Ethnic Grocery Stores: Four tips for navigating through the egg rolls and chapatis

Ethnic, Feature, Learning — By leenatg

“If fish had feet, they would smell like this store” I thought, holding my breath as I stepped inside. This was the first time I had entered a Chinatown store, and I hoped it wouldn’t take long to find the bamboo shoots I needed for my stir-fry.

As I side-stepped a box of barely moving crabs and an angry-looking Chinese man, the colorful packages from the shelf caught my eye. They were bright, almost neon, and…written in another language.

Crap. This was going to be a long trip.

Visiting ethnic grocery stores can be a scary experience, especially if you don’t know what to expect. But it is almost impossible to avoid, especially if you would like to start cooking different ethnic cuisines, like Mexican or Indian. Don’t let stinky fish feet stop you! Here are a few tips I’ve come up with from my own experiences.

Do Your Research

It helps to do some quick research on the Internet or at your local library about the cuisine and ingredients used in whatever sort of ethnic grocery store you will be visiting. Extra work, yes, but it will save you from feeling like you stepped into an entirely new universe.

For example, if I had researched Asian grocery stores before my trip to Chinatown, I might have realized that many Asian cuisines use dried or preserved fish and seafood products. It was supposed to smell like fish feet (well, if fish had stinky feet). Knowing won’t make it smell any better, but it will make it easier to deal with.

Look For Pictures

It sounds simple, but sometimes you can figure out what kind of food is in the foreign food package by looking for pictures. In the pictures below, you’ll see some juice boxes with pictures of the fruit on them. This ensures that your juice box will not be filled with fish residue, but rather, a delicious apple drink.

Speak Up

Don’t be afraid to ask a store employee for some help or suggestions. Sometimes it feels intimidating, especially if you are unsure of the employee’s knowledge of English. But they want to sell you their products, so use their help! I like to grab something that interests me and ask an employee how they like to use it at home. You can get some great, authentic recipes that way.

Go For It

When in doubt, just grab something and try it out! You might not always pick a winner, but you can find some interesting ingredients and possibly some new uses for them. I found a can of sweetened mango pulp at an Indian grocery store, but I had no idea what to do with it. I finally added it to a vanilla ice cream base and made the tastiest mango ice cream I had ever eaten in my life.

Whether it is a Polish grocery store stocked full of smoked sausage, a Lebanese market with hot pitas and homemade hummus or a Mexican grocery store with creamy avocados and piles of warm, freshly made corn tortillas, give ethnic groceries a go. Stinky fish feet never hurt anybody.

Tags: Ethnic, grocery store