STRANGER IN A STRANGE SUPERMARKET VISITING PLACES WHERE EVERYTHING IS UNKNOWN AND UNFAMILIAR.
TABLE OF CONTENTS STORE#
001
STORE#
002
STORE#
003
PEOPLE ALWAYS EAT THINGS THEY ARE FAMILIAR WITH AND KNOW WHAT THE INGREDIENTS ARE. I want to do the opposite. My concept is to go to “ethnic markets” where the food is from foreign cultures. In some of the places, the cashiers barely speak English. During my travels to various markets, I discovered how much diversity there is in San Francisco’s neighborhoods and how interesting it can be to explore the different kinds of food products they offer. Since eating is a universal human activity, this project has given me insight into how varied the global diet is.
PG /003 STORE#
001
POST ST.
GEARY BLVD.
WEBSTER ST.
LAGUNA ST.
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NIJIYA MARKET JAPANESE GROCERY /ADDRESS / 1737 POST ST. (BETWEEN BUCHANAN ST & WEBSTER ST) SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115 / HOURS / MON-SUN 10 AM - 8 PM
I can see by the pictures on the packages in this aisle that there is nothing that I can’t identify, therefore I’ll pass it by.
I’M LOOKING FOR SOMETHING THAT I CAN’T IDENTIFY ITS INGREDIENTS. Now, I’m in the right place. There’s a bag that looks like chips but they’re all brown and I can’t figure out the ingredients. They could be seaweed or coated with some seasoning. Unlike the previous aisle, there are no English words on the package, so I don’t know if the package contains cookies, chips, crackers or something altogether different. I want to spend my money on something that is different, but not horrible tasting.
PG /009 ITEM#
001
RICE CRACKER
(TOKIMINO SHIGOTOBA KOROMAME MOCHI) PG /011 ITEM#
001
I don’t have particular reason to choose this snack. I just I buy it because it was discounted. but it was only .50 cent cheaper than normal price. I was fooled by those colorful price tag. I have never tried rice cracker before, so I couldn’t compare the taste. After first bite i think this is similar to pita chips but the texture is different. It was light and salty and crispy. it might taste better with green tea but at that time I didn’t have one so I can’t tell you the result. I paid $3.48 for ten pieces of this. not too much but I can pay the same price and get a big bag of Kettle chips sea salt and pepper. Oh, this kind of snack might be healthier because it isn’t greasy as Kettle chips.
AWESOME
LAME
DRIED KELP
(MIYAKO KOMBU) PG /013 ITEM#
002
This unknown thing caught my attention because it’s old fashioned looking. After I opened it, The smell was too musty strong and I wasn’t sure should I eat it or not. I tried little bite. I would say this is the weirdest snack I have eaten in my whole life. It was flavor that I couldn’t indentify. Well, let’s me explain. It was a sour and smelled fishy. It tasted like rotten gecko skin marinated in vinegar. Oh, I don’t actually know what gecko tasted like but this snack was so deadly horrible. I actually thought that snack might be dead lizard so it was rotten because it has really old package and it hidden in the corner of the lowest shelf. I can’t stand my curiosity so I sent email to my Japanese friend. She told me “It’s Hokkaido kelp marinate in vinegar. and bonito (fish) extract.”
AWESOME
LAME
CLEMENT ST.
PG /015 STORE#
002
GEARY BLVD.
21ST. AVE
22ST AVE.
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NEW WORLD MARKET RUSSIAN GROCERY /ADDRESS / 5641 GEARY BLVD SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121 / HOURS / MON-SUN 9 AM - 9 PM
FROM MY PERSPECTIVE AS AN ASIAN GIRL, THESE RUSSIAN PACKAGES LOOK INTERESTING. I know the signs and symbols of my own culture, but these Russian graphics are totally foreign to me. The only thing I know that’s Russian is the Cheburashka cartoon. I tried to only pick the most interesting Russian products, but after I got home and opened them, I found most of them were chocolate. You just don’t know what you’re getting when you don’t read the language.
AHENA
(RUSSIAN COOKIE) PG /021 ITEM#
003
I didn’t know for sure if these were really cookies. I was shocked at how big they are. Usually snacks are small but these were huge. They looked and smelled like a creamy milk cookie, but they weren’t sweet or crispy like a regular cookie. They were kinda yucky, but they were only $1.45 for a package of twelve. Why does it seem the cheaper the snack, the worst it tastes?
AWESOME
LAME
MISC. ITEMS
(RUSSIAN CANDIES) PG /023 ITEM#
004
Russian Nyquill-filled Chocolates! That’s what the Russian candy with the buffalo on the wrapper tasted like. It was really some kind of liquor, but I don’t recommend it. What can you expect from buffalo chocolate? In general, Russian chocolate was pretty bad. I’ve had chocolate in China, Thailand, the U.S. and all over Asia and I can honestly say Russian chocolate is the worst. But I will say they have some very appetizing wrappers and packaging.
AWESOME
LAME
PG /025 STORE#
003
GEARY BLVD.
ANZA ST.
11 AVE. ST.
10 AVE. ST.
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FIRST KOREAN MARKET KOREAN GROCERY /ADDRESS / 4625 GEARY BLVD. SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118 / HOURS / MON-SAT 9 AM - 8 PM, SUN 9 AM - 7 PM
THERE ARE THREE KOREAN MARKETS IN THE CITY. COMPARE TO TONS OF ASIAN MARKETS. There are a lots of Asian markets in San francisco but those don’t have many or have tiny bits amount of Korean items. I wanted to explore more of the ethnic market. Because it has more of the culture. Sometimes talking to the owner or people who work there always get intriguing story. I went to the family own Korean place, by the time I visited I talked to the owner and even they can barely speak english but they are enjoy to talk. I saw another customers come and talk to them in Korean. This is the thing that I can only found in family own supermarket which can’t compare to the simple sentence from the cashier in Trader’s joe.
YEOT DOO GA TAFFY
(KOREAN CANDIES) PG /031 ITEM#
005
I experimented with Korean snacks before. I always get Korean chewing gum when I go to Korean restaurants. I call it the Five Second Chewing Gum because after five seconds all the sweetness is gone and it turns into a hard lump, kinda like chewing rubber. But anyway, I thought I’d try this taffy. It tasted like a combination of caramel, rice and ginger - sweet, creamy and spicy. I’m not a big fan of ginger, but in this case it helped kill the taste of the candy.
AWESOME
LAME