On Grocery Shopping

There aren’t many chores I’m wild about, but grocery shopping is one that I actually look forward to every week. For the past few years I’ve done the vast majority of the grocery shopping for Zevi and me, and it’s one of those errands I never feel like passing off.

I suppose it shouldn’t be all that surprising, based on my love for anything and everything food related, that grocery shopping isn’t something I dread, but it occurred to me today that most people don’t get much joy from walking up and down the aisles of their neighbourhood supermarket. I don’t mind driving from one store to another to find what I want, or going to specialty stores to get the obscure ingredients I need. I love browsing for the week’s essentials at off peak times when it’s quiet and I have lots of room to explore. I like to go by myself, so that I can walk slowly and haphazardly around as I try to find what I need. I try to stick to a list, but one or two random finds usually end up sneaking in to my cart.

I honestly don’t get all that much pleasure out of browsing for clothes or accessories, but I could walk around The Cookbook Co. Cooks, or Silk Road Spices, or any Asian grocery store for a long time, just and seeing what kind of interesting things are available. I love to window shop at farmers markets and check out the unique stuff that each vendor has on offer. Being in those places inspires me to try new things when I’m cooking, and to think outside the flavour box. Screw designer jeans, I’m all about high end olive oils and fancy finishing salt.

When I travel, I love to walk around grocery stores and see the things that are available that would be hard to find at home. In South America, I would linger in the aisles, looking over the strange products that I’d never seen before. I love to learn about a culture through food, and supermarkets are my version of a museum.

Do you like shopping for food, or do you dread it? Does anyone want to hire me to be their personal grocery shopper ;)?