Shopping in a Shanghai supermarket can be similar to the US in many ways. There’s a produce section, meat department, refrigerated and frozen sections, and dry goods located in the middle of the store. But, there’s also many differences. Here are a few things you may find when grocery shopping in Shanghai…
Who doesn’t need a flattened, dried out pig face?!? Haha…I’m not quite sure if people eat this like a piece of jerky or if they cut it up and mix it into soups or other food. What do you think?
Rice in bulk, sold by the kilogram. We all know rice is a staple in China. In addition to being able to purchase it in large bags, you can buy whatever amount you need.
Jellied candies as far as the eye can see! In the middle of the store, you can buy loads of bulk candy by weight. Of course there are chocolates (Dove and Snickers are popular), but there are also jello-covered candies in a variety of shapes and sizes.
Oil galore! Assorted varieties and sizes of oil, taking up 2 aisles, are in abundance. If you know anything about Chinese food, you know they use a lot of oil!
How about fresh meat? It doesn’t get much fresher than this…
In the US, we have fresh meat in our grocery stores, but the difference is that the meat is wrapped in plastic, not left out in the open air. The kicker is that people sometimes use their bare hands to pick up their fresh meat or fish. When I see things like this, it makes me happy that I’m a vegetarian. 🙂
What kinds of unusual things do you see at your supermarket?
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Thanks for taking us along on your shopping trip. I was amused by the colorful jello covered candies!
On Friday, my southern friend (Texas) was talking about how true southerners use all parts of the pig, but I don’t recall her mentioning pigface jerky! Love it! I’m in Japan so there are the occassional odd things. Like rows and rows of seafood. Every kind of seafood. Things I’ve never seen before. And I was just noticing how they will leave their cooked food uncovered, which we wouldn’t do, but I think the meats look slightly less fresh than yours. 🙂
I can imagine all the fresh seafood in Japan! Less than fresh meat…ummm, no thanks!
For the rice, there are many different sorts of rice (variations in firmness, grain size, etc) ; some people like a particular blend so they buy several kinds to mix together. Oil —- too much oil in Shanghai cooking! go south where oil use is light 🙂 The food is so much better down south.
I never thought about mixing rice varieties–how clever! And yes, I agree–too much oil!!!
I love this! The meat does get fresher. The other day, we were walking past a market and we looked to the right, before I could divert my eyes, I saw the head and the squaking chicken separate. BLEH
Yuck! Thanks for putting that visual in my head…
This reminds me of my first trip through the grocery store in Australia last year. I could have spent all day wandering and comparing. I remember my travels to the Philippines causing me to really notice all of the differences in fast food and restaurants, but ever since Australia, I have been in awe of exploring grocery stores! 🙂 http://jenbaum-laughoftenlovemuch.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-day-in-perth.html
I know, it’s weird, but until you’ve traveled or lived abroad, you take things for granted and think that simple things like grocery stores are the same everywhere.
Grocery stores say so much about the people. I love wandering through them and discovering new foods. I think I’m glad smell is not included in the blog. I might have to join the vegetarian world if my meat was displayed and handled like this. Ugh!
Yep! I was a veggie after about 6 months here, and couldn’t be happier with my choice! 🙂
My mom lived in Shanghai and hated the food there! She lost a ton of weight. From your pictures I see why!!
Really? How long was your mom here? You ever come visit her?