# Formerly rare food you now expect your grocery to stock **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [December 20, 2022, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862 "2022-12-20T20:49:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/21 "2022-12-21T13:37:07Z")
You’re lucky. I still have to rely on HMart for my rambutan fix. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/22 "2022-12-21T13:42:01Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Also pufferfish. I figure Kroger is a safe place to buy pufferfish filets. I’m pretty sure that the pufferfish species they’re selling is the **[northern puffer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_puffer)**, found along the north Atlantic coast, whose flesh isn’t toxic. I would be astounded if the toxic Japanese pufferfish was ever found in North America, let alone at Kroger. > [@elbows](#): > > But the biggest surprise was when I saw them available while shopping online…at the Walmart! I’m surprised at the variety of groceries Walmart carries since they expanded into the food business. It’s currently the only place in the area where I can get Sapporo Ichiban Original ramen. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/23 "2022-12-21T13:43:35Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Now I expect to see them at Walmart-- albeit, the best ones are at the Mexican-supplied supermercado (which has amazing produce in general). Speaking of “Mexican supplied”, there is a market on 95th street in Oak Lawn called, “Pete’s Produce”, and they have a huge variety of amazingly fresh fruits and vegetables, some of which I have never even heard of. Nothing else in this area compares to it. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/24 "2022-12-21T13:46:33Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Bagels. What happened to onion bagels? I can’t find them anywhere! I’m guessing I need to go to an actual bagel shop to get any. To this list, I’ll add in a variety of chilis. Used to be that maybe you had a choice between jalapeños and anaheims if lucky. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/25 "2022-12-21T13:50:43Z")
Deboned chicken thighs. Never saw these until I moved to Vienna a few years ago and found that the local markets were offering them. Later on the supermarkets started offering them too. Did someone recently invent a thigh deboning machine? ---
**Author:** ![EnolaStraight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/26 "2022-12-21T13:55:25Z")
Pomegranates. As a child, they were only available to me (in Philly) around Halloween to Thanksgiving. The fruit are TROPICAL…they grow year-round! ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/27 "2022-12-21T13:59:09Z")
This is called Guanajuato, and there are several in the city with the same supplier. I live in Speedway, which is a district of Indianapolis that houses the Brickyard, but really, might as well be called “Little Mexico.” Indy is a sanctuary city, and Speedway was the main settlement area for a while as part of a larger plan to bring in families, and turn around a high crime area of town (it worked). Crime is down from 20% over the city in general, to 35% below. Anyway, I shop for produce almost exclusively at Guanajuato, except for a few things they occasionally don’t have, like raspberries and blueberries. I also get my husband’s Dos Equis Ambar there. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/28 "2022-12-21T14:01:08Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I also get my husband’s Dos Equis Ambar there. That’s one of my favorites, too. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/29 "2022-12-21T14:09:30Z")
It’s just as good, equitably priced, cold, and we get the satisfaction of supporting not only a local business, but immigrant refugees. They have several outlets in town, but they aren’t really a chain. It’s a warehouse that imports goods directly from Mexico to sell to Mexican natives in Indy. They have four or five stores. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/30 "2022-12-21T14:59:32Z")
When I was a kid (60s-70s) the only grapes available were the green variety. Once in a while there would be some red or black grapes but they were seeded. In the later 70s a new variety of red grapes appeared. They were seedless and a lot smaller than the red grapes of today and the green grapes we were used to. The odd thing was that we were told to eat them as a _ **frozen** _ treat! It was written on the bag they came in. So that’s what we did. I’m not sure when we decided that they could be eaten fresh. Tangerines were only sold around the holidays and they all had seeds/pits. Now it’s Clementines year round. I don’t know if they sell old-fashioned tangerines much anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/31 "2022-12-21T15:03:11Z")
Sushi ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/32 "2022-12-21T15:41:01Z")
Chia seed, along with other specialty grains and seeds (e.g. flax seed). ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/33 "2022-12-21T16:13:51Z")
Nutella ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/34 "2022-12-21T16:21:43Z")
Tortillas ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/35 "2022-12-21T16:25:50Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > But what _was_ rare after I moved away from southern NM, was to find in recent years that I can get good, roasted green chilis in the store in season. Not to mention a wide selection year round of fresh peppers up to and including habaneros. When I first went to college in Colorado, the spiciest thing the stores carried was freaking Pace Picante salsa! This. I can finally get Hatch green chiles in season at Fred Meyer in Oregon. Used to be we’d order in a bushel every year from NM, now I can get them locally. I typically roast them myself, but can get roasted in the store. ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/36 "2022-12-21T16:37:00Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Deboned chicken thighs. Never saw these until I moved to Vienna a few years ago and found that the local markets were offering them. Later on the supermarkets started offering them too. Did someone recently invent a thigh deboning machine? No, there’s a Boneless Chicken Ranch in New Jersey, it’ll break your heart watching those chickens trying to run around without no bones 😂 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/37 "2022-12-21T16:40:52Z")
> [@Dogginit](#): > > No, there’s a Boneless Chicken Ranch in New Jersey, Wasn’t that a Far Side cartoon? ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/38 "2022-12-21T16:41:51Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > Wasn’t that a Far Side cartoon? Don’t know about that, but it was a gag from my boyhood friend and idol, Southern humorist Lewis Grizzard 😀 ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/39 "2022-12-21T18:06:06Z")
Asparagus, berries, fresh herbs all year 'round. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862/40 "2022-12-21T18:15:46Z")
Yeah, about that… Had an orange this morning. sour. Got blackberries from Jewel. Tart. Yeah, we can get all order of fresh fruits and vegetables all year 'round, but they’re a far cry from in-season-local. Apples straight off of the tree are immeasurably better than bags sold in the store. I think it makes less of a difference with vegetables; it certainly makes less of a difference if you’re cooking the vegetables. I am a typical midwestern 'Merkin. I’ve had mangos from the store up here; most of the time they’re hard and tart; I’ve had a few that were riper. I can only imagine what they taste like fresh off of the tree. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-rare-food-you-now-expect-your-grocery-to-stock/976862.md?page=3)