When I travel, it seems likes it’s the little differences that stick with me the most. The very first time I traveled, I felt almost dizzy with the little differences, now, a couple countries later, I can enjoy them.
Grocery shopping is a fun way of seeing a culture. From where the stores are and how many staff there are and what the hours are, to what is on the shelves. In Croatia and Bosnia, I only saw one store I’d consider a large grocery store. Part of that is I’m sure due to being in the quaint old town areas, as opposed to the suburban areas that likely do have large stores.
Bread is usually better, and often is behind a counter. Surprisingly, Croatian bread seemed pretty mediocre, but the Bosnian stuff was good. The bread being behind the counter can be intimidating. The fruit, too, is intimidating: you have to use a little machine to weigh it and print a label. Ands you don’t just put in the price per kilogram….it spits out labels with the name of the fruit. I managed a couple times by saying "Please” in Bosna/Croat and holding the bag out to another customer. Once there seemed to be a staffer at the scale. It does make me realize how scary it must be to not know the language where you live. Imagine passing up fruit every day because you didn’t know how to get it correctly.
I got plenty of yogurt that was plain, which is not so usual for the States. It seemed most was unflavored, while in the U.S. most is flavored. I’m not sure what the fat content was, or whether there were live cultures. Some was really runny and some was thick. It was all pretty good.
You can buy little pats of butter; that seemed odd to me. Perhaps one or two tablespoons worth. Many things seemed to be in smaller containers. I think that perhaps there is more of a culture of shopping daily or weekly, and not so much on stocking up. I never saw a laundry detergent that was anywhere near the size I usually grab.
Peanut butter is expensive….Nutella is cheap. What a world. Fruit syrup is by the fruit juice. This is think stuff that I would mix with club soda. I’m not sure whether it is intended to be mixed with tap water or not. The price is very low, especially compared to prices for fancy Torani syrups and the like. I missed out buying one because I was worried about the weight of my bag, what a shame.
I’d love to be able to bring a bunch of grocery items home. Some I probably couldn’t due to Customs; mostly it would just be a weight and packing issue. The soda is so much better outside the States, in my opinion. It is less sweet, more adult tasting. Since I don’t drink alcohol, I appreciate beverages that are interesting and not just sugar water. Even the Fanta is different; it may be the same name, but there is more of a tang. Bitter Lemmon was often available; it seemed to be a combo of perhaps a less sweet Collins mix and tonic water. I could see children here spitting it out, but I thought it was fabulous. Something I could sip, like an aperitif.
On the Road: Grocery Shopping
October 8th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
October 9th, 2006 at 02:35 pm 1160404532
I will agree with you about the soda in Europe.. it does taste different. My husband is Swedish. Soda is sweetened with corn syrup in the US, and cane sugar there, so it tastes more.. natural and less cloyingly sweet. I think the water it's made with also makes a big difference.. we once bought one bottled in a (now forgotten) other small country, and it was basically undrinkable. One of the things that he misses the most about living in Sweden is the Coke, but he never bothers buying it here because he doesn't think it's worth drinking. He would also point out that he was raised to think of pop as candy--something to splurge on now and then but not to drink with a meal. (He has so, so gotten over that because he certainly does not treat it as such now.. ha!)
Anyway, glad that you had a nice vacation! Sounds lovely!
October 9th, 2006 at 06:10 pm 1160417415
October 15th, 2006 at 11:05 am 1160910335