Having made my trip to the grocery store this morning, and having spent too much time there (though I did stick to my list and budget with what I bought), I realized there are certain items that I might never buy, but that I am always somewhat fascinated by.
The most prominent of these is Salt Pork. I have never used this for anything, but I almost always pick it up and vaguely consider it. Today it actually went into the cart for consideration, but I put it back before I checked out, because I have no idea what I’d do with it. I think this fascination comes from the number of times I read the Little House on the Prairie books as a child - they were always eating salt pork, fried, in soups, whatever.
The other item is *tripe. Now, I have eaten tripe, and I know people who love it. I just have difficulty with knowing what it is - cook it up in something and don’t tell me that I’m eating it…fantastic, no problem. But I wouldn’t buy it, even though I always look at it when it’s in the store. Just for consideration.
So, what item fascinates you in the grocery that you have no real reason to purchase?
Beef, chicken, long-pig. I don’t know why. All I know for sure is that I have vague memories of eating beef liver when I was a lad and hating it. And eating chichen livers in bacon, and tolerating it only for the bacon.
The new trend of strange-colored food (blue ketchup, etc.) is bizarre. I was mesmerized in Safeway two days ago when I saw a new product called “Funky Fries”. These are frozen French fries in two varieties: 1) dyed bright blue and 2) chocolate flavored (a brown color). Chocolate flavored French fries!!! How weird is that?
It pisses me off that the clams at my local supermarket are inside the glass case. When I was a kid, it was the best thing to go to the fish department and flick the clams and see if they were still alive. Now I have to content myself with poking pigs feet and beef tongue.
They have a really good fish counter at my Shop-Rite, but they scatter chopped-off fish heads around on the ice like it’s a decorating motif. Is seeing all those glassy-eyed fish staring at us supposed to make us hungry? I also look at the live lobsters in the tank: one the one hand, I do feel sorry for the poor critters, but on the other, they really do look like oversized cockroaches.
Goat Heads around Easter time. Yes, you read that correctly - Goat Heads. Unfortunately, all the hair and skin has been stripped off, but they still look really cool/nasty, and I’ve always thought it would be fun to buy a couple of 'em, and put them on sticks in the front yard.
My IGA has all sorts of “exotic” meats. I will usually conisder for a moment buying some buffalo or ostrich but almost always pass… except last month. The Buffalo was actually on sale and cheaper than Beef, so I picked some up.
I also like going to the ethnic food areas and looking at what people in other countries eat.
At this time of year I also cruise the halloween candy aisle and look at all the new crap that the kids are going to eat this year. They’re usually a far cry from the molassess kisses, apples and little chocolate bars we had.
I must confess I have a sneaking interest in the more bizarre “wellness” products at the co-op – So-and-So’s Magic Herbal Rejuvenation Formula, that sort of thing.
BTW, salt pork is also good in just about any red-wine-based concoction that you have to simmer, such as coq au vin.
The local Harris Teeter supermarket always sells its green peppers – in season and out – for $1.49 each. In the summer, I often puzzle over them, trying to figure how they are able to get anyone to buy them, when the Winn-Dixie is selling the exact same peppers for 44 cents each. Do the Harris Teeter peppers have some kind of magical properties that I should know about? Its not like theirs are organically grown or anything – maybe there are prizes inside, or they think it would offend the green pepper gods if they ever lowered the price.
Usually I am in and out at the grocery store but if I have time, I like to watch the lobsters. I think they should put some colored gravel in those tanks and maybe one of those ceramic castles with a mermaid peeking out the window. Baby corn in jars is cute. I don’t know how it tastes but if I was six I’d like to make my doll try to eat some. My grocery store has a new huge section for olives. I never knew there were so many different kinds of olives! They look very strange displayed out in the open like that.
I was in the field last summer with a guy who would eat potted meat or vienna sausages everyday for lunch. I was not familiar with either of these pseudo-meat products but became quite fascinated them, although I could never bring myself to actually consume either. Now I find when I am grocery shopping I actively search for these shiny little tin cans of offal to see if they are still being sold. I can’t believe that people eat that crap.