Grocery Shopping

Until 1989, when the Romanian grocery stores (called generically “Alimentara”) were devoid of groceries, I saw how real grocery stores looked like only in the movies. I had quick glimpses at black and white shelves through the screen of my bulky TV set. In 1991, I visited my friend Nicole in Paris and I loved it when she took me to run errands. Museums and grocery stores seemed equally interesting, artful and loaded with things to see. Thus, my fascination with them started and it grew when I moved to the US in 1992. Grocery stores just got bigger and better. To choose anything was complicated because I had to either randomly decide what I want or I had to come back until I tried everything that tempted me. To visit ethnic grocery stores and delis in the US was even more attractive. If you only knew how many hours we spent in Italian (New York) and Asian (in LA) markets browsing shelves like book pages, smelling “stuff” and guessing the use of products, and whispering “wow!” or “no way!” Of course, when I moved to Melbourne, the fascination got another kick. I am sure I am not the only one who noticed and got sucked into this game, “grocery store exploration”. In Australia, Woolworths and Coles have the monopoly of grocery stores, so walking the aisles of Woolworths, just arrived Down Under, these is what we stood out among other, more familiar, names: Nappies, Cordials, Long Life Juice and Milk, Biscuits, Porridge, Lollies, Vegemite, Manchester, Singlets, Rubbish, and Serviettes. More about vegemite and cordials soon! I took today's picture in our local Woolworths for you to enjoy.