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As fact-finding missions go, this one was really sweet. And sour. And a little salty, too.

The salty part was in Chinatown, where a group of Armenian dignitaries -- who are in town this week to study
 how New York-style capitalism could be injected into their fledgling, post-Soviet economy -- took a breather
 over a bowl of stewed snails on Elizabeth Street.

"These are fantastic," said Kamo Khachatryan, the country's housing and communal policy chief.

While Khachatryan ate with relish, fellow fact-finder Zhora Simonyan stuck to recognizable vegetables like
 eggplant.

"To me, eating a snail is like eating a bug," he said.

The Armenians' mission is being sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development as part of
 an assistance program that arose after Armenia's two devastating earthquakes -- the literal one in 1988 and
 the political one when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.

Saturday found the Armenians learning about how New Yorkers shop. At the Union Square Greenmarket, the group
 was certainly impressed by the quality of the market's esoteric produce, but not by the prices.

Carrots for $2.25 a pound? There aren't enough Yuppies or snooty chefs in all of Armenia -- where more than two
 pounds of organic carrots cost 25 cents -- who would spend a day's wage on two bunches.

"Besides, all our produce is organic," said Simonyan -- using the Russian word for "clean" -- "so no one would
 pay a premium for it."

Prices were better at the Essex Street Market, but the quality didn't impress the deputy mayor of Armenia's
 second-largest city, Gyumri.

"It seems Americans do not desire redness in a tomato," said Karlen Hampartsumyan, pointing to one that
 appeared to have been fabricated in a plastics factory.

Later, the group encountered avocados for the first time. Like Nixon offering Khrushchev a Pepsi, the Gnome
 offered a taste.

"Please do not give me more," said Simonyan, whose mouth started watering again at the sight of a cow foot in
 one butcher's case. Back home, a foot like that would be boiled inside a stomach until it was a gelatinous
 stew -- perfect with vodka.

In Chinatown, the Armenians were again impressed by New York's vitality. Hampartsumyan saw the neighborhood as
 a metaphor for the American dream.

"That another ethnic group could so firmly establish itself and be accepted in your country shows me that
 American democracy is strong," he said.

Of course, not everything about capitalism impressed the Armenians. For the coffee-drinking Simonyan, New
 York's lack of public toilets was particularly appalling.

"But can't I use the bathroom in any bar or restaurant?" he asked. No, he was told, he could not.

"Well, there should be a law allowing the public to use their bathrooms," he said.

Yes, he was told, there should.

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gersh.kuntzman@verizon.net