By Ari Weinzweig

Imagine the reader’s reaction if the name of this magazine was suddenly switched from Specialty Food to Convenience Food. You might wonder how your name had landed in the hands of a trade journal for flash-frozen French fries. When most Americans think of “convenience foods,” they think of fast food restaurants, breaded chicken fingers from the supermarket or reheating frozen prepared dinners in the microwave.

The irony: Specialty foods are, far and away, also the most convenient foods. Mass market products aren’t as handy as they’re cracked up to be. Plus, they don’t taste good.

The Best Convenience Foods
The best convenience foods are the wonderful things we sell in the specialty food world: artisan cheeses, cured hams, smoked salmon—all those traditional “fast” foods people have enjoyed for generations and continue to appreciate today. These foods taste so good on their own that they require no other work.

For holiday entertaining, the best foods we carry will also make our customers’ lives as easy, and as rewarding, as possible. The key for your clientele is to buy great-tasting foods in the first place. When they start with flavorful foods, all they need do is place them on an attractive serving dish and wait for guests to arrive. There’s nothing more convenient than that.

Remember that convenience is a workable marketing angle—one we can use to educate our staff on the value of what they sell. The goal is to teach customers just how much easier—as well as more enjoyable—specialty foods can make their lives during the holidays, when time is particularly tight.

Here are a few products that deserve to be marketed as the best, and most flavorful, convenience foods, for putting together everything from a huge holiday party to an intimate dinner.

1. Artisan Cheese: There’s nothing more convenient—just buy good cheese, let it come to room temperature and then serve. The key to making any cheese board special is, of course, to start with specialty cheeses. Your customers should select cheeses that are so tasty people will stop and take notice. Pick four or five that offer a variety of flavors and textures. Suggest that the customer pick up chutney, Spanish membrillo or a jar of great varietal honey to go with them.

2. Ham: Ham is a traditional part of the holiday table in Europe but less so in the U.S. My suggestion is to serve three or four different hams on the same platter. Prosciutto di Parma, Spanish Jamon Serrano, an American country ham, a German smoked dry-cured Farmer’s ham, Prosciutto di San Daniele, or a northern Italian-style speck—each has its own flavor and character. It makes far more interesting eating when the host can offer a selection of two or three rather than only putting out a single option. (One tip on sliced hams: Slice as close to serving time as possible.)

3. Traditional Salamis: Salami is already recognized as something of a convenience food by many Americans. But few have actually tasted properly matured, mold-ripened, natural-casing salami, so serving some will be a culinary revelation. Great salami tastes much meatier, cleaner and nicer; it can quickly become the star of the party. Again, your customers should offer an array of three or four different types so that guests can be entertained by contrasting styles and flavors. The difference in appearance—coarse, medium and fine cut; large salami or small and so on—can create quick visual interest.

4. Smoked Fish: Truly a convenience for centuries, there’s not much more to do than put out some sliced smoked salmon and serve it with good butter and bread, a squeeze of fresh lemon and a bit of black pepper. To supplement, customers can pick up hot smoked trout or bluefish, break it into bite-sized pieces and serve with a touch of mustard or horseradish sauce on the side.

5. Olives: Offer a variety to make the guests’ eating experience more interesting. Shoot for a mix of colors, sizes, and ripeness—green, black, brown, purple; a range of textures—crisp, firm, soft and dry-cured; and a variety of countries of origin—Spain, Italy, France and maybe Morocco. To enliven the presentation, dress the olives with good olive oil and a bit of fresh garlic, herbs or spices.

6. Olive Oil and Honey: I learned this serving trick from a friend and her Moroccan-raised husband. It’s guaranteed to get attention from guests who may think the combination strange at first, but who will then, as I did, give in to its deliciousness. Open a bottle of good varietal honey. It should be at room temperature; coming straight out of the refrigerator will dull its flavor and mess with the combination’s otherwise marvelous texture. Put a dollop in the middle of a plate. (If you have a white plate, all the better; white enhances the visual effect.) Take a favorite olive oil and pour a bit on the plate around the honey. Not a huge amount—the idea is that the oil will edge its way up to the honey but not go over it. For garnish, drop a few untoasted pine nuts onto the honey. Warm some crusty white bread, then tear off a chunk and push it through the oil and honey to get some of each. The combination is excellent—sort of a Mediterranean honey butter.

7. Bread: Really good bread can be a noteworthy hors d’oeuvre on its own. Offer a range of three or four breads of varying textures, flavors and appearances. Warming them in the oven for about 20 minutes before serving will enhance the flavors and add to the aromatic experience of your guests as they enter.

8. Caviar: Cost issues aside, for any customer who wants to make an occasion special, or enjoy an exceptional evening of eating, caviar is the way to go. You can eat a fair bit of sturgeon caviar for what you’d spend on a nice bottle of wine in a fancy restaurant. And even a small bit sends a nice message aside from tasting good. If customers are looking for less costly options, there are the non-sturgeon roe alternatives—salmon, trout, paddlefish and so on.

Convenience—And Taste
There are countless other great “fast” foods—foie gras, roasted peppers, jams, mustards, sauces, spreads, pâtés, pepper jellies and pastries.

Quite simply, the great-tasting specialty foods that we sell are:
a) Much more convenient than either the fast or frozen food options that Americans think of as “convenience foods”, and
b) They definitely taste a whole lot better too.

To reach the pinnacle of uncomplicated and high-quality holiday entertaining, our customers must invest a small amount of additional time and money in shopping for better-tasting food. The beauty is that eating well is also incredibly convenient. And everyone involved in the process—from the retailer to the customer to the guest who attends the party—wins.

Ari Weinzweig is co-owner of Zingerman’s Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Mich., and author of Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating, recently released by Houghton Mifflin. For more information, call 734.930.1919