Shopping

OK, it's time for me to write about grocery shopping in France. Like most everything else here, it's just different enough to remind me I'm not in Kansas anymore.

There are four main stores here for groceries. One of them sucks and, after our first week here I have yet to go back. One of them, Super U, is far--probably about a mile away--but it's the cheapest. Josh, Clovis and I went in together on a rolling bag so we can go to Super U (pronounced, of course, soop-air ooh) and not kill our arms. When we're not feeling up to the walk we go to Intermarche or Lidl and, when super lazy, Petite Casino, which is downtown but small and a bit pricey.

Here are Super U and Intermarche for your viewing delight:

OK, so the differences pretty much start with the shopping carts. Seems like they'd be the same, right? Well ... they are but they aren't. First of all, they have a pretty fool-proof system for making sure you return your cart to the corral--they make you pay a deposit for it.

 Insert a 1 euro coin to release the cart. Get it back when you return it! Genius!

As far as the choices on the inside are concerned, you have a pretty average store. Both Super U and Intermarche offer food as well as other stuff--school supplies, garden stuff, housewares, personal-care items, etc. I liken Super U to Walmart and Intermarche to Target, as far as how nice they are and their prices. They both have big produce sections, a fish department and a large butcher area. The biggest difference in meats is that there is a TON of veal. Like, there's as much veal as beef. But by far pork is the most popular meat. They also regularly have lamb, duck and rabbit. Sometimes you'll even see pigeon. There is no deli department, though they do sell sliced meat, in packages of two to six (weird). Sliced cheese is even harder to find, though Super U especially has a HUGE cheese counter. They also have charcuterie, which is kind of like bologna but infused with stuff like duck liver and olives. Oh, and they sell sliced bread with or without the crust--funny!

One thing I cannot get over is the flavors of chips they enjoy. Apparently among their favorites are chicken and thyme, mustard, smoked ham, bacon, rosemary and olive oil, bolognaise, paprika.

  

   

The other thing that is really weird is that they regularly stock milk on the shelves--not in the refrigerated section. They call this kind of milk "UHT," which stands for ultra-high temperature. It lasts longer and doesn't need to be cold, but once you open it you need to consume it within a few days. It also tastes a little different. They do the same thing with cream. 

Oh, and they sell goat's milk!

(It's funny, a lot of places where they sell cheese, milk or meat, they show pictures of the animal so you know what you're eating/drinking. This is quite helpful actually!)

Fruit juices are very popular and very good. They offer some unique flavors, too!

Here you can see cranberry and currant, cranberry, mango, tomato, raspberry, strawberry and cherry.

That's pretty much the gist of the shopping experience in Yssingeaux. The other main difference is that stores do not offer bags, plastic or paper, for free at the checkout. You can often buy heavy-duty reusable bags and sometimes regular-old plastics. Needless to say, our ChicoBags are coming in handy!