food vendors, from all over the country and all over the world. You can spend all day there and eat nothing but cheese — some darn good cheese. I managed to pull myself away from the cheese pavilion to sample other things. Here’s my list of favorites. Everything’s better with bacon. The cured meat was everywhere; lots of jamon Iberico legs being carved up. Bacon makes its way into chocolate at Vosges, in a dark choc bar and in a fantastic bacon caramel toffee. Also saw dried smoked salmon “bacon bits.” Porchetta was on display too. …

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EAT – A day at the Fancy Food Show

EAT – Snack on This! Fancy Food Show 2010