61–70 of 94 posts
It seemed like when I was in Italy I was the only American who knew not to look for eggs in the refrigerator. But that didn't help me when a cashier got impatient with me for not having weighed my produce in advance. Who knew?
In France, a bakery can thrive next to a supermarket because enough people mistrust the supermarket's quality.
In N. America, a supermarket opening is a death sentence for nearby food vendors.
Yes! Walking into a grocery store is one of the best things about traveling. It is one of the few genuine everyday activities that are easily available to a tourist, but is going to be quite different to what you’re used to from home, sometimes in surprising ways. Hopefully this will not disappear entirely as brands and chains become more and more homogenized across the world. One of the saddest examples of this is h…
Yes! Walking into a grocery store is one of the best things about traveling. It is one of the few genuine everyday activities that are easily available to a tourist, but is going to be quite different to what you’re used to from home, sometimes in surprising ways. Hopefully this will not disappear entirely as brands and chains become more and more homogenized across the world. One of the saddest examples of this is h…
Latin America too. Interestingly, each country has it's own name, often the name of an old-time ice cream company that has since went out of business. In the US it is "Good Humor." Took me a few years during my backpacking days to figure it out. While odd, I never thought of it as "ugly."
I've been telling friends and family this for years. It's by far my favorite thing to see in a new city in a region I've never been before. It's sort of like a modern anthropological exhibit in more ways than any other single city structure. There was a photography coffee table book I loved, where the artist took pictures of an entire family around their table, which had all of the food they ate for a week on it. I'v…
I seem to mainly recall the negative experiences.
In Rome, on vacation, I remember a grocery store where there were only two cashier lanes open, and long lines, and the two cashiers were facing each other, just havin' a five-minute chat about something unrelated to their work. This might have been an unusual event, since I've never lived in Italy.
In Portugal, where I lived several years, you're just out of luck. The cashiers are as slow as molasses. Also, one particular major chain seemed to have this weird occurrence of always looking ransacked and constantly being restocked during every one of their opening hours. And the "we're opening a new lane" thing wasn't "next person in current line is first in the new line". It would be a free-for-all, especially for newcomers.
In Netherlands, a major chain in Amsterdam would only take cash or a Dutch credit card. Visa/Mastercard from elsewhere were not accepted forms of payment.
The stuff with the amateurish labels is inevitably the best. It’s not packed with preservatives and stretchers and all the other crap you have to adulterate your food with to be able to ship it across the country and have it be shelf-stable.
There’s other surprises around the grocery store, but the feeling’s most intense in the Local Seasonings Aisle at the local Rouse’s.
Sadly, this doesn't apply to America. Our grocery stores are very much homogenized, and in many parts of the country the only grocery store will be Walmart. Urban areas will have higher end chains that stock a wider variety and some foreign and independent stores with unique selections, but once you get past the cities and into rural America, your options for groceries are about the same from town to town.
I've been making it a point to visit grocery stores in every country I visit for the last 10 years. I tend to agree with you that grocery stores tend become homogenized within a country (and not just in the US), but there's always a lot of variation between countries. You'll probably find this strange, but as a foreigner, I was really excited to see Walmart for the first time, and I found it just as interesting as vi…
I've been telling friends and family this for years. It's by far my favorite thing to see in a new city in a region I've never been before. It's sort of like a modern anthropological exhibit in more ways than any other single city structure. There was a photography coffee table book I loved, where the artist took pictures of an entire family around their table, which had all of the food they ate for a week on it. I'v…
> It's sort of like a modern anthropological exhibit in more ways than any other single city structure. I seem to mainly recall the negative experiences. In Rome, on vacation, I remember a grocery store where there were only two cashier lanes open, and long lines, and the two cashiers were facing each other, just havin' a five-minute chat about something unrelated to their work. This might have been an unusual event,…
Same experience just recently -- Albert Heijn. You'll find this grocery story every 50 meters in a major city like Amsterdam. No credit cards. It was pretty odd to me as a Canadian.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's sort of like a modern anthropological exhibit in more ways than any other single city structure. I seem to mainly recall the negative experiences. In Rome, on vacation, I remember a grocery store where there were only two cashier lanes open, and long lines, and the two cashiers were facing each other, just havin' a five-minute chat about something unrelated to their work. This might have been an unusual event,…
> In Netherlands, a major chain in Amsterdam would only take cash or a Dutch credit card. Visa/Mastercard from elsewhere were not accepted forms of payment. Same experience just recently -- Albert Heijn. You'll find this grocery story every 50 meters in a major city like Amsterdam. No credit cards. It was pretty odd to me as a Canadian.