Food Souvenirs

It’s easy enough to buy specialty foods over the internet, but for some shoppers the experience omits the all-important sense of place, reports Sarah Maslin Nir in the New York Times (8/18/10). "The whole experience of getting it in its context is something you cannot duplicate if you’re not there," says Michael Stern of roadfood dot-com. "We could all sit in our den with the windows closed and watch TV and see every corner of the world, but having the experience of breathing the air somewhere other than our living room … isn’t something you can replicate."

For some, that experience is soaked in nostalgia. Anna Sturgeon has been known to drive seven hours from Cincinnati to the Carolinas to buy a case of Cheerwine, a cherry-flavored sodapop she enjoyed as a child. "It’s walking into the convenience mart, seeing the display, grabbing one and cracking it open and it being so cold and refreshing," says Anna. "It cannot be matched by opening a malibox." Molly Dunn-Hardy has a similar feeling about Nellie & Joe’s Famous Lime Juice, which she could order online, but instead has her father bring her a supply from Florida.

"Every time I open the fridge I see the little palm trees on the bottle," she says. "I think of running around on the beach when I was a kid, and collecting seashells." For Stuart Spivak, it’s the joy of the journey to places like Kossar’s Bialys in New York City. "My enjoyment of New York is taking the subway to go to the bakery," he says. "The guy who runs the bakery is a character. I enjoy all of that when I buy it and bring it back." Some retailers feel the same: "People always yell at us, ‘Send this and that," says Martin Ricker of Lucca Ravioli, who refuses to ship anything because "it would take away a lot of the history of this place if you could buy it in Wyoming."