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• Around the world in no time

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(Carter Henricks, CreativeWorks photographer)

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Exotic and familiar international ingredients alike can be found at World Harvest Foods. The international and gourmet food shop will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in December and aims to carry a diverse selection of popular items from around the world that one might not otherwise find at a regular grocery store. The range of foods represented is great, and includes food items from Britain, Italy, India, Pakistan, Greece, Central America, and the list goes on.

The store owner, Mohammad AL-Heeti, gives off an exceptionally personable vibe as he greets customers perusing the store, and his commitment to customer service and satisfaction is clear. “When you look at our advertisement and it says we have 10,000 ingredients, we mean it,” says AL-Heeti. “We have some ingredients that no one else has.”

One such item is a carbonated soda beverage “Guaraná,” which is imported from Brazil. “Nobody has it,” says AL-Heeti. World Harvest carries a good variety of juices and sodas from around the world in addition to food items.

The focus on customer service extends beyond the foods offered in the store. AL-Heeti says that customers can talk to him about special orders if there is an item that World Harvest does not have, but customers are usually able to find what they need.

World Harvest is also complete with a full service café, manned by the very friendly and helpful store staff. Their selection of sandwiches and homemade salads are largely themed around Middle Eastern, Greek and Indian cuisines. The café makes for a perfect lunch stop and is also a good place to pick up a bulk tub of hummus, baba ganoush, and Mediterranean style kidney beans, which are all sold by the pound. World Harvest also offers a catering service and the menu includes many of the items that are available in the café.

World Harvest Foods has a surprisingly detailed and well-developed website containing images of the store and displaying featured items for purchase. “It’s not ready 100% yet, but people can still order certain things. We only have 1500 items out of 10,000 on the website,” says AL-Heeti. The website can be reached at http://www.worldharvestfoods.com/.

Store patrons can stop by the store on Saturdays from 10am-5pm for a free tasting party. Featured items include cheeses, olives, and olive oils.

Check out these items:

• Guaraná Antarctica soda from Brazil, available in regular and diet. Cold cans sell for 99 cents each as well as 2 liter bottles for $2.99. I really enjoyed it despite my usual indifference to pop. The sweet flavor was similar to cream soda, but with a perfect level of carbonation that did not overwhelm the guarana flavor.
• Dolmeh (vegetarian stuffed grape leaves) are $3.99 for 5 pieces. The woman behind the counter recommended these to me and I will definitely be back for more. They were stuffed with a rice-like mixture that included spices and a mild sauce.
• Kinder “bueno” is a hazelnut milk chocolate bar from Germany and is similar to a Kit-Kat. At $1.99 it’s one of the cheaper varieties.