moving market.
This weekend I'm having dinner with friends. Everyone is chipping in a bit of money and I'm making the food. I've decided not to make a meal but instead do finger foods. I like how finger foods allow everyone to just grab what they want, offer variation, and eat small bites through the night. I'm not doing anything especially unique and creative, I more just want to see my friends and have a good time.
I set out to buy some of the groceries for the event and visited two of my local Chinese supermarkets. I've never expressed this before but I love visiting Chinese grocery stores even if I'm not buying anything. I come from a Chinese family so going to these markets isn't new a thing, it's still always a welcome experience.
Walking through a Chinese market there's so many different things to experience, experiences which can't be found in the average supermarket or grocery store...
In the produce section there are dozens of vegetables that look the same but all have different tastes, characteristics, and even methods of cooking. There's an ample supply of exotic fruits and vegetables which have only begun to make their way into the common grocery stores. The prime example being pomegranate which is now all the rage and has become common fruit in every market. Ten years ago I only found it at the Asian grocery stores.
Every Asian supermarket always has a giant seafood section, often filled with still live animals. Multiple tanks swimming with fish, basins filled to the brim with bivalves and mollusks, and crustaceans crawling everywhere. The one notable crustacean I always see in every Chinese supermarket is the feisty blue crab. I always believed that they were ill tempered creatures that will pinch at anything be it a neighbouring crab, pair of tongs, or finger.
Another truly unique section is the meat department. The Asian culture is a true fan of head-to-tail eating. There's cuts of meat you don't find anywhere else and offal of all kinds. Intestines, Tongues, Stomach, Hearts, Lungs, Livers, and more. The one unique feature of the meat department is the smell; it's offensive, harsh, and oddly welcoming. It's hard to describe the smell other than it's not exactly pleasant, it does however let you know that you're buying meat. It was once an animal that was alive and was slaughtered so you purchase its carcass and eat it.
Overall there's something very organic and alive about the Asian market. There's a real reminder of life and food. Things aren't always as clean, there's always a lot noise, and always a sea movement. It shows life as it really is, things aren't always as polished as we think. And food can be the same way.
I set out to buy some of the groceries for the event and visited two of my local Chinese supermarkets. I've never expressed this before but I love visiting Chinese grocery stores even if I'm not buying anything. I come from a Chinese family so going to these markets isn't new a thing, it's still always a welcome experience.
Walking through a Chinese market there's so many different things to experience, experiences which can't be found in the average supermarket or grocery store...
In the produce section there are dozens of vegetables that look the same but all have different tastes, characteristics, and even methods of cooking. There's an ample supply of exotic fruits and vegetables which have only begun to make their way into the common grocery stores. The prime example being pomegranate which is now all the rage and has become common fruit in every market. Ten years ago I only found it at the Asian grocery stores.
Every Asian supermarket always has a giant seafood section, often filled with still live animals. Multiple tanks swimming with fish, basins filled to the brim with bivalves and mollusks, and crustaceans crawling everywhere. The one notable crustacean I always see in every Chinese supermarket is the feisty blue crab. I always believed that they were ill tempered creatures that will pinch at anything be it a neighbouring crab, pair of tongs, or finger.
Another truly unique section is the meat department. The Asian culture is a true fan of head-to-tail eating. There's cuts of meat you don't find anywhere else and offal of all kinds. Intestines, Tongues, Stomach, Hearts, Lungs, Livers, and more. The one unique feature of the meat department is the smell; it's offensive, harsh, and oddly welcoming. It's hard to describe the smell other than it's not exactly pleasant, it does however let you know that you're buying meat. It was once an animal that was alive and was slaughtered so you purchase its carcass and eat it.
Overall there's something very organic and alive about the Asian market. There's a real reminder of life and food. Things aren't always as clean, there's always a lot noise, and always a sea movement. It shows life as it really is, things aren't always as polished as we think. And food can be the same way.
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