November 19, 2007 - Monday
Heather's Shopping Adventures...
Grocery shopping in England is one of those things that the tour books never prepare you for. Granted, most
visitors to england don't need to grocery shop, they eat in pubs and restaurants. But, since part of the reason
Steve and I are here early is to help with cooking, grocery shopping is also one of my responsibilities.
I actually find it fascinating to wander around in foreign supermarkets, seeing the things they have which are
the same and the things which are different, trying new things and pondering over what some things actually are...
but when you have a specific recipe in mind it can be very interesting trying to get all the proper ingredients.
Steve took me shopping tonight to stock up on some things I needed for cooking this week...one of those things
happened to be english muffins...now imagine going up to a sales clerk in England and requesting help on finding
some english muffins...they simply look at you blankly like they have NO idea what you are talking about and proceed
to lead you to an aisle full of blueberry muffins, poppyseed muffins, banana muffins...every sort you can imagine...
all made "right here in England", thus being "english" muffins. Later, after you have crossed that particular item
off your list and changed your menu so it no longer includes them, do you discover a perfectly good package of english
muffins in the cake aisle...and labelled as buttermilk rolls.
Next I needed some rice and barley, so I went to the pasta aisle. I found rice there in all varieties, none of which was
the sort I was familiar with...but barley, though it was in many other things, didn't seem to be sold in a package on its
own. When I asked Steve if he knew where I might be able to get such a thing, he suggested I go down to the pet store
because they might have it for feeding the birds! Finally I found a package of things for making soup, which contained barley
and lentils and dried peas...but it was close enough for what I wanted.
The vegetable aisle is another story all-together...if you want a zuccini, you have to ask for a "courgette" (sounds like
corvette, but with a "juh" instead of a "vuh")...that is what they are called here. And don't bother asking for an eggplant,
or you'll be redirected to the local chicken farm. Eggplants are "aubergines". Along with vegetables you even have trouble
with breads (such as my english muffin trouble)...if you ask for a biscuit, you'll get a cookie, in order to get a biscuit,
you'll have to request a scone, and then it will probably contain currants or some other dried fruit (very tasty though).
If you ask for a pancake you'll get a crepe, and if you ask for a flapjack you'll get an oatmeal bar. Are you confused yet??
It's also important to remember that if you seek out a bag of chips you will instead get a package of french fries, and if
you really want chips you have to request "crisps"...not to mention you'll have a heck of a time sorting out what flavor
to get. The English seem to be famous for unsual combinations...the most unusal types I have seen so far are "Prawn Cocktail"
"Worchester Sauce" "Roasted Chicken" "Pickled Onion" and "Heinz Tomato Ketchup". You can visit the Walker's Crisps Site for more
interesting flavors...
One thing I haven't had trouble with is the meats, as beef is beef, pork is pork (with the exception of bacon and
sausage, which are completely different here) and chicken is chicken. So for all my trouble at least some things come
easy. However, it did take me twice as long to get all my groceries in the English supermarket as it would in the
American one. But, like all things it is an adventure every time, full of fun new things to try. And, it is always
worth it to ask a sales clerk for something we have in America...because the look on their face and the way they
try to figure out what it is you actually want are very worth it!
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