To Market, to Market.....

Shopping for food is a challenge for me here. First of all, nothing really looks very appetizing. That may be partially related to the stomach issues I’ve had since coming here. Also, a lot of things are just not things we recognize. Even common staples are not packaged in ways that we are not used to, so sometimes it takes some figuring out to even know what something is. 

lots of salt

Setiabudhi supermarket supposedly caters to westerners. Well, I must say that there are more products that I recognize there than in the other grocery stores we've tried. But the few items that are recognizable to westerners costs about 4x's what they cost in the US. That’s because they had to come half way around the world to get here just like we did. So we are slowly trying unfamiliar brands and products, some because we have no choice and some because it just doesn’t make sense to pay so much for American products. Occasionally we do treat ourselves to something familiar (even though it feels like we are grossly overpaying) for a little taste of home.

 

sugar (gula)

mountains of rice

hmm....i don't think so

Ronnie at check out

fry it up in a pan!

One of the big things I’ve noticed here from all the sidewalk cooking that goes on, is that Indonesians do love their fried foods. That would explain why there are multiple aisles in the grocery store dedicated to nothing but cooking oils. Of course rice is a staple in any Indonesian’s diet, so the same goes there. Rows of nothing but rice in every brand and size (no Minute rice here, though) fill complete aisles. Of course there are all kinds of meats and fish, with no parts going to waste. Washing fruits and vegetables is extremely time consuming, calling for multiple rinses with bottled water. Washing and rinsing lettuce leaf by leaf is tedious. Which means we don’t eat many fresh salads or veggies anymore. There is only one (1) type of frozen veggies in the supermarket (mixed) so we do buy those. Perhaps everyone just uses fresh here as they can be purchased cheaply from neighborhood vendors or along the roadside.

even the water doesn't look appetizing - pocar sweat??

veggie section at Setiabudhi

Even the locals must drink bottled water, though they do use tap water to cook with. I suppose the thinking is that everything is dead by the time it gets boiled or fried. As Ronnie mentioned in his post, even the restaurant food is not all that appetizing. The few times we’ve tried it, one of us has usually regretted it. There are a few chains that we are familiar with, and we were excited to find them. However, recipes are not the same. Pizza Hut’s meat lovers pizza is made with fake pork products - not recommended. McDonalds surprisingly biggest seller is not a burger but a chicken leg with sticky rice. The rice is served wrapped in paper. People eat it from the paper or use their fingers. KFC serves the same, chicken and rice. You can get fries, no mashed potatoes. Diet drinks are not sold in restaurants (we did find Coke Zero at Setiabudhi, however it is not the same recipe). Restaurants do offer a lot of good tasting fruity drinks, though they are ultra sweet and there is always the question of how the fruit has been cleaned and if the ice is made from bottled water.

durian flesh - not even appealing that way! (Indonesians love it!)

they call this chili and they eat it on EVERYTHING!

Milk is good, as is the yogurt (big on yogurt). However they have never heard of cottage cheese here. We did find some tortillas (?) in our market and we’ve tried making fajitas a couple of times. The first time we looked for tortilla chips, we bought something called “Happy Toes.” We were so excited to find cheese so we could make some nachos. Turns out they were so sweet, they would have been better suited with milk poured over them for breakfast! So no more Happy Toes for us. Our American friends told us they had discovered a decent substitute for a tortilla chip called Carnitos. They are not always easy to find but they are decent and improved by heating in our toaster oven.

KFC's chicken legs and rice balls

The best thing they have here (to our western minds) is their breads. They do have a bakery and make some very nice breads, so we are giving our toaster oven a good workout. We eat lots of peanut butter and homemade pimento cheese and canned soup. We are by no means starving. We’re just having to work a little harder to enjoy eating than we do at home.