Royal Tea Company

• Musings

In all my years of traveling, I have discovered one thing that I do in almost every destination.

No trip is complete without a stop in a grocery store or market.

There is something surprisingly ordinary about walking into a local shop and picking up a bottle of water, a snack for the journey, or something completely unfamiliar simply because it looks interesting. You get to see all the things a destination chooses to place on its shelves. Not the things they put in the window for tourists. The things people actually buy.

In the United States, we are spoiled for choice. If a store doesn’t have our favorite chips today, we simply go to the next store. We expect to find almost anything we want, whenever we want it.

Shop in Paris, and you will be spoiled for choice when it comes to cheese, wine and butter.

But if you want gummy peach rings?

You will be politely shown the fruit that is in season, followed by a look that says, Why on earth would you want gummy peach rings when there are perfectly good peaches right here?

And honestly, they have a point.

There is a particular excitement that comes from discovering something completely ordinary in another country. Paprika in Prague, for example, can be remarkably inexpensive and incredibly fragrant. A little shop on the road to the Maasai Mara may have bottled water, basic provisions and perhaps a few handmade items from local people.

None of these places are particularly glamorous.

That is precisely the point.

The grocery store gives you a glimpse of everyday life that you simply cannot get from a monument or a museum. You see what people eat. What they consider a staple. What is inexpensive. What is seasonal. What is considered a treat. You see how much shelf space is given to something you have never heard of and wonder why on earth it isn’t available everywhere.

And then you buy it.

It is important, no matter which store you enter, to be polite. Resist the American urge to strike up a conversation with strangers in the middle of an aisle simply because you are fascinated by something.

But if a local notices your bewilderment at a particular shelf and offers to help, let them.

There is a particular joy in being shown something by someone who knows exactly what they are looking at while you stand there trying to figure out what half the labels mean. You may discover something wonderful. You may discover something you absolutely hate.

Either way, you have learned something.

There is also something rather generational about the pursuit of the grocery store.

Millennials, in particular, seem to have turned the grocery haul into an experience. Perhaps it is the desire to find a practical souvenir rather than another keychain. Perhaps it is the pleasure of bringing home something that can actually be eaten. Or perhaps we simply like the idea that a trip can continue for a few weeks after we have returned home.

A packet of biscuits becomes a reminder.

A tin of fish becomes dinner.

A strange little condiment ends up sitting in the refrigerator for months because every time you see it, you remember where you bought it.

It changes the way you eat, if only for a little while.

And perhaps that is why I love the grocery store so much.

There is something instinctive about it.

You can walk into a grocery store almost anywhere in the world and get a sense of what the community enjoys, what their diet is made up of, what is grown locally and how people interact with food. It is a very fundamental way of understanding another culture.

Food is rarely just food.

It is geography. History. Climate. Economics. Tradition. Convenience. Family.

And sometimes, it is simply what happens to be on sale that week.

My favorite grocery store so far has to be La Grande Épicerie at Le Bon Marché in Paris.

Yes, it is expensive.

But it also has what may be the most magnificent butter selection I have ever encountered. The butter cooler alone deserves its own visit. There are also freshly prepared hot meals, beautiful ingredients, pastries, cheeses, meats and an enormous selection of everyday foods that somehow make even grocery shopping feel a little glamorous.

If you want to please an entire group of fellow travelers, a stop at La Grande Épicerie is practically mandatory.

Can you find excellent potatoes elsewhere in Paris? Absolutely.

And when you come across the opportunity to try pommes de terre grenaille or another local preparation, do it.

Shop the local markets during your stay. Absolutely.

But I also encourage you to visit the larger stores.

Markets will show you what is beautiful, seasonal and local.

The grocery store will show you what people actually buy on a Tuesday afternoon.

And both are worth seeing.

My Favorite Things — So Far

United Kingdom

The M&S meal deal.

A sandwich, snack and drink for a few pounds. You can find similar versions at Tesco and some Co-ops, but I have a particular fondness for the M&S version.

British food isn’t necessarily known for being exciting, but an egg mayo sandwich and some freshly cut fruit can be a remarkably welcome lunch when you are traveling.

And there is something deeply satisfying about walking into a store, grabbing lunch and continuing on your way without making an entire production out of eating.

France

Butter. Hands down.

Bring some home if you can.

Put it on fresh bread. Put it on a biscuit. Put it on something that doesn’t need it and use it anyway.

Cheese is another obvious choice, although I prefer to eat most of it while I am there rather than attempting to transport half of France home in my luggage. Remember only aged or hard cheeses can be brought into the US. 

Fresh, local, in-season fruit is also worth seeking out.

And then there are the potato chips.

French potato chips are absolutely worth your time, but pay attention to the flavors. They have a tendency to take something familiar and make it just different enough that you aren’t entirely sure whether you love it or have made a terrible mistake.

Usually, I love it.

Spain

Tinned fish.

Yes, we can get many of the same brands in the United States.

But you will often find different varieties and additions that are harder to come by here—pimentos, citrus, herbs and other combinations that make something as simple as a tin of fish feel considerably more interesting.

If you are checking a bag, a bottle of good Spanish olive oil is also a must.

And while you are there, grab some local charcuterie for the hotel.

Because sometimes the best dinner in a foreign country is not a restaurant at all.

It is whatever you brought back to your room.

There are so many other observations I could make about grocery stores around the world, and I suspect this will become one of those subjects that gets revisited as I travel.

I want to start adding little grocery highlights to my travel writings because they add a different kind of color to a destination.

We spend so much time traveling to see the important things.

The monuments.

The museums.

The palaces.

The churches.

The markets.

And we should.

But sometimes I think you learn just as much by walking into a supermarket, wandering down an aisle and asking yourself:

What on earth is that?

Then, of course, buying it.

Because perhaps the best way to understand a place isn’t always to see what they want the world to see.

Sometimes it is simply to see what they put on the shelves.