What's in My Shopping Cart? (or maybe not)

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            One of the most surprisingly interesting things to see when you are in a completely different place than what you're used to is going to their supermarkets. Yeah, I'm not joking, this is what I'm talking about this week. But it really is interesting to see what are popular items among the general population and get an opportunity to see things that you'd never otherwise see in a normal store. Yeah, the supermarkets carry a lot of what one would call "normal" grocery items: butter, cereal, juice, etc. But just how many of you have seen this kind of stuff in your local supermarket?

Durian

            Maybe you've encountered this fruit before, but it's no lie that it's pretty popular here, for whatever reason. If you've never heard of durian before, it smells... like, really bad. And when there is a table with 100 of them just sitting there, you are simply assaulted by the horrible smell of sewage. I haven't tasted it, but people say it tastes like chicken, but don't think it was good chicken. Did you know that it's banned in the public transit in Singapore? Powerful stuff, but that doesn't stop the large variety of products you can buy that are durian flavored 😖.






Pocky

            I'm much more pleased by this one. If you don't know what pocky is, it's a Japanese candy that's like a biscuit stick with usually a chocolate or strawberry coating. It's pretty popular and relatively easy to find anywhere; you'd definitely find it in an international food store if not a really big supermarket. As this is Asia, it's even more popular here, and they have a LOT more flavors than I've ever seen before! My personal favorite is the mango flavor, highly recommend.









Chicken Feet

            I believe I mentioned chicken feet in one of my first posts, well it's certainly more popular than what I first thought. We've actually had it in the cafeteria once, I've still haven't tried it, and I don't think I will. Apparently it's good, it's just... the claws... Ugh. Nope. Anyway, you have a pretty good selection of those here, you can get brown or fleshy pink. 



Cup Ramen

            Similar to the pocky, it's no surprise to find a very large variety of cup ramen here. A lot of it is seafood or spicy flavored, so it's not exactly my cup of tea, but I've found some regular flavors too. They actually sell cup ramens in some vending machines, perfect for college students.









Soy Sauce

            Yeah, a lot of soy sauce. But what would you expect?






Squid and Fish Products

            There is something about seeing the uncooked rubbery squid or severed fish heads just sitting there that makes me think "I don't think this is available in Shop Rite."




Sushi

            For all the sushi lovers out there, you can get a bunch of it all prepared at the supermarket. Now, I've never had supermarket sushi before, and even though I wouldn't expect to be amazing or anything, I'm still a little tempted to get some 😅.















Cooking Chopsticks

            If anything on this lists inspires you to make something, you can also get this pair of gigantic chopsticks to cook your food and look like a badass at the same time! No, you don't eat with them! While I'm unsure how they are much better than using other cooking utensils, I'm sure it looks super cool.











            I hope you enjoyed this look into the typical Macau supermarket. It's honestly really fun to see all of the different things that are available in a foreign place. While I don't think I will be trying most of these things (I'm looking at you, chicken feet), I'm sure I'll go back to my regular grocery store at home and think "Man, this is a little underwhelming." I will miss the pocky though 😭. With the semester coming to an end, I have a lot of great plans with my friends lined up! Next week is actually my birthday, so we will be having some fun, and I will finally be old enough to enter a casino! Maybe I'll share about that next week. Oh yeah, and finals are coming too... So, that's also a thing. Anywho, until next week!

再见！

TL;DR: Join me as we look into the deep and mystical world that is the typical Macanese supermarket!

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