The Awe of Grocery Shopping

Yesterday, I had one goal: to go grocery shopping.

It sounds silly, but the basic tasks, as I've mentioned, can be pretty daunting without being able to communicate. Our temporary residence has a shuttle to several shopping centers and on the list was a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Say what you will about Wal-Mart, but this was a welcome destination and not only did it have dried goods, but an amazing selection of fresh produce, meats and many other Chinese foods that I didn't recognize at all.

The Wal-Mart at Wanda Plaza in Beijing.

It was interesting to see how food was presented and what was popular. There are large bins of rice with scoops and it only cost about 31 cents per unit (I wasn't clear what measurement was on the label, but it was cheap) and produce and meats are arranged like an open-air market. There are bins filled with raw chicken and beef and people just pick it up with their hands, examine it, plop it back down and pick up another piece. (I was too timid to go this route, and chose the packaged meat instead.) 

Eggs aren't refrigerated and there were dozens of different types -- regular eggs, quail eggs, exotic black eggs, duck eggs, you name it. I've never seen a better selection of mushrooms and the piles of fresh cilantro smelled so good. And the selection of greens -- Chinese kale, pea shoots, bok choy, red mustard greens -- made me think of my sister. She'd be in heaven here!

Rows and rows of eggs.

Packaged goods were much harder to figure out, but luckily there were a few English labels on some of them, so I was able to figure out olive oil, oyster sauce and soy sauce. The trip made me eager to learn Mandarin, which I'll hopefully be starting next week, because I want to be able to try new foods and learn how to cook with new spices, but that's not going to happen until I learn the language.

The liquor aisle was hilarious because there's a wide variety and an even wider spectrum of price. Beer is about 50 cents a bottle, while wines are extremely expensive -- and not good wines. Jacob's Creek is considered top shelf here (the store had a red, fancy kiosk promoting the brand) and one bottle cost a good $40! A friend from home had told me part of the pricing of wine is that the Chinese still believe it's a delicacy and that if it were cheaper it wouldn't hold the same cache, so even basic brands get high price tags to retain that notion.

Chinese spirits, anyone?

My favorite thing about the outing was the fresh feeling. Back home, I would never think of just wandering around a Wal-Mart and oggling at items. It was always get in and get out of Trader Joe's or Bed, Bath and Beyond as quickly as possible with a list in hand. But it felt so different, so new -- so much so that the next day, I took Scott back and we went aisle to aisle, looking at things, picking up a few items and just enjoying the atmosphere. It has been one of the most fun experiences we've had so far.