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The best way to tour a city is through its grocery store

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Re: The best way to tour a city is through its grocery store

#81

Post by L_Rahman »

qychtkd wrote: post #8

Libraries are also a good way to tour a city. Get a transit card from a grocery store or a convenient store (also a lotto ticket because you never know). Start with the main branch, then on to the various neighborhood branches. It’s important to pick a section you are interested in beforehand. Fiction might be too overwhelming, so I’d go for the math or computer technology sections. Once you’ve done this in multiple…

This is great.

I'd add for Brazil, a great alternative to the libraries are SESCs. SESCs are cultural centers, funded by a payroll tax proposed by big business in the 50s when they were afraid of Communist sympathies in population. The result are extremely well funded community centers with big arts budgets for free exhibitions, exercise facilities, primary care clinics, libraries, cafeterias with affordable food and lots of space for people to lounge around. In many neighborhoods, they're the epicenter of social life. They've been a terrific way to break out of the downtown Sao Paulo bubble.

Re: The best way to tour a city is through its grocery store

#82

Post by Rebelgecko »

donarb wrote: post #54
ImaCake wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Ironically I also love going to foreign McDonalds. I make a point of getting a McDonalds cheeseburger in every country I visit. Austria has the best meat (Germany the worst). Poland tasted like Australia (my home) and the UK burger was the most plastic like. Italy, UAE, and Hong Kong all deviate quite a bit from the "regular" menu but I visited the latter two at the airport so maybe they are outliers.

Funny because McDonald’s is now featuring items here in the US that are popular overseas. Currently they are featuring a Grand McExtreme Bacon Burger from Spain and a Stroopwaffel McFlurry from the Netherlands.

They also have a chicken sandwich supposedly from Canada... I'm surprised they didn't bring down the poutines or even fish and chips

Re: The best way to tour a city is through its grocery store

#83

Post by jpmoral »

cmroanirgo wrote: post #64
tobr wrote: post #16

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…

I recall being in a tiny store in Lourdes, France and seeing packets of Tim Tams for sale ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tam ). It was the last thing I expected to see from home (Oz). Of course, I bought a pack and thought of home...

Were they any good? Before I came to Oz I'd only tasted the SE-Asian ones. They're okay but I much prefer the locally-made variety.

Re: The best way to tour a city is through its grocery store

#84

Post by starky »

fhbdukfrh wrote: post #7

As a kid the differences between Canadian and American grocery stores was amazing. Especially chocolate bars. Not so different anymore, aside from the prevalence of corn based sweeteners.

Honestly, I don't understand how the US doesn't get any of the good chocolate bars: Coffee Crisp, Crispy Crunch, Eat More, Wunderbar, Smarties (not the chalky candies, those are Rockets), and Aero.

Re: The best way to tour a city is through its grocery store

#85

Post by starky »

When people go to China for the first time I always recommend that they go walk through a Walmart there precisely for the reason that it is a friendly and familiar place, but also highlights just how different the food culture is in that country vs. at home. I'm pretty sure it was the only piece of tourism advise my Chinese colleague gave me when I went for the first time, and I've passed it on ever since.

Re: The best way to tour a city is through its grocery store

#86

Post by kweks »

starky wrote: post #85

When people go to China for the first time I always recommend that they go walk through a Walmart there precisely for the reason that it is a friendly and familiar place, but also highlights just how different the food culture is in that country vs. at home. I'm pretty sure it was the only piece of tourism advise my Chinese colleague gave me when I went for the first time, and I've passed it on ever since.

Yup, bags of live frogs are not what you'd typically expect in a Walmart !

Re: The best way to tour a city is through its grocery store

#89

Post by duskwuff »

msla wrote: post #41
gumby wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

East Palo Alto has only one, and struggled for years without a grocery store or bank.

> East Palo Alto has only one, and struggled for years without a grocery store or bank. I understand that it's an independent polity, but it's also surrounded by other urban areas. I can get a 51 minute bus ride from an apartment complex in East Palo Alto to a Safeway, which does cost about $5 but that's a discussion for another day; my point is, East Palo Alto only has "one grocery store" if you ignore everything su…

Perhaps a more nuanced way of putting it:

There's only one real grocery store (Mi Tierra Linda) on the east side of 101, and the other side of 101 is mostly residential. You don't get much more shopping until you get close to El Camino, and most of the grocery stores you'll find there (like the Whole Foods near the Palo Alto train station) are targeting a much more upscale market.

Re: The best way to tour a city is through its grocery store

#90

Post by emj »

personlurking wrote: post #70
mfenniak wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Yep. I had to leave everything I had just gone through the store to pick out. I prefer Albert Heijn for their selection but shopped at Lidl cause they'd take my cards.

I does tell you something about how much of a cut the credit card companies take from retailers and customers.
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