Grocery Selections

If you are into food, cooking and recipes, you most likely enjoy grocery shopping. That might be presumptuous on my part, but I’m basing that on my own experiences. Grocery shopping is one of my favorite activities and probably my favorite kind of shopping. I like farmers markets but truly enjoy the stores. And although I don’t condone supporting the big conglomerates that drive the small mom & pop shops out of business, there is something to be said for having a large selection of products to choose from. I love going to the small personal stores just as much, but if they don’t carry the couple of items I need, I have to make one more trip. That again is totally fine, as it at least gets my butt to move (lord knows I need it). I just don’t like being confined to purchasing the one or two brands on the shelf that are not necessarily my faves. So, sometimes I prefer the huge display cases to satisfy my need for variety. This is the same reason I like buffets (if the food is of good quality) rather than ordering one meal I might not like. When I went to Romania, I saw plenty of small stores and a few of the huge kind, a more recent addition to the Romanian shopping scene. It’s all nice and good to get excited about it but most people can’t afford to shop there as the goods are monetarily out of reach.
I am fortunate enough to be able to buy food when I need it or want it, so I took my family shopping there. The variety was insane! As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, Romanians eat pork, lots of it. The selection of pork products was unbelievable. If it was a healthy option, I would have purchased a new sausage or pork shoulder or smoked ham every day. Alas, we gotta get our fruit and veggies in as well….
The selection however did not end with the meat. There are numerous display cases filled with cheese, olives, pickled vegetables and pastries. And throughout the store, shelves are filled with basically the same types of products you find at your local grocery store, except multiply your store’s selection times ten. To a gourmand, you have reached culinary heaven. I only wished I had my own kitchen and about a month to spare.
Without further ado, here are some pictures of the offerings.

Almost all the meat below is some kind of pork product

Olives

Sour Cream 

Feta Cheese

Chocolate