If the busy storefront windows at Sahadi’s, on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, don’t appeal to your minimalist leanings, just get over it. You’re going to love this place, even if it takes you years to try all the products. The narrow aisles form a sort of labyrinth through the cramped space, where at every turn you’ll discover bins and jars of dried fruits and nuts or refrigerator cases full of cheeses. This is the place to buy anything you could ever want to eat from the Middle East, along with a healthy dose of European specialty goods.

When I asked the man in charge of the olive bar how many varieties he sold, he did some quick mental math and came up with an estimate.

“Thirty-four?” he said as he scooped a heap of shriveled, oily, black, Moroccan olives into a plastic container. more…