Most of the conversations that I share via my blog are with people whose restaurants I have frequented. This time, I was introduced to Daniel Berman by a mutual friend who thought we would get along due to our common interests. Thank you, Lija, you were correct.

For people who enjoy exotic foods, Daniel Berman is a good person to meet. He works in the Specialty Foods Department at Zingerman’s Delicatessen. Anyone who has met Daniel at work can see that he is very knowledgeable about the food and loves to share his knowledge with people who come to see him there.

Daniel said that he was always into food, even as a kid. While growing up in Miami, he said that he could identify the difference between domestic and imported Swiss cheese that his mother bought at the supermarket. During those early years, he developed his palate and began to focus on making the most of every opportunity to eat good food.

Throughout his high school years, Daniel and his friends held what they called “Feasts.” Each person would create a dish or dishes that surrounded a single theme. Because Daniel didn’t know how to cook anything at first, he washed the dishes so he could be included. Once he discovered that no one focused on desserts, he began creating those, emphasizing ones that didn’t require baking.

His culinary evolution continued after a post-college move to the San Francisco area. Initially, he worked in advertising and at one point had  Taco Bell as a client, but Daniel said that he found that particular work “soul weary.” This led him to contemplate a career change.

His daily commute took him past the Ferry Building, which housed Cowgirl Creamery, and he thought of becoming a cheesemaker. He even staged (an unpaid internship) there for half a day. Although Daniel did not get the position of Assistant Cheesemaker, he was able to transition to other clients as an advertiser. The opportunity to learn more about cheese had opened his eyes to additional gustatory possibilities.

Living between Oakland and Berkeley in the Rockridge neighborhood, Daniel found a store called the Pasta Shop at Market Hall. He got to know the cheese monger there and discovered what he still identifies as his favorite cheese (Penã Azul – a leaf-wrapped creamy cheese with punchy blue notes). He told everyone he encountered about this cheese and asked them about their favorite cheese. Then he would go and ask the cheese monger about all the cheeses that the people mentioned, adding to his knowledge.

His education in cheese complemented the array of excellent cuisine that the San Francisco area offered. His food experiences focused on specialty areas and seeing what interesting things chefs were doing with whichever new or local or in-season ingredient they had found. This variety and lively food scene were a sharp contrast to what would come next in his food journey.

After Daniel’s wife got a job at SUNY-Albany, they moved to upstate New York. Compared to the Bay Area, he was disappointed by the bleak nature of the food scene around Albany. As he described it, the food culture in Albany was more about being waited on and not necessarily about the food. Daniel challenged himself to change that and began using Yelp! to review the food scene.

Before too long, a local publication called All Over Albany noticed his online activity and hired him to write a regular feature called Eat This, which focused on eating one good thing that was available in a place. He also started writing the FUSSYlittleBLOG (https://fussylittleblog.com/) to educate people about food. His online efforts on Yelp! resulted in Daniel working as a Community Ambassador for the Albany region. He was even interviewed for a feature article in the Edible Capital District magazine.

In 2019, Daniel’s wife got a job at the University of Michigan, which brought them to Ann Arbor. Here, Daniel found Zingerman’s. Initially, he worked in the Service Center at the Zingerman’s Mail Order operation, where he loved connecting with people and talking to them on the phone about food. During the pandemic, he felt less isolated because he got to be part of the emotional connection with people in the community who were sending food to their loved ones.

After about five years, Daniel wanted to get closer to the food, so he moved on to work in the Specialty Foods Department of the Zingerman’s Deli. There, he enjoys the thrill of greeting people and welcoming them to the Deli. For those who don’t know, the Specialty Foods Department is located right through the front doors, before you get to the restaurant section, and contains cheeses, meats, fish, olives, bread, and dry goods. 

Working on the floor at the Deli provides Daniel opportunities that are not available to most people. One example he mentioned was being present at the cracking open of a wheel of antique Emmentaler and tasting the salty butterfat that wept from the revealed interior. This type of experience allows him to expose people to new things and new flavors. 

In addition to working with customers, Daniel shares his knowledge and perspectives about food via multiple creative endeavors. He co-writes a newsletter (internal to Zingerman’s) called The Nosh and participates as a regular co-host of a podcast called Heartland Hot Dish. He has even co-taught the Zingerman’s course called An Introduction to Good Food.

These opportunities have been vehicles for him to embrace the Zingerman’s ethos about food. Zingerman’s has defined “good food” to mean food that is full-flavored and traditionally made, which has complexity, balance, and a long finish. People who embrace this definition result in a loyal customer base that appreciates the quality of the food products and accepts the investment at the price point.

Daniel thinks that the only way to really know if a food item is worth the price is to get  it into your mouth and taste it. Ari Weinsweig, one of the Deli’s co-founders, can often be heard saying that when you eat full-flavored foods, you don’t need as much to be satisfied. This is why Daniel sees his job less as selling the food and more about giving away tastes. 

He really enjoys the opportunity to share the importance of good food with people. It is his happy place. Daniel hopes that what he does gives people license to be creative with the foods that he introduces to them. He likes to explain how special things are, but encourages people to play. The next time you are in the Zingerman’s Deli, look for Daniel and prepare to learn how good the food can be.