I really should have started a bunch of these posts when we first moved here and I had more time, but now is as good as ever. I wanted to have these observations/experiences/descriptions as a record for myself and I guess for those of you who are interested in the day to day of living in a foreign country.
Food shopping or grocery shopping as I have now come to call it (my language is slowly becoming Americanised) in China can be interesting and often a challenge. You see, while we can get many Western goods here (btw I thank the Heavens for that luxury and that we didn't move here 10 years ago when it was very different), we can't always trust that the exact thing we're looking for will be at the store exactly when we need it, or if we'll be able to find it at all. For instance on Monday I was making a chunky lentil soup that calls for Worcestershire sauce, something I know I've seen at the store before but as yet had not bought. Alas, when I went to buy some, I could not find it anywhere. Similarly, there's a store I only go to every other month, and when I do I always stock up on Fairy washing up liquid, but when I went yesterday, not one bottle was to be found. Likewise, for the first 18 months after we moved here, I would regularly buy cookie mixes (good for quick last minute treats or desserts when we invite someone over last minute), but since January, nada, zip, nothing, nil, there are no instant packet cookies to be found in Beijing.
Of course, none of this is end of the world kind of stuff :) and most things we can substitute for others, albeit often at a higher price, but it can make your shopping experiences somewhat frustrating at times, especially when you've gone somewhere specifically to buy a certain item and it's not in stock.
For me, this has led to a behavior of stocking and hoarding. In the LDS tradition this is pretty normal, and I aim to maintain a few supplies to last us either a few days/weeks/months depending on the item (I don't have enough room for a whole years worth), so whether it be condiments, cans/bags/jars of goods, garbage bags, toilet roll, cleaning supplies, I try to have enough on hand to meet out regular needs as well as a bit of backup in case of emergency (or last minute guests). So when I saw Worcestershire sauce in the store yesterday (even though by then I had already made my soup) I bought a bottle and eyed the remaining 4 bottles on the shelf, contemplating whether I should stock up, for who knows when I might next see it again!
The only issue with stocking up, is a problem I ran into recently. The use by date on many items is often not very long into the future. Because so much of what we buy is imported, by the time it's passed through customs it's lifespan has probably halved, and I don't even want to think about the kind of storage conditions some of it has probably been kept in during that process (much less some of the conditions the stores keep them in once they get them in stock - half-melted then refrozen ice cream for example). Case in point, soon after we arrived I bought about 10 cans of vegetables for food storage. I haven't touched them or looked at them until recently when I decided to go through all our food to check the expiry date so I could ensure we were cycling through things (I admit I'm late to that game), only to discover the cans I bought had already expired...in 2010! Oops. Fortunately nothing looks like it's about to explode and I might be able to salvage some of it, but it was a point I needed to learn from. Now I check everything I buy to see how quickly I have to use it (and hopefully not be dismayed if I can't find it again!) :)
The second issue in is regards to price. China can't make everything :), so we expect to pay a premium for imported goods, especially foods. Grocery shopping can get expensive, especially when there are very few sales (if ever), and no coupon shopping (as far as I am aware, I've never discovered it). In fact most people I know (including ourselves) use a portion of their luggage to bring back things from their home countries they either can't get here or don't want to pay through the nose for. I have friends who even bring back laundry detergent. Regular sized boxes of cereal can cost up to $10 and small packets of fancy granola/muesli can cost up to $15. A 250g block of cheese costs about $5, a box of butter about $6. A pint of Ben & Jerry's or Haagen Dazs will cost over $10. A can of chopped tomatoes $1.5-2. Yesterday I bought an economy sized bottle (roughly 4.5 litres) of laundry detergent for $36 (and that was one of the better deals). Laundry detergent is not something I'm willing to cart back from the US, I already have too many other things filling up my suitcases! :) Andrew would say it all boils down to economics anyway, some things we'd rather just pay the extra for.
The third issue is quality of goods. The label "Made in China" evokes a few different responses. Am I right? For all their progress, China still has some standards issues. According to some friends who were working here in research and legal policy, baby formula was/is not the only product manufacturers add questionable ingredients and fillers to in order to save money/increase their profit margins. Such fillers are used to temporarily enable products to pass "quality tests" but render the product so much less than they are advertised to be, if not dangerous in some cases. I find it's easier to be ignorant, otherwise we'd never want to buy anything.
The fourth issue is the plain random and crazy selection of goods. Why do they stock Jack Daniels flavoured BBQ sauce, but not Paul Newmans Salad Dressing anymore? Why do they stock Ritter, Lindt, Mars, Ferrero Rocher (and many more) but not Cadbury's? By the way Ritter chocolate is one of the cheapest chocolate bars you can find here (apart from Dove which it seems is made locally). This and so many other oddities. It sure makes our shopping selections interesting :)
I don't say any of this to complain or for pity's sake, This is life abroad. I consider myself very lucky we can get Western goods (or any kind) at all, and know there are many places in China's smaller cities (and even places in Beijing) where you'd be hard pressed to find even a jar of peanut butter, and a loaf of western style bread.
I like what my friend Sylvia recently said on her blog (regarding life abroad - she lives in Morocco - though she was addressing a different topic here the sentiments are the same), and I'm going to quote her directly here:
"Living this life is full of trade-offs... It's just different. That's sort of my mantra about everything with this life: it's still good; it's just different. Unless it truly is crap, and then it's crap and different. Ha ha!"
I love that, and it is so true. Life abroad is great, but definitely different. And different is good, even if challenging and frustrating at times.
Food shopping or grocery shopping as I have now come to call it (my language is slowly becoming Americanised) in China can be interesting and often a challenge. You see, while we can get many Western goods here (btw I thank the Heavens for that luxury and that we didn't move here 10 years ago when it was very different), we can't always trust that the exact thing we're looking for will be at the store exactly when we need it, or if we'll be able to find it at all. For instance on Monday I was making a chunky lentil soup that calls for Worcestershire sauce, something I know I've seen at the store before but as yet had not bought. Alas, when I went to buy some, I could not find it anywhere. Similarly, there's a store I only go to every other month, and when I do I always stock up on Fairy washing up liquid, but when I went yesterday, not one bottle was to be found. Likewise, for the first 18 months after we moved here, I would regularly buy cookie mixes (good for quick last minute treats or desserts when we invite someone over last minute), but since January, nada, zip, nothing, nil, there are no instant packet cookies to be found in Beijing.
Of course, none of this is end of the world kind of stuff :) and most things we can substitute for others, albeit often at a higher price, but it can make your shopping experiences somewhat frustrating at times, especially when you've gone somewhere specifically to buy a certain item and it's not in stock.
For me, this has led to a behavior of stocking and hoarding. In the LDS tradition this is pretty normal, and I aim to maintain a few supplies to last us either a few days/weeks/months depending on the item (I don't have enough room for a whole years worth), so whether it be condiments, cans/bags/jars of goods, garbage bags, toilet roll, cleaning supplies, I try to have enough on hand to meet out regular needs as well as a bit of backup in case of emergency (or last minute guests). So when I saw Worcestershire sauce in the store yesterday (even though by then I had already made my soup) I bought a bottle and eyed the remaining 4 bottles on the shelf, contemplating whether I should stock up, for who knows when I might next see it again!
The only issue with stocking up, is a problem I ran into recently. The use by date on many items is often not very long into the future. Because so much of what we buy is imported, by the time it's passed through customs it's lifespan has probably halved, and I don't even want to think about the kind of storage conditions some of it has probably been kept in during that process (much less some of the conditions the stores keep them in once they get them in stock - half-melted then refrozen ice cream for example). Case in point, soon after we arrived I bought about 10 cans of vegetables for food storage. I haven't touched them or looked at them until recently when I decided to go through all our food to check the expiry date so I could ensure we were cycling through things (I admit I'm late to that game), only to discover the cans I bought had already expired...in 2010! Oops. Fortunately nothing looks like it's about to explode and I might be able to salvage some of it, but it was a point I needed to learn from. Now I check everything I buy to see how quickly I have to use it (and hopefully not be dismayed if I can't find it again!) :)
The second issue in is regards to price. China can't make everything :), so we expect to pay a premium for imported goods, especially foods. Grocery shopping can get expensive, especially when there are very few sales (if ever), and no coupon shopping (as far as I am aware, I've never discovered it). In fact most people I know (including ourselves) use a portion of their luggage to bring back things from their home countries they either can't get here or don't want to pay through the nose for. I have friends who even bring back laundry detergent. Regular sized boxes of cereal can cost up to $10 and small packets of fancy granola/muesli can cost up to $15. A 250g block of cheese costs about $5, a box of butter about $6. A pint of Ben & Jerry's or Haagen Dazs will cost over $10. A can of chopped tomatoes $1.5-2. Yesterday I bought an economy sized bottle (roughly 4.5 litres) of laundry detergent for $36 (and that was one of the better deals). Laundry detergent is not something I'm willing to cart back from the US, I already have too many other things filling up my suitcases! :) Andrew would say it all boils down to economics anyway, some things we'd rather just pay the extra for.
Local-style corn drying production line
The third issue is quality of goods. The label "Made in China" evokes a few different responses. Am I right? For all their progress, China still has some standards issues. According to some friends who were working here in research and legal policy, baby formula was/is not the only product manufacturers add questionable ingredients and fillers to in order to save money/increase their profit margins. Such fillers are used to temporarily enable products to pass "quality tests" but render the product so much less than they are advertised to be, if not dangerous in some cases. I find it's easier to be ignorant, otherwise we'd never want to buy anything.
The fourth issue is the plain random and crazy selection of goods. Why do they stock Jack Daniels flavoured BBQ sauce, but not Paul Newmans Salad Dressing anymore? Why do they stock Ritter, Lindt, Mars, Ferrero Rocher (and many more) but not Cadbury's? By the way Ritter chocolate is one of the cheapest chocolate bars you can find here (apart from Dove which it seems is made locally). This and so many other oddities. It sure makes our shopping selections interesting :)
I don't say any of this to complain or for pity's sake, This is life abroad. I consider myself very lucky we can get Western goods (or any kind) at all, and know there are many places in China's smaller cities (and even places in Beijing) where you'd be hard pressed to find even a jar of peanut butter, and a loaf of western style bread.
I like what my friend Sylvia recently said on her blog (regarding life abroad - she lives in Morocco - though she was addressing a different topic here the sentiments are the same), and I'm going to quote her directly here:
"Living this life is full of trade-offs... It's just different. That's sort of my mantra about everything with this life: it's still good; it's just different. Unless it truly is crap, and then it's crap and different. Ha ha!"
I love that, and it is so true. Life abroad is great, but definitely different. And different is good, even if challenging and frustrating at times.
1 comments:
I totally remember the Beijing food woes. The worst part was seeing all the things I wanted at the fancy international stores and not being able to afford them. Boo. Glad we're on an expat package this time around!
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