When we were still living in the Land Of Big Trucks And Horses, I would occasionally drive to meet the Man after he got off work in the city we now call home. A place apparently so fraught with the danger posed by all the Mexican folk who live there that I was warned by a certain FOX news watching, Glenn Beck quoting, NASCAR loving person not to get out of the car should I get lost.
I’ve always had an odd relationship with xenophobic types because for some reason – maybe because I don’t speak with an accent or wear white tubesocks with my sandals – they never seem to identify me as one of the *thems* to whom they refer when they talk about those people who talk funny languages, eat weird food, and also rape, kill and rob everyone else apparently.
 |
| It would seem we risked life and limb to buy these groceries... |
But I get it. It’s very much about exposure. This person had spent his whole life in a fairly homogeneous town, never having experienced diversity but through the serial crime dramas he loved to watch. And we all know who the criminals aren’t on television…
I didn’t bother telling him I grew up in a town just as rough as Oceanside (which is to say not that rough at all), that I’ve gone walking alone in more “dangerous” places at 2 o’clock in the morning, and that he might be pleasantly surprised if he ventured out a little farther (to a city literally five minutes away from where he grew up). I’d known him well enough at this point to gather that he probably wouldn’t have been interested.
He had no motivation to be - at least not any that was food related - especially since the Prego, Mission Tortillas, Pace Picante Sauce, Lipton Iced Tea, Johnsonville Brats, shredded Kraft cheese and ground beef which were the things he liked to eat best and often, were probably better purchased at Ralph’s or Vons or Walmart.
 |
| Well, he might have been interested in this pound and a half of shrimp for $7... |
But that’s probably not you, and it’s certainly not me. I missed my Asian markets so much during the time I lived in Temecula that our weekly drive up to OC, and the visits to Shun Fat while we were up there, were like little trips to Disneyland (if I actually liked Disneyland, and if a ticket to Disneyland didn’t cost as much as a good sushi dinner – I’ve betrayed my priorities…).
I missed the amazing variety of meats, live seafood, fresh produce and exotic seasonings. I missed the bins of irregular looking but flavorful produce that no one else in the world seems to have a problem with but *US*. I missed meat that didn’t come pre-brined, pre-colored and pre-packaged in styrofoam trays. And I missed paying the very reasonable everyday prices that I didn’t have to carry a card, clip coupons, or follow weekly ads to benefit from.
 |
| He definitely wouldn't have given a crap about ALL this FRESH fruit... |
 |
| ...or making 6 or 7 bucks worth of really good jam out of a $1.50 basket of strawberries. |
I understand that to some people, there are drawbacks to shopping in ethnic markets. They’re not sterile enough, the aisles are too narrow, there are usually lots of short people pushing their carts on the wrong side of the road or flat tire-ing you if they’re on the right side, and goddammit, nobody speaks American.
But if you’re willing to put up with a few minor and relative inconveniences, there is a world of fantastic, and often fresher, food products to be had (sometimes by habit of culture, and other times by limitation of finances, many Asians and Latinos shop weekly rather than biweekly or monthly, contributing to faster rates of turnover) at more than reasonable prices.
 |
spices you won't go broke on...
|
And if you’re in a Mexican market, like the one I shopped at yesterday, and unlike many Asian markets I’ve been to a million times before, you’re likely to encounter lots of friendly and smiling faces behind the counters. Men behind the meat counter who are often and obviously enthused to see a pretty girl walk past the wafer thin steaks, women in the tortilleria section who are genuinely tickled to see a gringa (or chinita, as the case may be) take interest in their food, y todo pleasantly surprised and appreciative when you speak to them in their language, no matter how well or poorly.
Yesterday’s take included, among other things:
- a 10 lb. pork butt that looked nothing like the brined and vacuum packed pork I see at the big boxes
- 1.5 pounds of 31-40 count shrimp
- a whole tilapia
- a whole and very recently butchered 5 lb. yellow chicken
- a 1 lb. block of cheddar
- a huge bag of pasillas to be roasted for homemade hot sauce
- 2 pounds of jam strawberries
- 3 bags of spices in those little bags that are perfectly portioned for timely use
- a whole mess of other fresh produce (we eat a LOT of fresh fruit and veg)
- a dozen large, local brown eggs
- 2 glass bottles of Coca Cola hecho en Mexico
- a few other misc. items
Essentially a week's worth of groceries for me and the Man during the week, us and the Monsters on the weekends, for a whopping, wait for it…
Add in the extra ten or twenty bucks we’ll spend for milk, bread and miscellany when we run out of our current supply, and we’re looking at roughly $80 to $100 a week for food, excluding special occasions. No coupons, no cards dangling from our keychains, no personal shopping data stored under a membership number a la Big Brother, no weekly fliers, no unnecessary bulk shopping. Just enough good, fresh, whole, healthy food to use up before it goes bad or gets freezer burned.
I realize not all my readerfriends are within a reasonable driving distance from a good ethnic market. But if you are, and you’re concerned with eating well, but well within your means, you might wanna yelp around for a good Asian or Latin market in your area, brave the bad shopping cart traffic and the slightly less than pristine aisles, and see what’s doing at your local H-Mart, Northgate, 99 Ranch, or Viva Supermercado if you’re slumming it in my ‘hood. You might find yourself very pleasantly sorprendido (or *SUPPLIES’D!!! ^^*) by what you find.
shinae
Viva Supermercado
2031 Mission Avenue
Oceanside, CA
760.433.9786
Viva Supermercado
2031 Mission Avenue
Oceanside, CA
760.433.9786
No comments:
Post a Comment