Fancy Is as Fancy Does

By Mimi Sheraton

There was chokingly sweet carrot butter, which the manufacturer claimed makes men think "they have died and gone to heaven." Also sour-sweet and metallic- tasting salad dressings "designed" by Gloria Vanderbilt and fool-the-eye chocolate Buffalo chicken wings packed with a container of blue-cheese dip. Something called Cowboy Caviar, made in California, was based on an old recipe for a Russian eggplant appetizer; and Le Brut d'Escargot, from France, proved to be ghostly, ghastly white snail's eggs that tasted like salty paregoric.

These were only a few of the specialties on the bizarre menu introduced to buyers for gourmet grocery stores at the 33rd Annual International Fancy Food and Confection Show, held last week at New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. As the estimated 30,000 visitors shopped their way around 400,000 sq. ft. of floor space, eyeing and often sampling the wares of 729 exhibitors, it was clear that a marathon peripatetic nosh was under way. , Looking for products that will tempt big consumer dollars this fall, the professional shoppers lined up with a fine impartiality, tasting almost everything they encountered en route, whether it was the finest Scottish salmon and Italy's best Parmigiano-Reggiano or dismal Aussie Pie, which was baked and frozen Down Under, with its bland beef filling in a crust much like damp shirt cardboard.

Other beguilements included ham, salami, cheese and dozens of honeyed mustards, which, along with the oozing emulsions that passed for salad dressings, were the most characteristic products of the show. Many tasters found la dolce vita by way of ricotta-filled pastry by the Cannoli Factory, and most headed for the booth of Paron Chocolatier to see the first-prize winner among new products (awarded by the show's sponsor, the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade). A visit to Paron meant risking sugar shock because the blue-ribbon concoction turned out to be Eve's Revenge, an obscene and hefty perversion consisting of a Washington State apple thickly coated with caramel and chocolate and encrustations of coconut or nuts.

There were many displays offering salads ready-made for restaurants and food stores, to stock their "homemade" salad bars. Can't Budge Fudge zapped peanut butter with chocolate for a truly throat-clutching effect, and the Beverly Hills Confection Collection dished up samples of brittle with rancid- tasting peanuts. Everywhere were products for the health- and diet- conscious: "lo" in salt, sugar, calories and fat, and "lite," meaning anything one wanted it to. Sweet, as usual, seemed to be the top flavor. Perhaps as Americans give up salt, they reach for sugar, figuring that one gritty white seasoning is as good as another.

Finding anything worth eating in this morass of haute junque proved as difficult as avoiding thorns among roses. Still, there were a few honest and tempting candidates that rate consideration for fall shopping lists. The most esoteric and intriguing are caper berries from Spain, which have the same piquant tingle as the smaller, more familiar caper. Attached to their stems, these berries could become the status garnish of the year, perhaps replacing olives or lemon twists in martinis. Finnish bakers have a way with malty, palate-scrubbing sourdough rye crisp breads; the latest welcome entry is Kings Bread, crackling thin and cut into elegantly long and narrow shapes. No less delicious and even more delicate are the translucent golden Swiss Cocktail Wafers made by HUG, equally good seasoned with caraway or cheese.

Those who like it hot should be more than satisfied with the incendiary Cajun-style blend of black and cayenne peppers, herbs and spices in Blackened Spice Marinade, from Taylor Maid in Jackson, Miss. The powdered mix works its fiery magic on burgers, grilled chicken and shrimp. And if that is not hot enough, munch on crunchy "red hot blue" corn chips from Garden of Eatin' in Santa Monica.

Those who like it sweet can indulge in the down-home flavor of pecan-butter brittle confected by Buckley's Candies of Louisiana. Sophisticated and pricier are some imports from Belgium: Le Chocolatier Manon's bittersweet chocolates filled with mandarin orange liqueur and burnt caramel. Even more stunning is its big marbleized chocolate scallop shell that holds nine chocolate praline fruits de mer -- mussels, crayfish and shrimp -- a dessert that delights the eye as much as the palate.