Curious about gourmet foods and craft shows

Cafe Society
1

My husband gave me some ‘gourmet’ tampenades (one was a peperoncini, the other was a roasted red pepper variety) and some flavoured olive oil (rosemary) for Christmas. I have bought some dark chocolate-covered cranberries, beet jam, and a frozen plum pudding by a maker in British Columbia that was completely out of this world yummy. All of these things were bought at annual “One of a Kind” type craft and artisan type sales. There is usually an entire section of this type of show devoted to the culinary arts.

I was wondering if anyone here has had any experience in making and selling stuff at these shows. It looks like a ton of work and the various jars and bottles must be very heavy to transport. The days must seem endless standing around (I have done my share of professional trade shows and even privately tried to sell some children’s toys I invented and the days can be very long). It was a real grind.

Is there an interesting, ‘behind the scenes’ aspect to the culinary arts in terms of ‘cottage industry’ offerings? It looks like these people put their heart and soul into the business and turn out hundreds and hundreds of bottles and jars of consumables. Is it really worth it? Of course, many have internet sales, too. Have any of you ever bought food over the internet?

Just curious. :slight_smile:

2

You might want to check out the forums at Etsy for advice. Lots of people selling their wares there.

The only food item I’ve purchased there so far is a spice rack that freed up some counter space in my kitchen. Love it.

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I’ve filled in for friends and family selling at craft fairs, and there’s a lot of kibbitzing between vendors, many of whom are on the same circuit. Depending on the product, sometimes the vendor uses the time to work (e.g., bead jewelry, parts of wood product finishing, knitting, weaving, hand quilting, gluing, etc.). This would be less true of foodstuffs, though I’ve seen people selling jam and making wreaths, for example. Others read. I think part of it is how extroverted the vendor is. I enjoy spending hours in a crowded, noisy hall talking with customers, but it’s just torture for some of the more retiring vendors.

ETA: I haven’t bought food online from small vendors unless it was through Amazon (the kaffir lime leaves of a previous post of mine).

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Hello. It’s me again. Etsy is a good suggestion. And you can pick up a couple of these there, too.