A lot of people have been asking me about food shopping, and I am finally going to give you the experience! Welcome to my market: FEEL. Note all the parking. All bikes, no cars.
Grab a basket (no carts), and you're on your way to the produce section. Here's some apples and green mystery fruit on the right. FYI for those of you who want to do some price comparisons off the signs 90 yen = $1.00
Bananas are wrapped in cellophane. I have no idea why.
Grapes on the left; strawberries on the right. They both look like they're made of rubber.
Carrots the size of a hand!!
Not sure what these big items are. I put my hand in the pic just so you'd have a reference. I bought 2 just in case!
Egg case, plus some mystery white stuff to the left. 4 eggs = 88 yen. That's almost $1. My new American friend said that Japan has really changed the way she feels about eggs. The Japanese put them on everything: raw, fried, mixed in. She loves it all now! I can't say I'm going to feel the same way at the end of my year.
Mystery meat. I can picture this being served in school lunchrooms all over the country!
Fresh fish, anyone?
So much fish selection...
Clams, mussels, and other random shells.
More seafood. FYI - I didn't buy any of this stuff.
I think these are all bags of fish flakes. Different varieties, flavors, seasonings, etc.
Shampoo, conditioner, & soap all come in the refill bags. That's great for the environment and all, but this girl needs some starter containers before I can move on to the refills!
Bags of rice. Reminds of the dog food aisle in the states!
Finally some cute cartoon guys I can recognize!
A snack with dried minnows in it?! Yummy, I think I'll buy a bunch as Christmas gifts!
I found real peanut butter today! Almost $5 for a 12 oz. jar. But it might be worth it. I'd prefer crunchy, but I'll take creamy if that's my only choice.
My juice choices. Perhaps the green is split pea juice?!
You can't go wrong with Oreos, and they're only about $1.50!
I've been cooking myself a lot of pasta. I even found olive oil today, and those bags on the left look like spaghetti sauce, so I'm going to give them a whirl!
Beer choices. Sorry guys, no Bud or Miller.
Hot foods in case you'd rather have them do the cooking.
This is Nagoya-style hot foods, and right up my alley. Left is kind of BBQ chicken kabobs (yakitori), middle is fried vegetables (tempura), and right is an assortment of fried goods!
Liquor selection. Oddly enough, this is one thing you can buy in jumbo size. Even the milk or juice or soda is sold in smaller portions.
Frozen treats. That has been my one guilty pleasure while in Japan... I've been trying all sorts of exotic yummy ice cream novelties.
Not sure what's in this bag, but the crabs are kind of freaking me out!
Bread aisle. Loaves come uncut or in slices of 5 or 8. I even found some English muffins and bagels!!
Look, Mom, I'm buying yogurt! Gotta keep my calcium levels up! What flavor do you think the green one on the right is? It looks white with squares of green in it. I'm stumped!!
The butter and cheese selection. So pitiful it brings a tear to my eye.
My basketful of purchases ran me almost $50 today! Now I just have to bag it myself in the 2 bags I brought with me, and walk home about a mile ;)
That's what I call a good day at the Japanese market!
Grab a basket (no carts), and you're on your way to the produce section. Here's some apples and green mystery fruit on the right. FYI for those of you who want to do some price comparisons off the signs 90 yen = $1.00
Bananas are wrapped in cellophane. I have no idea why.
Grapes on the left; strawberries on the right. They both look like they're made of rubber.
Carrots the size of a hand!!
Not sure what these big items are. I put my hand in the pic just so you'd have a reference. I bought 2 just in case!
Egg case, plus some mystery white stuff to the left. 4 eggs = 88 yen. That's almost $1. My new American friend said that Japan has really changed the way she feels about eggs. The Japanese put them on everything: raw, fried, mixed in. She loves it all now! I can't say I'm going to feel the same way at the end of my year.
Mystery meat. I can picture this being served in school lunchrooms all over the country!
Fresh fish, anyone?
So much fish selection...
Clams, mussels, and other random shells.
More seafood. FYI - I didn't buy any of this stuff.
I think these are all bags of fish flakes. Different varieties, flavors, seasonings, etc.
Shampoo, conditioner, & soap all come in the refill bags. That's great for the environment and all, but this girl needs some starter containers before I can move on to the refills!
Bags of rice. Reminds of the dog food aisle in the states!
Finally some cute cartoon guys I can recognize!
A snack with dried minnows in it?! Yummy, I think I'll buy a bunch as Christmas gifts!
I found real peanut butter today! Almost $5 for a 12 oz. jar. But it might be worth it. I'd prefer crunchy, but I'll take creamy if that's my only choice.
My juice choices. Perhaps the green is split pea juice?!
You can't go wrong with Oreos, and they're only about $1.50!
I've been cooking myself a lot of pasta. I even found olive oil today, and those bags on the left look like spaghetti sauce, so I'm going to give them a whirl!
Beer choices. Sorry guys, no Bud or Miller.
Hot foods in case you'd rather have them do the cooking.
This is Nagoya-style hot foods, and right up my alley. Left is kind of BBQ chicken kabobs (yakitori), middle is fried vegetables (tempura), and right is an assortment of fried goods!
Liquor selection. Oddly enough, this is one thing you can buy in jumbo size. Even the milk or juice or soda is sold in smaller portions.
Frozen treats. That has been my one guilty pleasure while in Japan... I've been trying all sorts of exotic yummy ice cream novelties.
Not sure what's in this bag, but the crabs are kind of freaking me out!
Bread aisle. Loaves come uncut or in slices of 5 or 8. I even found some English muffins and bagels!!
Look, Mom, I'm buying yogurt! Gotta keep my calcium levels up! What flavor do you think the green one on the right is? It looks white with squares of green in it. I'm stumped!!
The butter and cheese selection. So pitiful it brings a tear to my eye.
My basketful of purchases ran me almost $50 today! Now I just have to bag it myself in the 2 bags I brought with me, and walk home about a mile ;)
Wow, there is a lot that I could comment on here, but for now I'll just ask: Did anybody give you strange looks when you were taking all of these pictures (you know, aside from the strange looks they normally give you for being a super-tall American)?
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly enough, no people weren't staring at me any more than normal today. If they had, I might have cut down on the quantity of pictures. Then again, maybe I would have just started to take pictures of them instead!!
ReplyDeleteIm sure its perfectly normal for people to be taking pictures in the grocery store ;)
ReplyDelete-Leslie