Food galore

So as promised more on the supermarkets. Most are in fact massive hypermarkets, we have LuLu's and the French chain Carrefour. But there are the small corner stores and actually just two minutes walk from our house is the little grocery store, Abela, which can be expensive but is good for the last minute "I forgot" things. Abela also vaults into the high echelon of supermarkets as they have this glorious space -

The big hypermarkets don't sell piggy products, so here is where we come to satisfy any porcine cravings we have. Excellent English bacon, both the Mexican and Spanish types of chorizo and even prosciutto - yum. And it seems that there is no need for a pork license to buy them as we had heard. We are actually a little disappointed in that as we thought that our framed UAE pork license would be a fabulous addition to the next kitchen of wherever we end up after here. ;)

We shop mainly at the hypermarkets though and have been delighted by the bizarre confluence of products that you can find, not only in range but also in shelf placement. For example it seems that only here would you find the following side by side on the shelf -

You can click on the photo for a closer look, but this would be kimchi next to confit of duck gizzard. We can almost always find the things that we want as they have most of our favourite British and American items, but it's sometimes a challenge to figure out where they would be in the store. For example, if you are looking for tinned beans, the chick peas and the kidney beans will be in completely different aisles, condiments are kept randomly from one side of the store to the other - mustard over here, mayo over there etc. They seem to roughly divide things up according to place of origin but within that there seem to be sub-catagories that we haven't figured out yet.

They have almost all my UK favourites like proper Museli, all the Bio-Pot flavours, Marmite, PG Tips, Branston Pickle and  Prawn Cocktail crisps. For Matthew and the boys, the most important thing to find was Tabasco sauce which they have in every size possible.

For a family that has always loved Middle Eastern and Indian food, and had to seek out the tucked away places in Chicago to get all the ingredients we wanted, it is thrilling to be here and have all of these cheaply available in the regular markets. Olives, Feta, Magdouz, Pita, Naan, Garlic paste, Manakeesh, Paneer, all kinds of good Lamb bits, Labnah and not the least of which is the amazing spices. They have a fantastic bulk spice section that I wanted to show you as we couldn't believe the freshness and the colours when we first saw it.

A close up of the intense colours of the different chili powders - this picture doesn't even come close to capturing the deep colour of these. Click on it to see it big - it's like nothing we have ever seen and the smell and taste seems to be far more present than than what we got in Chicago.

There are one or two things we can't find in the fruit and vegetable section, good mixed salad and butternut squash being two favourites that we are missing, but it more than makes up for it in what we can get. Huge bundles of very cheap herbs, dates, apricots and more. And the big difference is the smell. You walk through and you are assailed on all sides by the intense fresh smell of all the fruit as it is all ripe right now and needs to be eaten in the next few days. How different from a US store which smells of nothing and the fruit keeps for two weeks as it wasn't ripe when it was picked. The taste also shows that ripeness difference and although it does mean more frequent trips to the store, it's worth it.

And we had another success in the things we haven't found yet department - Red Wine Vinegar. When we first went to the market, I couldn't find it and figured it was because it was wine based and alcohol is a no-no.  But after being here a while, we've realized that most things get a name change to fit in with local customs even though it's the same product. And lo and behold I found it - Red Grape Vinegar. A rose by any other name.....