SC - Strange Foods and Delicacies

[James F. Johnson]

One of my favourite shopping spots for feasts is United Grocer's
Cash'n'Carry. Basically, it's a commercial wholesaler in a semi-retail
setting. I can actually get things cheaper than I could ordering through
the restaurant I work at, since they've basically turned their warehouse
into a retail outlet, and don't have to bother with delivery. Of course,
you have to purchase in the larger package usually. The exception is
produce, which can sometimes be purchased by the small bunch, like
lettuce. While checking out the price on a 40lb box of chicken, I
noticed the _stack_ of 40lb boxes of tripe. It took me a few seconds
before I remembered we have a sizeable Mexican population here, large
enough to support several non-franchise Mexican restaurants. Most of the
major and local grocers offer beef, chicken, pork, turkey, lamb, duck,
capons, and rabbit just about year long, although some are frozen, like
the duck and capons. I've never looked for any of these and not found
them within two or three stores.

My favourite retail foodstore became my favourite when I saw their
Mexican food _aisle_ (actually, just the one side of the aisle) and
endcap. Mostly imported from Mexico, not the Americanized brand name
stuff one usually finds in major chain stores. A few of them have to
have English labels applied by the importer. This is also the only store
in this semi-rural Oregon town that plays classic music over the store
sound system. Love this town. 

While I spent my two months in Siberia, I learned to enjoy my morning
kasha (buckwheat) and chai (tea), unlike the four other
sugar-coated-corn-flake-swallowing-coffee-swilling Yanks. They were sick
of the stuff by the first week. Two days after I returned to the States,
I was searching every store in town, looking for buckwheat groats. That
held great annoyance factor for them. It would be nice to find out they
were eaten in Russia and/or Europe prior to the 17th or 16th century.

Seumas