Friday, April 11, 2008

03-Apr-08 Grocery shopping

There are grocery stores similar to the United States in layout and selection. At the lower end, there is Asda, then Tesco (similar to the basic US grocery store) is a little nicer, then Sainsbury's is a step above that, and finally there is Marks & Spencers (food section of the department store, often in a separate building) and then Waitrose at the top of the chain. So far, I have only been in Tesco and Sainsbury's.

There are several of the same brands....Heinz, etc., but the flavors are much different. Baked beans in the US have a sweet molasses flavor, but in the UK it is rather bland. US pasta sauce is zestier, usually with more basil/oregano. And I have yet to find pizza sauce sold in the stores.

Even in Bournemouth, a much smaller city, there is a whole array of foreign food selections: Thai and Indian (huge selection), French, Greek, German, Polish, and even Jamaican (yeah, mon!). As Jamaica is, I believe, still or formerly a British colony.

Surprisingly, there was a whole array of pickled onions and pickled beets, much more selection of those than I would have thought. And you can even find "mushy peas", yes, they actually sell cans of mushy peas.

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