Following a great story on souvlaki stands a week ago, Astoria gets more props as the 30th Ave Trade Fair is written up in the Sunday Times today, in a story about its rapidly growing selection of Brazilian groceries. I knew the Trade Scare was awesome, but this story quantifies it: the place stocks food from more than 50 countries. Interesting to see, too, that Brazilian food is now the third most popular type sold–what ranks No. 1 and No. 2? Judging from the awesome selection of split peas, I’d have to guess Indian, but what’s the other? Guesses?

I’m also a little suspicious that the owner of the Trade Fair is “Venezuelan.” Not with a last name like Jaber, he’s not.

Anyway, the story is sort of the standard immigrants-finding-their-way piece you see in the City section, but set in the grocery store, so that

[i]n these aisles, taste and memory intertwine. Those who can’t afford to visit their homeland, and those who are in the United States illegally and fear they would never be able to visit home and return, can at least savor a flavor of the land of their birth.

A little smarmy, but I can’t criticize. The Trade Scare is a genuinely heartwarming place…as long as you don’t gouge your own eyes out in frustration in the “express” lane first.