In the busy aisles of the East Bay’s ethnic markets, adventurous home cooks rub shoulders with transplants from other lands doing their regular marketing. Local specialty stores provide pickled vegetables, Indian spices, masa harina, Scandinavian lutefisk, lumpia wrappers—and a window on the world.

This Valentine’s Day, a host of superb local chocolatiers offers scrumptious ways to say “I love you” without breaking the bank. Whether it’s creamy truffles, exotic bars, avant-garde bonbons spiked with tequila, or perhaps an edible Venus of Willendorf you’re after, an East Bay confectioner is standing by to fill the bill.