Everyday life in Spain 2 - Food Shopping
by Ben Curtis
Some ideas and observations…
1. When you buy fruit and veg from the market or small grocery stores, ask for some parsley, they’ll always throw in a bunch for free.
2. Food is generally cheapest in the markets, but:
3. You are highly likely to get charged higher prices in the market once they detect that hint of a foreign accent. Avoid this by checking prices at a few stalls before buying.
4. Everywhere but the supermarkets, ask for recipe advice for whatever you are buying. The grocer will tell you exactly how to make the best ‘revuelto‘ (scrambled eggs) with those ‘setas‘ (wild mushrooms), the meat guy will enthusiastically explain how best to stew his beef… and they all love to tell you.
5. The wise Spaniard always has a can of Fabada Litoral in the cupboard. Litoral is a brand that does an incredible job of putting Fabada, that famous Asturian bean stew, into a can. A lifesaver when the fridge is empty.
6. If a shop only sells one thing, always buy that thing from that shop. There is a shop around the corner from us that only sells eggs and only opens on Wednesdays. Best damn eggs in Madrid!
7. Spanish shoppers always carefully check their receipts, even in supermarkets, looking out for those few unscrupulous shopkeepers that still slip the extra item onto the list every now and again. Do the same, and argue as vehemently as they do when you spot a ‘mistake’.
8. Never buy bread from Chinese shops or supermarkets, it’s crappy. Look for the local bakery with the biggest line and queue up with the grannies.
9.Chinese shops, the corner shops of Spain, never shut. The tired Chinese girl behind the counter has been there 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, all her adult life - hence the Spanish phrase ‘trabajar como un chino‘, to work like a Chinaman, i.e. very very hard. When everywhere else is shut, Chinese stores are great places for essentials like beer, milk, and crappy bread.
10. No self-respecting Spanish housewife ever buys fish on a Monday - it’s left over from Saturday. The fresh stuff comes in from Tuesday onwards. Oh, and fresh fish has bloody eyes.
How does this compare to your neck of the woods? What have I missed?
Posted: December 3rd, 2007 under Everday life in Spain, Living in Spain.
Comments: 20
Comments
Comment from MikeF
Time: December 3, 2007, 6:32 pm
Wherever you go food shopping be prepared for a queue. And, in most supermarkets, get ready to catch your purchases as they get tossed at brak neck speed down the “exit ramp”. Our local supermarket (a Catalan chain) has machines to automatically bag the goods for you, but it seems to be slower than doing it yourself (hence the queues).
The ugliest (less EU-conforming) looking fruit and veg are often the tastiest.
Comment from Parubin
Time: December 3, 2007, 6:54 pm
Sorry,
No time for food shopping, queing on line, or carrying all those bags in and out the car. I always do my food shopping by the internet, and I get it carried home right away. Of course you can have your shopping list conveniently saved in your supermarket web profile so you can do the whole thing in just a mouse-click-time, saving a lot of time for more rewarding activities.
My wife doesn´t quite like the internet thing for food shopping (she thinks they are going to give her the worst pieces of fruit, etc.) so she usually does the shopping by phone, which is also available on most supermarket chains. Talking to another human being on the other side of the line is more trustworthy to her.
Some of my friends (my male and single friends) tell me that they would never quit going to supermarkets, for they are interesting places (depending on the time of the day) to meet women for dating purposes. I find that quite amusing, now I’m not on that game, but a few years back, when I was a happy bachelor (not that I’m unhappy now!!) I’d never thought of supermarkets as a place to score girls. Maybe I’m old school, or maybe when I was a bachelor I was a 20-something and now my single male friends are 30-something now, and the playing-ground evolves.
Comment from Gary
Time: December 3, 2007, 11:15 pm
@ parubin - I have a friend that puts posh stuff in his trolley to help him pull…
Comment from leftbanker
Time: December 4, 2007, 8:21 am
I have developed such loyalty to the specialty places that I am scared shitless to buy these goods anywhere else for fear of offending these merchants who have coached me so patiently on Spanish cuisine. Even if I desperately need eggs, or meat, or olives, for example, I won’t buy them in the supermarket. I’m terrified that I will take the item from the shelf, turn around, and see my egg vendor in a frowning black mask, like the father of Mozart in Amadeus. I buy less and less at the Mercadona and more and more at the terrific market near my apartment. I live so close that I can spit out my window and hit it, although I have been asked to stop doing this.
Comment from Ditter
Time: December 4, 2007, 10:29 am
Why do you put can’s in the fridge ?
Comment from Ben
Time: December 4, 2007, 10:34 am
oops, I meant on the shelf - I’ll change that now!
Comment from Pepino (Dave Hall)
Time: December 4, 2007, 11:44 am
I´ve oftn wondered why my local supermarket has big signs put up trying to convince the cynical Spanish shoppers that “our fish is now fresh on MONDAYS too!”. Now I know why they do it 
@Gary - Does your friend put the posh stuff back before he gets to the till? And if so, does he worry about being spotted and having his pulling chances ruined? jeje
Comment from Dean Hunt
Time: December 4, 2007, 1:15 pm
Parubin,
Which sites do you shop online at?
We tried a couple and they didn’t work properly.
Dean
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: December 4, 2007, 9:22 pm
How does a can of Fabada Asturiana Albo compare with a can of Fabada Litoral?
Comment from Ben
Time: December 4, 2007, 10:52 pm
I couldn’t tell you, I have never got beyond the wonderful Litoral
Comment from Parubin
Time: December 5, 2007, 9:30 am
@ Dean Hunt :
Mercadona, Hipercor, El Corte Inglés-Alimentación.
I imagine the rest of the big chains have online shopping available. You have to make sure they deliver to your postal code, though.
Comment from Parubin
Time: December 5, 2007, 9:43 am
@ Ben & Valenciason
For already made cocidos and stews, I always go for “Delicatessen La Ermita”. It is a bit upmarket, and pricey compared to ALbo or Litoral, and more difficult to find.
I think “La Ermita” is somewhat of a small family company, and it really has a home-made feel to its food.
I specially love the “Cocido Montañés” and the “Garbanzos con Espinacas y Bacalao”, wich both come in glass pots rather than in tin cans.
Through its web site, I’ve learnt that “La Ermita” also owns two hotel-restaurants, both in rural Cantabria, in old stone-made country houses from the 19th century. I’ve never been to them.
Here’s their website :
http://www.delicatessenlaermita.com
Comment from Dean Hunt
Time: December 5, 2007, 11:15 am
Parubin,
Thanks. I tried the Mercadona one and it didn’t work. I suppose my question should have been: Are there any good supermarket websites that deliver, that actually work properly.
I will check out the others now.
Thanks.
Comment from Ben
Time: December 5, 2007, 11:17 am
Thanks for the tip Parubin, I shall keep an eye out for them!
Comment from luke
Time: December 5, 2007, 5:34 pm
Ben, I can’t believe you’re buying tinned cocido or fabada. Can’t the famous Spanish podcast chef that you’re married to, show you how to DIY? In my house we wouldn’t let a tin of that stuff come across the threshold! A wise Spaniard cooks up a massive pot of fabada/cocido/lentejas that’ll last the week.
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: December 6, 2007, 2:13 am
When I was a kid living in Spain, I arrived home from school one day. My mother was detained for some reason and so no one was at home. I stood in the hallway outside our apartment and our next door neighbor showed up. She was the lady who owned the fiambre store in our neighborhood. She took pity on me and my situation and invited me over to her home until my mom showed up. While in her home, she provided me a sandwich without asking. It consisted of a nice toothy bread with the freshest, most flavorful ham I ever ate in my life. I don’t know if I was hungry and/or she being the fiambre lady, has a personal stock of some of the choicest fiambres available to one in the biz, but that was the best sandwich I had in my life. I was only 9 at the time but I remember it well. Later on I realized what a kind gesture that was and I hope to see her when I return to Valencia some day.
Comment from Ben
Time: December 6, 2007, 8:19 am
@luke - it’s what I eat when Marina is away! We had a lovely home made fabada yesterday though!
@vs - I hope you can find her again, she sounds like a great neighbour.
Comment from tom
Time: December 6, 2007, 11:22 pm
ValenciaSon, when you find your old neighbor give me her address.
Comment from Jobi
Time: December 15, 2007, 10:52 am
Advice #7. This comes from the rule that the cash desk balance mistakes shall be assumed by the cashier.
If you detect an extra item in your receipt could be that the supermarket cashier did it on purpose to get that item free later. A friend that works as logistic advicer for supermarkets told me an old trick. As the barcodes were implemented in the supermarkets, they consist on a simple sticker. Well, the way to get a free plasma-TV was to remove the sticker from a cheap article (let’s say, a food can, for example) and put it over the right code in the TV box. Then, place on the queue of the cashier. The surveillance cameras only check that the cashier inserts a code. Later that day, they sum up the money of the cash to check it. The cashier had mistakedly introduced some extra items for other customers, so the final sum fits.
Comment from whiskyconorujo
Time: December 15, 2007, 9:04 pm
Excuse me but you’re wrong. The fresh fish hasn’t “bloody eyes”, when the eyes and the gills looks like bloody, then YOU MUSTN’T BUY THIS FISH, that means that is not fresh at all. This is somethin that I know very well.
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