Why travellers are obsessed with foreign supermarkets

Why travellers are obsessed with foreign supermarkets(bbc.com)

53 points by edward 8 days ago | 61 comments

mgkimsal 4 days ago |

I don't travel abroad as much as I'd like, but I always enjoy bringing back some foreign candies for friends. Some things we can get locally in upscale shops, and much you can get from Amazon, but most folks don't bother. I recently came back from Iceland and brought probably $20 in little candies. Lots of licorice-based stuff - that's apparently a big thing there. Just little fun bits to pass out to friends when I come back.

But I've always enjoyed poking through grocery stores traveling abroad - China, UK, Russia all were interesting in their own way. Seeing what's similar and what's different. Yeah, cool - they have Pringles too - but... wow... such weird flavors. I do remember seeing canned horse in a couple of Russian stores. And in one upscale Moscow grocery, they had a huge fridge case for 'cheeses from around the world'. Germany, Italy, France, UK... kept going... got to the 'US' portion and ... tubs of 'Philadelphia cream cheese'. I thought I'd taken a pic of that but sadly can't find it any more. I really thought it was a joke.

Given that almost everything is a subsidiary of Unilever, the 'I wonder what they'll have' question has faded. But finding local flavors of things is still fun. Greece is likely my next bucket list trip. Any suggestions on foods to try or candies to look for - let me know! :)

al_borland 4 days ago | |

> Given that almost everything is a subsidiary of Unilever, the 'I wonder what they'll have' question has faded.

There can still be variety in international offerings. In the US I find Kleenex to be a bad product and am a die-hard Puffs customer. When visiting England my allergies got the best of me and I needed some tissues. Puffs was unavailable, but they had something like “Kleenex Mansized”, which seemed a bit silly, but it was great. 1000x better than any Kleenex I’ve seen sold in the US.

shimman 4 days ago | |

Have nothing to offer but have you compared bakeries in different countries? I feel like a neighborhood bakery can offer a lot of local flavors that are affordable + unique, can't share with friends tho.

mgkimsal 4 days ago | | |

not as much as grocery stores. Most stores are big enough where I can get lost in them for a bit. A lot of bakeries tend to be smaller, a bit more crowded, more transactional, and I don't always speak the language well. It's not that I've never been, but they tend to invoke a bit more anxiety than browsing in a larger store.

BUT... have had some great breads, pastries, pasties and such in Moscow, Romania and Iceland. With that said... they may not actually have been great. The article touches on it - some of my memory of "great food" is just... the experience of having that food while abroad. I've told friends "oh, i had some great ____ over at _____" only to get told that that place is garbage and has the worst ____ ever and I should go to ____ instead. They may be right, but part of the 'taste' is 'first time trying $foo in $bar' which adds to the memory (usually good). Also... whether I'm with someone or on my own has an impact - usually the whole memory is better when I'm with friends or family.

juancn 4 days ago |

It's freaking fun! That's basically it.

What's common and everyday in one place is exotic in another.

It lets you get something that's just plain fun, for little money and it feels like a shared experience with the locals.

They don't usually appreciate what they have, but it's a great way to rethink your own culture's assumptions.

trhway 4 days ago | |

>to rethink your own culture's assumptions.

The shock Soviet people were getting from Western supermarkets and department stores, etc. was a significant stimulus for the "rethinking" :)

hulitu 3 days ago | | |

> The shock Soviet people were getting from Western supermarkets and department stores, etc.

I get this shocks everyday. I bought some apples to do a cake: they were tasteless and afer rubbing them they were mostly water. The rest of the fruits are mostly unriped. Watermellon is mostly water, with a water taste. Truly a shock

red75prime 4 days ago | | |

Yep. I was born in the USSR, and my mother still occasionally marvels at one doodad or another. The last one was a reusable bowl cover.

tylerflick 4 days ago | |

One of my favorite souvenirs from France is a reusable shopping bag from Carrefour.

tiahura 4 days ago | | |

The Papeete Carrefour is one of my favorite stops in Tahiti!

hadlock 4 days ago |

I was surprised when I went for an extended visit to Colombia - outside of beef cuts (an entire rack of ribs, bit butcher cuts, not a single steak or a dozen hamburger patties) frozen foods are virtually non-existant. If you wander into any American supermarket or costco roughly 20% of the floor space is reserved for frozen foods. Something as ubiquitous as the bachelor frozen pizza just doesn't exist in their super markets, despite being the same size and ~roughly the same dry goods/shelf goods.

parl_match 4 days ago | |

10 years ago, 80% of columbian homes had refrigerators and almost every home suffers from at least one blackout a year. this can be hours or days, during certain seasons.

and lastly, cultural reasons inform appliance design, which loops back around: columbian freezers are really small.

https://www.alkosto.com/nevecon-electrolux-side-by-side-423-...

alfalfasprout 4 days ago | | |

btw it's colombia not columbia.

ButlerianJihad 4 days ago |

Food culture is a marvelous bridge and gateway for anyone to explore foreign cultures. It can be very accessible at first and lead into more exotic discoveries.

In the USA, it is very easy to find large pan-Asian-themed grocery stores. I could find about three very close by; a Filipino one just opened a few weeks ago here. It is very strange, though: there are no large-scale European grocery stores in the USA, that I know of. If you want Euro-goods, the source is very often a small family-run deli or boutique shop, and the same goes for British/UK groceries. It may be an accident of history and geography.

I traveled to Catalonia by way of London. In England I had no time at all to visit grocery stores. In Catalonia I saw them a few times. Carrefour was reminiscent of a large Target, basically. Of course a store selling groceries is not unfamiliar to anyone, but it was so overwhelming sometimes. I've mentioned a few times about the olive aisle. The national pride and diversity of varieties were simply amazing. I also experienced this at an Italian restaurant, where the complimentary appetizer was 3 types of olives, all very exciting.

When I first arrived in Catalonia, a friend served me a sandwich in her café, and said with gravitas, "it is jamón!" and I nodded. My high school Spanish said that "jamón" means ham. No big deal, she served me a ham sandwich?

By the time we arrived in the Carrefour, I began to realize that jamón was also a national dish and source of Catalonian pride. The legs were curing on display all over the store, suspended, sitting on shelves, you name it. Just ready to shave off a few slices. It wasn't until I arrived home and researched jamón and then tried to obtain it stateside when I realized what a treasure it really is.

numpad0 4 days ago |

Yeah, local supermarkets and bookstores are always great places to try. Experiencing local prepackaged foods with different standards of bare minimums than yours and flipping magazines for topics you're familiar in unfamiliar language and formats is not an easy moment to replicate at home.

> It's 10:00 in a Tokyo 7-Eleven, ... , katsu curry buns, ...

nitpick: "katsu curry" means katsu plus curry. katsu means Japanese localized cutlet fries. curry means curry. there are katsu sandwitches and curry buns in 7-11 JP, but no katsu && curry bun in 7-11 JP. Calling curry buns katsu curry buns is same as referring to french fries as fish and chips with emphasis on FISH when there isn't in the bag; it would be a false advertisement if a restaurant had done it. The author need to make up their mind and call it Japanese curry, or if their style guide prohibits it, just curry without indicating what type of it is, or, Japanese curry is not supposed to be much different from the Royal Navy recipe anyway, so you could call it the Navy style, that's probably fine too.

al_borland 4 days ago |

It’s interesting, but also useful. I usually grab some food for the hotel room and it’s cool to see and try things you don’t normally have access to. It’s not all about fancy restaurants.

Another seemingly mundane thing I heard someone mention a few years ago and started trying was McDonalds. Counties tend to have some custom options or various spins on what I’ve come to expect. Apparently Hamburger University in Chicago lets you try food from around the world, though I haven’t been.

poloniculmov 4 days ago | |

I was shocked when I stepped in a KFC outside Romania and I couldn't get the regular garlic sauce that's like the default option here. Turns out, it's not sold anywhere else, the world is missing out.

jerlam 4 days ago | |

You can see the current McDonald's international selections at that Chicago location on Uber Eats, choose "Global Favorites":

https://www.ubereats.com/store/mcdonalds-global-menu-restaur...

The selections are sadly, very limited.

sodastar 3 days ago | | |

though this is due to a current McDonalds promotion, where they offer food from around different countries rotating every other week.

eden_hazard 5 days ago |

I thought I was alone in doing that and the writer felt the said. I love going to markets in places i travel to and seeing the different types of snacks they have. Often times I do walk in for toothpaste but then wander all around the store.

asteroidburger 4 days ago | |

Oh I totally love sampling all the new-to-me snacks. And they make great gifts for back home too. (Just mind what your country does and does not allow across its borders.)

simonw 4 days ago |

Sometimes you don't even have to travel to visit a "foreign" supermarket.

If you live in the SF Bay Area there are dozens of great opportunities to visit international supermarkets.

I'm particularly fond of the Korean supermarkets in Daly City - I like Kukje and Jagalchi.

We're honestly spoiled for choice though. We have great Asian supermarkets, there are Central and South American supermarkets all over the place, Jai Ho Indian Grocery Store in the Fillmore, Nijiya Market in Japantown... tracking down and trying these places out is a really fun micro-hobby.

One tip: this is even more fun if you do a tiny bit of research first and go with a recipe in mind. That gives you a quest you can structure your visit around. When I go without a recipe I end up with a basket full of weird stuff that I don't know how to use. With a recipe I still have that weird stuff but I also have at least one actionable meal.

fizwidget 4 days ago | |

Similar story in Sydney, Australia. No shortage of Indian, Chinese, Korean, etc, grocery stores. Always fun to explore them and try something new.

Shank 4 days ago |

While Japanese convenience stores are certainly fun, they aren’t grocery stories. Try Maruetsu, Olympic, LIFE, AEON, My Basket, etc. There are also the fancy grocery stores on the basement of malls. Convenience stores do sell groceries and they’re worth visiting, but they aren’t grocery stores.

exabrial 4 days ago |

It's one of my favorite activities in a foreign country! Even more fun if you go shop with a local.

Animats 5 days ago |

Three pictures from Getty Images and generic copy. Was this assembled by an AI?

An instagrammer visiting a konbini in Kyoto would be far more interesting.

(If you want that experience in coastal California, visit a Nijiya Market.)

graypegg 4 days ago | |

> Three pictures from Getty Images

And written in the first person, about the author's trip to Japan and Greece...? Maybe there's some licensing issue with using their own photos but it's very funny to pair the sentence:

    > in a Tokyo 7-Eleven, and I am standing shoulder to shoulder with a dozen tourists, all clutching baskets loaded with the same things: fluffy egg mayo sandwiches, katsu curry buns, matcha Kit Kats and warm cans of Boss coffee pulled from heated shelves.

with a photo of someone standing in an empty supermarket, with no basket, buying tofu from a chilled shelf.

gruez 5 days ago | |

>Three pictures from Getty Images and generic copy. Was this assembled by an AI?

Back in the day it would just be called a "slow news day"

hparadiz 4 days ago | |

Nijiya is pretty good by American standards but I still find it lacking compared to actual Japan in many ways.

_--__--__ 4 days ago | | |

I live near the SF location and the biggest issues seem outside of their control: tax/import costs making things way more expensive than I know they would be in Japan plus spiky demand for the prepared food limiting the quality/quantity they can offer.

The main issue that's actually on them is the authentic Japanese aisle width which doesn't work at all for the size or manners of Americans.

p1dda 4 days ago | |

BBC is literally trash, I just ignore everything BBC since a decade and have never regretted it

paxys 4 days ago | |

Not all slop content is AI generated. Remember the glory days of Buzzfeed? Stock images surrounded by puff pieces is quality pre-AI space filler.

pseudohadamard 3 days ago |

The reason I go to foreign supermarkets: Because it's cheaper than either the hotel food or dining in a restaurant. This is also why I always try and find accom with at least a small fridge in the room.

precommunicator 4 days ago |

My favorite thing when travelling across Europe is visiting local Lidl and comparing it to my own home Lidl. There is always something slightly different, but the base is most often the same.

For example in Belgrade they didn't have kaiser rolls in Lidl. That's a first for me.

Ekaros 4 days ago | |

Finnish Lidl history remind me to check how are the tills setup. In Finland they have conveyor belts on both sides. So you can pack there and then after the cashier has scanned items. Some cultural differences that you don't often think about.

mgkimsal 4 days ago | | |

Our Lidl has those (north carolina). We've had our local Lidl about... 7 years? I can not actually remember if they had them on day one, or if it was introduced during covid years. But... it's quite handy. I seem to think our Aldi previously had them, but my last trip there last month they'd redone the whole place - more self checkouts, and I only saw single conveyor belt setups.

matt_daemon 4 days ago |

As someone who just went to a Trader Joe's for the first time I can say it was a real thrill

TitaRusell 4 days ago |

As a Dutch citizen the most important thing is walking around looking at the prices and see how cheap everything is.

Well there are a few insane places like Switzerland or Aruba.

Markoff 4 days ago | |

I really doubt that, I recommend checking Bulgarian supermarkets, one of the poorest EU countries, yet their dairy products cost like double or triple the prices in Czechia, 3.5% milk you can buy here in promo for 0.4EUR, same in BG would cost double or triple in promotion, same with cheese/yogurt, heck even vegetables/fruit are pretty much same as Czechia with much lower purchasing power, Croatia and Slovakia expensive as well, it seems smaller the country, lower the competition, higher the prices, regardless of the salaries

retired 4 days ago | |

The Netherlands has one of the cheapest grocery prices in Europe when you offset to income.

You are better off where you are.

https://finorum.com/grocery-prices-europe-2026-eu-basket/

hparadiz 4 days ago |

The Russia example with canned fish is spot on. American supermarkets rarely have canned fish in tomato sauce but it's one of my favorite ways to eat it.

mixmastamyk 4 days ago | |

Interesting. A few weeks ago we were running out of food and ended up with a can of tuna with olive oil over spaghetti and sauce. Despite my initial misgivings it was surprisingly good.

hparadiz 4 days ago | | |

https://russianfoods.com/products/kilka-tomato-sause

Basically grew up on this stuff.

But something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Dongwon-Pepper-Tuna-5-3oz-150g/dp/B01...

I'm just surprised I gotta order it online or go to an ethnic grocery store and American brands don't really do that. I think I've seen only a handful of American brands and it's rarely stocked or if it is it's marketed as "gourmet" so the price is like $10 instead of $3.

arnonejoe 4 days ago |

The only supermarket work going to in the UK is Waitrose.

sandcat_ 4 days ago | |

One of the interesting things about the UK, demonstrated I suspect by this comment, is how incredibly tied to social status / class they are. Your supermarket is arguably more important than say, your car, or your watch, or whatever else. I remember people being bullied at school because their parents shopped (or it was claimed they shopped) at certain stores. Really quite bizarre looking back.

That said, arnonejoe isn't wrong... (well a little. M&S and Booths are good too.)

simonw 4 days ago | | |

I just went looking for a TikTok I'd seen about this and discovered that UK supermarket class distinctions are an entire genre on TikTok. Here's the one I liked: https://www.tiktok.com/@willdhallam/video/754043555780598504...

This one is good too (I really like Phil): https://www.tiktok.com/@philc84/video/7316965660096023841

wrboyce 4 days ago | |

Booths makes Waitrose look like Aldi.

lucaslazarus 4 days ago | |

Not true, the Tesco meal deal shocked my American sensibilities!

booleanbetrayal 4 days ago |

I once led.an expedition through Japan to find the best gummy candies the country had to offer. Fettuccine Sour Grape gummies took the prize.

prtmnth 4 days ago |

One of my favorite travel activities is browsing supermarkets and in awe of the interesting products on the shelves. So much fun!

tiahura 4 days ago |

I thought I was the only one!

chanux 4 days ago |

Novelty

> in a Tokyo 7-Eleven, and I am standing shoulder to shoulder with a dozen tourists, all clutching baskets loaded with the same things: fluffy egg mayo sandwiches, katsu curry buns, matcha Kit Kats and warm cans of Boss coffee pulled from heated shelves.

> Katsu curry (...) is a Japanese dish consisting of tonkatsu (pork cutlet) served with Japanese rice and curry. > In Japan, the name refers exclusively to a dish of curry served with a cutlet.