What grocery shopping looks like here… ya, like in a grocery store.

For now, Grant and I have been acquiring items from the food pyramid from grocery stores. I find it thrilling to get a surprise around each corner and shriek with delight at the many (sometimes very alive) wonders that the grocery stores have to offer. From fried sea cucumbers to cow intestines to powdered milk, why can’t grocery stores in America be this awe-provoking?

Here is what that looks like for us in Qingdao. These images are from Metro store and Leada mall.

Vegetable area – once you place your produce in a bag, take it to the end of the section to be weighed. No scales at the register up front. You need only make that mistake once. But … look at them tomatoes, eh?

If you have never smelled durian before … then I am envious of you. Yes, the image is not deceiving. These are GIGANTIC fruit with a distinguishable odor that can smelled for meters and meters. Some people love the smell and taste. I am NOT one of those people. NOTE: man in the back cleaning the floor during busiest store hours and yelling at carts to get out of the way as he makes the slick tile floor a wet hazard. SECOND NOTE: there are live fish in the back of this photo; swimming around in the tanks in the seafood area.

MOON CAKES for sale. We are approaching the mid-autumn holiday; for which we will take a week of school off at the beginning of October. Moon cakes parade!

Does this mean these eggs are expired on September 4th, or were just put on the shelves? Who knows? Let’s gamble!

Eggs for sale – quail, duck and chicken – in bags or not 🙂

Crayfish hors d’oeuvres anyone? Spices and sauces accompanied on the right. They taste like mini-lobsters but spicier. Trust me, I know.

If you saw this image, you might think to yourself, “What is the big deal? You’re in China? Yeah right! That looks exactly like a grocery store in Vermont!” … but then you lean in closer and see this:

You thought Americans were wasteful with the plastics? You ain’t seen nothing! *limes in bags*

2 thoughts on “What grocery shopping looks like here… ya, like in a grocery store.”

Had the dubious pleasure of consuming pickled pigs feet with lentils one Christmas Eve in Como, Italy. We begged to prepare an American holiday dinner complete with turkey and stuffing but were overruled by the nonna who insisted, “it is tradition.” Wasn’t that bad.

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