supermercato

Although there are the small and generally excellent butcher shops and green grocers and bread shops here in Neive and in every town, there are also chain super markets - Conad and Standa are two near here.

First, you need some coins to unlock a cart ( note to self: write about the ubiquitous crime and obsession with preventing it), so if you thought you might get away with anonymous shopping without having to try to actually speak Italian ( like I thought :-) - wrong- you need to ask for change so you can even start shopping.

Oh and before the ‘first’ above, you need to navigate the parking lot – it ain’t just the little old ladies that ”accidentally” go the wrong way down the parking lanes….arg! And of course the parking lot and spaces are all very tiny and there are jams in the lots and etc etc. Chaos reigns in general. Now that I think about it though the parking at the Fred Meyer on Hawthorne is kinda similar.

The stores are pretty nice though - rather like Fred Meyer or Super Target with food and bits of housewares, toys, house fixit stuff, etc. The selection of sweets in every store is HUGE - Italian's standard breakfast is a coffee or hot cocoa with some sweet something - what US hotels would call a "continental breakfast". There is substantial shelf space also for:

*many of varieties of short grained rice ( Arborio, Roma, etc etc

*various sized garbage cans and their plastic liner bags as well as little brooms and dustpans

* olive oils

*bottled water

*pasta – OF COURSE!

On the other hand if you are a soy sauce or refried beans fan, you might have to import from Britain or perhaps find it near a larger urban center. I have not been in a Carrefour for several years but that megastore might have more “alien” foods. The Carrefour near Antibes had like 50 check out lanes!!!

Except for cleaning products, many items are packaged in smaller sized. Flour for example is in a 1 kg package - about 1/2 the sort of standard sized flour bag. Finally, I could not located too many spices ( cumin e.g.) I think they are not part of the cuisine here at all. Also, could not locate baking powder nor baking soda in the few times I have shopped so far. ( I just thought that maybe the baking soda is in the cleaning supplies isle! ! :-) )

There is lots more seafood available. In addition to the fresh fish/seafood counter, there is many types and various premixed fresh selections packaged in plastic. There were toher seafood things that I could not quite ID – it seemed like a selection of battered seafood and seafood cakes – like crab cakes. I did not go too near though as I am not a seafood fan – the smell even I do not care for.

Fresh fruit and veg are like in the US with some variations – with some things being more prominent than the US like fennel.

Last little thing about the super markets – always carry cash or be prepared to abandon your cart because the ATM/credit card processing system can and does go down at no notice. This last seems to be an epidemic in Italy – “il sistema non funziona”

Ciao for now. J.T.