For me, stepping into a grocery store reflects a lot about the culture of the area. For our first shopping trip, about a month ago, we stopped at a large Calimex store in San Felipe because we needed to get a lot of basics (rice, beans, pasta), and produce.
Well, it was a very easy trip. I was prepared for working with whatever was there. Well, there was a lot to work with!
I LOVE stocking up on spices and oddities like purple potato noodles or strange fruit. Rambling Larder for a reason!
I could use more exposure with learning how to cook more authentically, specifically how to use the spices or vegetables. If I don’t know how a vegetable is prepared I tend to just make stir frys or steam it. Todd will tell you I’ve gotten worse about following recipes too. (The mind mush with 2 little kids….back when they were ages 1.5 and 3.5… required re-reading a line in a recipe 4 times before completion. But it’s getting a lot better, they’re 3.5 and 5.5 now. You think I’m kidding…but I actually search recipes and open cookbooks now).
I forget I’ve had a lot of practice reading labels from our shopping trips throughout South America. The spanish is much easier now, unless it’s a regional term for something, at which point I probably put it in my shopping cart because of course I have to try it- I don’t know what it is!
I almost went in with the mindset of having to haggle. LOL. That’s the case in open air markets- a deal can always be negotiated if you buy enough quantity.
There’s always the converse too- getting ripped off. I’ll never forget when a woman wanted to overcharge us for potatoes in Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia. It makes me laugh every time now! But it was not a laughing matter in the moment it was happening. I just remember being flabbergasted- why are these potatoes so expensive?? Then Todd and I looked at each other and said…no, no, no! And walked over to the next stand with potatoes.
The store had everything you could possibly need. It was a smaller size store, sort of like a small US town store. Familiar arrangement of aisles made it easier for me to enlist the girls’ help in playing the game of “find the…” salsas, find the lentils, find the tortillas!
Most striking were the health aisle and the meat department. It appeared there was an extensive amount of practical health items- herbal tinctures or salves, not just 5 brands of cold medicine like we have in the US. Many kinds of cuts of red meat were available, but few options of cold cuts or sliced cheeses. It appears we’re going to have to get better at understanding Mexican cuts of meat and get cooking for our lunches!
After our successful shopping trip we headed out of San Felipe to get some miles under our belt. And we realized this is where we started to play Frogger with the pot holes.
It’s scariest when they pop out on a downhill section of road.
(Post is somewhat delayed: We shopped in San Felipe on 2/14/25).