Whenever I travel I love to check out local grocery stores, food emporiums and farmers markets. In a time when Trader Joe's are popping up everywhere, there's a bit a thrill when you stumble into local chain stores or shops you've never heard of, such as Marks & Spencer, selling unfamiliar things, such as digestive biscuits or birthday cakes curiously shaped like hedgehogs.
Checking Out Local Color
In England recently, I fell in love with Marks & Spencer, despite the fact that I didn't buy any of their products, much less taste any of them. I did however, meander around the store as though I were in a museum, reading labels, looking at bottles and jars of this and that. Although I had every intention, I did not make it to the famed Borough Market, but on a little side trip to Paris, I did get to check out a fantastic farmers' market that I'd read about in Ina Garten's book, Barefoot in Paris.
The Boulevard Raspail Street Market is open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and is located between Rue du Cherche-Midi and Rue de Rennes. You'll see much of the same produce you might find at your local market but what really sets this one apart is the selection of cheeses, meats (both cured and raw), and seafood. There's also bakers selling breads, tarts, sweets and sandwiches. As Ina suggests in the book, it's a great place to pick a little something up and head down to nearby Luxembourg Gardens for a lazy lunch in the park.
What are some of your favorite stores you have to include on your itinerary when you travel?
Comments (11)
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Love Marks & Sparks! We used to have them in Canada, but no more :( Used to like to buy biscuits, chips (weird&wonderful flavors), Lincolnshire sausages, steak&kidney pie, toffees, etc.
In Spain loved the food floor of El Corte Ingles. Terrific canned seafood (incredible selection). Aisles of wines divided by regions of Spain. Cheeses, cured meats, olives! Good thing I already ate lunch.
Grant, I love Marks and Sparks too! My partner is English and each time we go to the UK, we load up on stuff from there. I also think their store brand packaging is great. I take pictures of product lables every time I go. They are also known world-wide for great store brand underware by the way.
Went to Belgium and the Netherlands recently and did some grocery shopping in each. I even have a couple of photos (perhaps I should get those up on flickr), one of shelf-stable flavoured liquid coffee creamer and one of super-yummy Elstar apples.
But the one thing I fell in love with is stroopwafels. A literal translation from the Dutch would be "syrup waffles". They're a couple of very thin cookie-sized waffles sandwiching a layer of thick syrup. Though I chowed down on a supermarket variety, they also get sold (in much larger form) fresh off the waffle iron at local markets. Yum.
MoM, A co-worker who went to Belgium recently brought back some of those cookie-waffles you mention; she'd rest one on top of her hot tea cup, then the heated 'syrup waffle' was ready for happy munching! Hope you brought some back.
I love the sandwiches at M&S! The crisps are good too.
One of the best department store food sections I've been to was at Stockmann in Helsinki, Finland. More kinds of smoked fish and meat than I could ever have imagined, and tinned bear!
El Corte Inglés is another favorite. And to get really specific, if you're ever in Lisbon and like tinned fish, don't miss the Conserveira de Lisboa.
No TJ's here, sadly, so it's still a sort of idealized grocery paradise for us. When we go back up to the Midwest or when I go out to LA I always stock up on a few TJ deals (milk chocolate with whole hazelnuts).
A friend went to London last year and picked me up a can of loose leaf chai at Fortnum and Mason. It's a measure of how good a friend he is that he knew that I'd appreciate the beautiful tin and label as much as the tea. (How many American groceries have been around since 1707??)
leeds--one package of stroopwafels made it back from Holland. Between me and the BF, we ate them all in a week. Now I'm trying to find a local supplier, with no luck yet. There are a few online vendors and I might have to resort to that.
Department store basements in JAPAN are always amazing food halls -- you can fill up for lunch on all the free samples! And if you go at the end of the day, all of a sudden these polite little sales folks turn into screaming banshees trying to clear their shelves before closing - delicious and fun!!! And packaging and presentation that you will never see anywhere else -- just beautiful.
Go crazy, Kids....
http://www.caramelcookiewaffles.com/
You can find the stroopwafels at Trader Joe's at christmas time too. Our corner market in San Francisco also sells them, but one of the owners is Dutch.
oh i love taking pictures of grocery stores!!
wanted to share my grocery pictures from Croatia
click here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martine266/146897603/in/set-72057594135137864/
the first photo is of the MSG aisle (they call it Vegeta and it really does make everything delicious), the next is the black pepper section, after that the Ajvar section (roasted pepper relish), the the pate section and finally the wine section
man, the Croatians reeaaaly know how to eat!
if anyone's heading over there, I'll pay you to bring me back some black pepper... it's the best I've ever tasted!