Buy local

So I’ve been trying to think of grocery shopping as “An Adventure!” (caps and punctuation intended) instead of as the real beating that it seems to be too often (sometimes literally; you should see how these people elbow each other out of the way just to get their fruit and veggies weighed and priced in the produce section! I need hockey pads! Just kidding. Sort of. But let’s be honest: grocery shopping is a beating no matter where you are when you have two whiny toddlers in tow!). But today in particular I had one of those “I cannot believe how complicated this has to be” moments while shopping. I braved the frozen food section in the grocery store (a Carrefour, a French retailer that is like a SuperTarget or a Meijer; we shopped a lot at the ones in Kuala Lumpur) and I found something that I think is pork-stuffed dumplings, based on the picture on the package. The only English on the package says “Freezing for Fresh” and “Chives-Prok Vareniki”. So I’m hoping the “prok” is just a typo and not some Indian dish with which I am unfamiliar that actually means chicken feet, or pig eyeballs or something. But I was excited to find the dumplings, thinking “We like these and they will be easy enough to prepare with the limited utensils that I currently have in my kitchen. But we’ll need some soy sauce to go with them.” I was headed to the aisle where I thought I would find the oils and sauces and just had to laugh when it occurred to me that there might not be any English on the bottles. How will I know what to choose? As the default solution came to me, “When in doubt, buy the imported version”, I had to laugh out loud: I am standing in a grocery store in China and am contemplating buying the imported version of soy sauce? I think it’s time to break out of the bubble, Jack!


The good news is that there were a few brands that had enough English on the labels that I was even able to find a low sodium version! (At least I think it is…) And to boot I found a bottle of some black pepper sauce that sounds really interesting and I am looking forward to trying that out. A reward for my willingness to be intrepid! Now I just need to brave the rice cooker that came with the house… which I guess would mean braving the rice aisle at the store as well.

It’s funny though how you come to rely on certain conventions. For instance green on the coffee packaging always means decaf, right? Grab the green one. (I think the blue labels here are decaf, at least on the Nescafe, but can’t be sure so I guess if after a few days of the blue stuff I’m bouncing off the walls and up all night I will know my assumption was wrong!) Well, now that I have my purchase home I realize that there is no English on the label of the bottle of soy-sauce that I bought. But it’s green, and green means the low-sodium version in the states. Did I actually read that on the label of the larger bottle in the store, or did I subconsciously grab that one because it’s what I would have bought back home? Things that make you go “hmmm”. I guess soy-sauce is soy sauce; quit over thinking everything? Is it obvious to you all yet that I haven't got enough to occupy my mind these days?...

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. Best wishes for a happy, prosperous and peaceful 2011.