Going to a grocery store while on vacation

[PanchoHambre]

I love grocery stores and markets. They still to vary greatly around the country.

NYC was like traveling at home because all the different neighborhoods have supermarkets and specialty shops geared to the local ethnicity. There are not too many big box chain style markets there so the variations are great.

With the exception of Reading Terminal and The Italian Market neighborhood Philly is pretty grim on the grocery shopping level...

The best ever was when I lived on the Swiss-Italian border... food was amazing... unfathomably expensive but amazing the groceries were wonderful.

I remember England having great sweets and cream and in France the meats and cheese even at a common little market were wonderful.

Houston TX where I lived for a long time had great food shopping too. Not so many specialty shops but some great supermarket chains... Randalls Flagship was like a TajMahal compared to east coast supermarkets and my favorite was Fiesta which is decidedly lower end but makes a effort to stock for the local population... my neigborhood was a mix of Mexican immigrants and aspiring yuppies so our Fiesta had great Mexican food and produce (really cheap avocados and mangoes) as well as nice wine and cheese sections and an interesting collection of beers.... also they let people take carts home and sent a guy around to collect them.... Awesome.

The flip side of buying food on vacation is when say you are all excited to score some Maple Syrup in Vermont or something and the you get home and see the same thing on the shelf at Pathmark for less

 

[Porthand]

OK fellow supermarket junkies, if you are eve in SW Ohio . . .Jungle Jims! It is located just north of Cincinnati. They claim to have the largest selection of foods anywhere east of the Mississippi.

 

[PieSusan]

Am I the only one who does this ?? For some reason, If I go away, and I see a chain of supermarket Im not familiar with, I love to go in and browse around just to see what products im missing out on. Sometimes its the highlight of my vacations

Any other grocery store freaks out there like me ??

And if it is a farmers market or some kind of ethnic food specialty store, forget about it, i feel like ive gone to heaven....

My name is Pie Susan and I am a grocery store freak. I can't help it, I love to do exactly what you described. In fact, I love grocery shopping, in general.

 

[SierraCook]

While on vacation I usually pick up items for breakfast and lunch from the local farmer's market or grocery store. It is fun to pick up local items like cheeses, breads, salsa, smoked salmon, jams, and jellies, fruits and veggies, etc. I carry a small ice chest to pack the goodies in, spend the day sightseeing, and eat breakfast and lunch from the ice chest.

 

[Dave Hutchins]

I once had the opportunity to browse all of the organic and whole food stores from LA down cost to San Diego, and it was a discovery of a life time

 

[Claire]

Dave, when we were in the RV I was having a blast in the southwest buying things I considered "U.S.American" like Cambell's soup with a Mexican twist. Even friends who lived in the area had never noticed them. The one I regret is that somehow I never got around to tasting yogurt in Slovenia, where it was a staple. I loved it, though, that green peppercorns and capers came in huge jars (and yes, many restaurant meals we ate contained one or the other). Haven't been able to travel in recent years because of a geriatric puppy dog, but you bet we'll be in grocery stores internatially when we can again. Whenever we go to visit family in FLorida we have to buy a particular brand of Publix canned whole green beans.

 

[Maverick2272]

Ya know, the wife is always talking about taking a trip that is centered around 'food', maybe you two have inspired me to go along with it, LOL.

 

[TanyaK]

That was one of the highlights of our trips to Thailand and Bali. They had vacuum packed products in their frozen seafood section that we could not figure out what it was (all writing on the packaging was in Thai/Indonesian) And of course the exotic fruits were out of this world ! Only downside was that we could not really buy anything .

 

[phinz]

Whenever we go to visit family in FLorida we have to buy a particular brand of Publix canned whole green beans.

Whenever we're at Publix in Florida we always buy Colman's Shepherd's Pie Mix. We usually buy about 20-30 packets to last us until the next time.

 

[MexicoKaren]

I don't think there is a better way to get the feel of a community or country than to visit the place where the people buy their food...I love it. My husband is not quite as enthusiastic as I am, but I drag him along. During high tourist season here, it is fun to keep my eye out for confused "gringos" trying to navigate our local supermarket. I enjoy helping them find what they are looking for, e.g., garlic is "ajo,", shrimp is "camarones," etc. People helped me when I first got here - it's nice to pass it on.

 

[mike in brooklyn]

When I vacation I always try to get a place
where I can cook my meals - demanding that I
shop in local stores - Shopping in foreign markets brings us
closer to the culture and people living there - so much more
interesting than seeing the touristy spots and always dining
in restaurants.

 

[Toots]

I always go to the grocery while on vacation. Whether it is in a smalltown IGA in Florida or Marks & Spencers in London, I just love to wander around and check stuff out. I buy stuff in the markets to bring home. Before 9/11, I remember coming home from France with two carryons stuffed full of dijon, croissants, lardons, jams and chocolates. My husband thought for sure the little security beagle would sniff me out. I had French croissants for two months after the trip (I froze them when I got home and every Sunday we had some, it was great).

I really like seeing what is fresh and local in other places and seeing what people like to eat.
I think most foodies do.

 

[larry_stewart]

I don't think there is a better way to get the feel of a community or country than to visit the place where the people buy their food...I love it. My husband is not quite as enthusiastic as I am, but I drag him along. During high tourist season here, it is fun to keep my eye out for confused "gringos" trying to navigate our local supermarket. I enjoy helping them find what they are looking for, e.g., garlic is "ajo,", shrimp is "camarones," etc. People helped me when I first got here - it's nice to pass it on.

Its funny you should mention this, because when I lived in philly, we found this great produce market with insanely cheap prices. But we felt like " confused gringos" in the ordering process. The way this store was organized, was that everything was prepackaged to sell for $1. ex. 8Lbs of onions for $1, 3 lbs of bananas for $1.... There was also a separate vegetable and fruit line. When we arrived for the first time and saw the crazy prices, we were amazed, but no where did it say things were prebagged, or that there were 2 separate lines. So, we got a line, and started pointing to tomatoes saying i want this one and that one, then tried ordering 2Lbs instead of the pre packaged 3 lbs , ordering fruit from thevegetable line....We heard the people in line behind us grumbling and mumbling, the person who worked there didnt speak much english , so that didnt help as well. Then, to top it off, I tried to pay in big bills. After this first bizarre experience, the next time we went in, we kinda stood back, and watched how things were done. WE then laughed realizing how much we probably annoyed everyone behind us in line the last time. And every time we went there afterwards, we too were the people inline getting annoyed at the newbies who didnt know what they were doing.

I havnt lived in philly in over 10 years, but to this day, when we visit, we still go back to this store and buy a few things, partially to get a good deal, and partially to hear people getting yelled at

*** even though the fruit and veggies were prebagged, You got so much for your money, even if u had to throw one or 2 out, you stil were getting a great deal.

larry

 

[MexicoKaren]

Good story, Larry - isn't it strange how these "rules" exist, but no signs to explain them? Sometimes, you just have to stand and watch for awhile. Here in Mexico, the bakeries are all arranged in such a way that the goodies are on several aisles of open shelves, and you must go to the bakery counter and get a large round tray and a pair of tongs, then return to the special bakery cashier with your purchases to be bagged/boxed separately. It is a little less complicated than your produce story, but it does bear some watching before you dive in.

 

[B'sgirl]

I always go because I'm always in search of new gluten/milk/corn free foods for my son. It's always exciting to find a new product he can have.

 

[Maverick2272]

Good story, Larry - isn't it strange how these "rules" exist, but no signs to explain them? Sometimes, you just have to stand and watch for awhile. Here in Mexico, the bakeries are all arranged in such a way that the goodies are on several aisles of open shelves, and you must go to the bakery counter and get a large round tray and a pair of tongs, then return to the special bakery cashier with your purchases to be bagged/boxed separately. It is a little less complicated than your produce story, but it does bear some watching before you dive in.

We have a Mexican bakery here in Cicero that does it that way, I like it better than walking around displays pointing to stuff and hoping they give you the one you want. Also, seems to be quicker as well.

 

[PanchoHambre]

not on Vacation exactly but sometimes interesting grocery items turn up in the strangest places.... Stoppped at the icky shop and bag in Camden trying to pick up some last minute provisions and WOW for a crud grocery store they have the most amazing ethnic food aisle... all sorts of interesting latin stuff and more... need to go there and brows a bit on my lunch break.... sometimes the crummy stores in the rough areas have really interesting stuff.

 

[larry_stewart]

I agree. There is a large hispanic community a few towns over. The Supermarket chains are obviously aware of this. So going to those supermarkets offers a much larger variety of south and central american products then the same chain store 5 - 10 miles away. I make it a point to stop by there every so often just to try something new. And yeah, I went to school in philly and ben through Camden. Some spots are kinda rough.

But we have our share of those areas up here too