| One of the many reasons we chose to expatriate to | | | | frequent your neighborhood butcher shop rather than |
| Mexico, Guanajuato specifically, was we would be | | | | the supermarket. It will shock you unless you were |
| able to walk wherever we needed to go. We would | | | | raised on a farm or ranch (unlike us wimpy city folk!). |
| no longer have to have a car for transportation as we | | | | The morning's deliveries don't arrive all neatly |
| did in Kansas City. A worry we had about aging was | | | | prepackaged on plastic-wrapped Styrofoam trays |
| wondering what we would do when we could no | | | | stacked in the back of a refrigerated truck. Oh, no! |
| longer drive. Kansas City has a bus system, but it does | | | | The rancher, driving the oldest, rustiest, most battered |
| not cover the whole city. To get to a bus stop, you | | | | pickup truck you've ever seen, pulls up in front of the |
| either have to drive your car somewhere and park, or | | | | butcher shop with a pile of bloody body parts in the |
| you have to walk quite a distance. Walking to do | | | | truck bed. Sometimes, the parts still have skin and hair |
| errands is next to impossible because of the distances | | | | attached. Usually, there are a couple of heads thrown |
| involved, not to mention the danger of crossing busy | | | | into the mix...eyes, skin, hair, horns, teeth, and tongues |
| 6-lane (or wider!) streets and highways to get to your | | | | intact. The rancher hoists the parts on his shoulder and |
| destination. | | | | hauls them into the shop, where the butcher converts |
| Guanajuato is a small city where it is possible to walk | | | | them into various cuts. |
| just about anywhere you want to go. If the weather is | | | | Here's another warning just to prepare you. The |
| inclement or you have packages to carry, there are | | | | butcher shops and poultry shops usually have large |
| bus routes to nearly every part of the city. There are | | | | trays of nice, yellow chicken feet on the counter. Now, |
| also plenty of taxis to get you where you need to go. | | | | I can eat nearly anything, but I have to draw the line at |
| Even though Guanajuato has buses and taxis, we | | | | chicken feet. Mexicans use the feet to flavor soup |
| found we had to make some changes in our grocery | | | | (and then eat them cooked) or they pickle the feet, |
| shopping habits after we moved here. | | | | cover them with salsa, and crunch them happily. If you |
| In Kansas City, it was easy to shop for groceries. A | | | | buy a whole chicken, don't be surprised to find the feet |
| quick trip in the car to the store, a spin through the | | | | (and sometimes the head!) tucked inside the body |
| aisles, and another quick trip home in the car was all it | | | | cavity with the heart, liver, and gizzard. |
| took...less than an hour. The stores were usually well | | | | If you have decided to become a vegetarian because |
| stocked. We rarely faced a shortage of any product. | | | | of my warnings, you can go to a greengrocery or |
| Our shopping experiences were confined to huge, | | | | "frutería" to buy fruits and vegetables. Some of |
| impersonal supermarkets. We rarely saw anyone we | | | | these shops also carry a small selection of packaged |
| knew among the other shoppers. The employees, | | | | foods and cleaning supplies. |
| most anyway, were barely civil. We were just part of | | | | All fruits and vegetables, unless you can peel them, |
| the faceless wave of people surging in and out, day | | | | need to be washed and then soaked in a disinfectant |
| after day. Why make the effort to initiate or maintain | | | | solution (iodine or chlorine). Supermarkets, |
| personal relationships with such a hoard? | | | | fruterías, and sometimes pharmacies carry |
| Mexico has its share of supermarkets and mega | | | | bottles of the disinfectant. The instructions are printed |
| stores just like the USA. However, Mexico has a | | | | on the label...usually 5 drops for each liter of water. The |
| different venue for your shopping pleasure...one swept | | | | drops don't change the flavor of produce. Some |
| out of existence years ago by the flood of "progress" | | | | people say if you cook the produce, you don't need to |
| in the States. | | | | disinfect it first. I always do it anyway, just to be safe. |
| The small "mom-and-pop" stores, once part of the | | | | To round out your purchases, you will go to a bakery |
| fabric of life in the States, still exist in Mexico. In fact, | | | | or "panadería" for fresh rolls ("bolillos"), cookies |
| they are the preferred places to shop and exchange | | | | ("galletas"), turnovers ("empanadas") filled with meat, |
| news with neighbors. | | | | tuna, cheese, or jam, and other bakery items or to a |
| Every neighborhood has one or more shops called | | | | "pastelería" for cakes and pies. |
| "Abarrotes" or "Misceláneas." These carry | | | | Unless you shop exclusively in supermarkets in Mexico, |
| canned and packaged foods, laundry detergent, | | | | you will have to visit several shops to find everything, |
| cleaning products, toilet paper, bread, and snacks. | | | | more or less, on your shopping list. Because these |
| Some also sell lunchmeat, cheese, milk, juice, and eggs. | | | | shops are small and usually family owned, you will get |
| For your fresh meat needs, you can visit your | | | | to know the owners and employees as well as the |
| neighborhood butcher shop, "carnicería," or | | | | other regular customers. Sometimes people come to |
| poultry shop, "pollería." The beef and pork are | | | | the shop just to exchange news and gossip. |
| leaner and the chickens are plumper than in the States. | | | | Your shopping trip will be much longer than the same |
| We have found the meat and poultry here in Mexico | | | | trip took in the States but will be a much richer |
| are more flavorful than that in the USA. | | | | experience. |
| I want to warn you about something you will see if you | | | | |