Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Latino Groceries

Here in California they have begun to have more and more Latino grocery stores. They are more than just a grocery store. They have fast food courts inside. On our way to Utah the first of this month we stopped at one in Lodi and bought some lunch at the taqueria inside. Then the other day we decided to go to one in Pittsburg for some dinner. I have to say that when I came out, I felt like I had been in Mexico!

I got something really weird. It is called Sope, and is kind of an unleavened bread with toppings. I got chicken, and they have the white mexican cheese, and crema, and cilantro on top. It tasted good, but the bread was a little weird. We bought some mexican fruit drinks at a stand they had there, but they were a little too sweet for my liking. There were alot of people there eating. In fact, I think that's where they make their most money.

I used to work in retail. Before my mission I worked for K-Mart, and was a supervisor over about 12 departments. One thing they like you to do every morning, and every night before closing is to face the counters. That means you bring everything forward so that it just touches the edge of the shelf. When you are done, the shelves look neat and full. As I was walking through this grocery store, I noticed their prices weren't very good. Then I noticed that the shelves were all perfectly faced. EVERY aisle! I told my husband that I thought the prices were too high for the latino population, even though this store was geared toward them, so the merchandise wasn't moving. It was too high priced for me too! But typically, the latino population in Pittsburg is low income. I'm not sure why the thought they could sell latino groceries at a high price. Yes, they have imports, but there are other stores that sell them cheaper. Some of the things they sell that are hard to buy elsewhere: squash leaves, aloe leaves, cactus, mexican pastries, tamarind, mexican yogurt treats, and rare cuts of meat.

I guess the Latinos in Pittsburg view the Latino grocery the way we do. They just go there for the fast food too. And I have to admit, the food there is excellent! (especially the chicharrones they had on a sample table!

2 comments:

Nene said...

Now you're making me hungry, cause I'm really missing Mexican food. The Irish-Mexican food here is just not Mexican food. And it's really quite gross. But we eat it and pretend it's Mexican. :0+

Amber said...

I've seen some of those here, although they're really small, but there is a big chinese grocery store down by where I work that has a buffet thing inside too, but i've always been too scared to go in (it's a bad area)