Italy is changing. The traditional city shopping still abounds in Naples. This is where the shops are all small, specialized, and close to where people live and work. There are even larger "supermercados" in the traditional city. These are about the size of a small town independent grocer in the US; they carry a variety of food and all the basics, but not a depth of more unusual things. These are the people that delivered my groceries last weekend. Nice!
Along side the traditional city shopping areas, the large mall of the suburbs is thriving. I call it the SUPERmercado = Auchan or Ipercoop
Today I went to a Leroy Merlin (s/t Home Depot) and the Auchan northwest of Naples. These two megastores anchor the shopping area with a variety of other shops and restaurants in between. The Auchan is like a Super WalMart in the US and actually anchors it's own mall with smaller clothing and specialty shops.
The Auchan was very crowded today -- like the day before Thanksgiving at the Super WalMart! Families, kids, grandma and grandpa -- the entire clan showed up today. People drive their shopping carts like they drive their cars in Naples, just crazy! I enjoyed the experience because it is so fun to watch the people, listen to them talk about what they want to eat and buy, and to see all the different and unusual foodstuffs. I could literally spend hours just looking. It was not a good day for getting special cuts of meat, or for lingering over the cheese to see exactly which ones I wanted to try -- too many people jostling for their place at the counters. I saw the butchers in back but I think they were hiding from the throng. Whenever one came out and delivered packages of wrapped meat on sale, they practically got mobbed by people. Must have been a sale on pork yesterday.
Hard to find things:
Cottage cheese -- they have excellent Ricotta in a wide variety but not cottage cheese
Vegetable peeler - must not peel their vegetables here
Baking soda or baking powder - surely they have these things? I just can't find them
Chocolate bits or Caramel bits - I was warned about this one but haven't yet found a substitute
Frozen lemonade or limeade - no frozen juices at all
Frozen berries - not here and only one tiny box of very expensive blackberries in the produce section
Ziplocs - not to be found
Lunch box - don't people pack their lunches here?
Travel mug - not in the culture to drink coffee in the car, or anything for that matter
Flavored coffee creamers - unheard of
Ranch dressing, Honey Mustard dressing or anything besides vinegar and oil
Johnnie is going to have to stock us up on some of the essentials!
Items in abundance in varieties I have never seen before:
Cured or smoked meats -- a huge array of types I can't even pronounce -- it will be fun eating my way through that counter!
Cheeses - a cheese counter that is double the size of Central Market in Mill Creek
Beer - I found so many German beers, not too many Italian beers though. You can buy them one bottle at a time, so I did buy a couple bottles of different ones to taste
Wines - two entire aisles on both sides filled floor to ceiling with wines from the different regions of Italy, some as cheap as 2 Euro a bottle ($3.50 US) - remember wine is considered a food in this culture, not something to get drunk
Breads - many types of fresh baked breads, the type you think of using for a hoagie or for dipping in olive oil (crispy outside, tender inside), all kinds of shapes
Yogurt - Wow, who knew there were so many kinds of yogurt! I found a couple varieties of soy yogurt that I like as well
Fish/Seafood - Italy is basically a peninsula surrounded by sea; many varieties of fish I don't recognize, and lots of clams and mussels that are farm-raised in the sea; I am going to have to get a guide to Mediterranean fish so we can start sampling
The Leroy Merlin reminds me very much of Home Depot except that they have a very large part of the store dedicated to curtains, drapes, rugs, and blinds and no kitchen appliances such as washers, dryers or refrigerators. They had just a couple ovens and ranges. I suspect there must be other stores that specialize in appliances. Otherwise, they have all the tools, lumber, paint, gardening, plumbing and electrical stuff you would expect. Johnnie will love the Leroy Merlin!
Very interesting .
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