Growing up, my parents demonstrated what it meant to be a good guest in someone’s home. Things like helping out with meal prep, cleanup, treating the hosts to a meal out, bringing a small gift, or simply entertaining any kids in the house. In England at 21, I wanted to do something nice for my friends who kindly let me stay at their house. The only thing a poor college student can do is cook.
At the neighborhood grocery store, I quickly found familiar looking things with different names and questions filled my head. “Why is the zucchini labeled as courgette?”
“Where are they hiding soy sauce?”
And... wait.
S-c-a-n-d-a-l on aisle 5!
“This has to be illegal. Why is no one else looking? Can I trust any of the food in this store?”
For almost two whole minutes, I stood motionless in the middle of an aisle, staring at the unrefrigerated shelves full of bags of flour, canned goods, and… EGGS!
“Why were they not in the refrigerated section?? Is the stock boy new?”
I was traumatized the whole way back. I couldn’t wait for my friends to come home from work so that I could tell them about the cartons of salmonella masquerading as eggs. You know where this is going.
I got the “poor American” look and the lecture of “the rest of the world doesn’t do everything the way the U.S. does it.” I knew this, but when your beliefs (on salmonella) are shaken to the core, you need more information! Years later I found out that the way chickens are raised and how eggs are treated after collection are different in Europe (and in most of the rest of the world) than they are in the U.S., resulting in eggs that don’t need to be refrigerated.
I was never a person who expected everyone to behave like the U.S. I was always open to other cultures. But that one ridiculous moment changed my approach in getting to know them when I travel. I think it’s ok to be incredulous about discoveries you make when you travel, but I think it’s important to know the story behind the find, too. From then on, I make sure to go into a grocery store in every country I visit. I find it to be a wonderful way to get to know the tastes — literally and figuratively — of the locals and their culture. Even in U.S. cities, there’s a lot to learn about my fellow Americans. American shelves are stocked with BBQ-flavored chips and apricot yogurt, while in Europe, I found that ketchup-flavored chips and pear yogurt are more common while in many parts of Asia, shrimp-flavored chips are a grocery staple. The Costco in San Francisco features more organic options than another Costco two hours away. And boy do we love to meander Costco’s aisles while in Italy, the Italians love what we call farmer’s markets.
In comparison to seeing famous sites like the Eiffel tower, the Golden Gate Bridge, or the Sydney Opera House, a grocery store might seem like a waste of time, but there’s nothing like seeing the everyday experience of locals to help begin understanding who they are and what they value. You may have heard the phrase “pearls of wisdom” and how people are in pursuit of them. Me? I’m in search of egg-cellent experiences.
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