Grocery Shopping

I think I've been in China long enough now that sometimes I forget what is "normal" and what is "strange". Especially when it comes to grocery shopping. When I was home a month ago, the stores there felt like home. Everything was where I expected it to be. In China, I guess I have gotten used to the Chinese logic and it feels oddly normal to shop here too. I thought I'd give a peek into a recent shopping experience that is the new "normal". 

 

We'll start off with gum. Not only are the brands different, so are the flavors. We do have wrigley's gum here, but this one seemed much more interesting. It looks like rose and some other flowered flavor gum. Interesting mix. A container of gum like that costs about $2.

 Ohh the bulk bins. Pretty much every major supermarket here has a massive bulk bins section. The flour, rice, beans, etc are also sold in bulk generally speaking. This particular section is the candy/snack aisle. One day back in January I made a bag that had like one of each thing in it. I can't say there were any that I really loved and have been back to buy.

 Chicken. Hungry now? So basically the stores have a butcher. And he just chops up the chicken haphazardly (or so it would seem) and piles it high on this metal tray. Sometimes you see ice underneath, sometimes you don't. I don't know how sanitary that is... usually I just buy a frozen bag for my own peace of mind. Notice there are no chicken breasts. The Chinese typically tend to go for darker meat or meat on the bones, and export the majority of the breasts to the US or so I'm told. If this turns you off, be glad I didn't post pictures of rest of the meat section :)

This is just a small sampling of the massive section of Chinese sauces. There are literally rows and rows of soy sauces, pepper pastes, chili random sauce stuff... sometimes in English, most of the time not. I guess you just go by look and hope for the best? Variety is the spice of life, or so they say.