Pensieri di un lunatico minore

Soviet-era grocery stores

The quality, overall, of grocery stories in the Washington, DC area is abysmal. Wait, that’s unfair to an abyss, which at least can hold things. There are four “grocery stores” near me—in one of the wealthiest suburbs of DC—in order of distance:

• Safeway
• Giant
• Harris-Teeter
• Whole Foods

The first two are sad places, full of decaying produce and empty shelves. Today, wandering through the Giant to get a few very simple things for dinner, I noticed that approximately 10% of the store’s selection, if one can be so generous as to use that word, was out-of-stock. I understand this is holiday season, but that just means you should be on top of things more.

The Harris-Teeter is passable as a grocery store, with a tolerable selection of produce, but a still horrible butcher’s department. Don’t even bother to ask them about special ordering anything, as they’ll glaze over and continue on with their grinding of random bits of animal.

The Whole Foods is decent, and contains a good selection of produce, but the prices are absurd, and often there’s strange choices made on what to stock. Obviously, politics is often winning over flavor.

None of these are fit to push the shopping cart of the two stars of the market world: Wegman’s and H-E-B’s Central Market. There is nothing like wandering into Central Market in Austin, not far from my mom’s house, during fall apple season and having not 3 or 4 choices, but 2 dozen, many in either organic or conventional form. Not only that, but they are carefully stacked, arranged and protected from damage. Kafir limes? No problem. Curry leaves? Got it. Want a custom cut of meat? Happy to oblige!

Alas, H-E-B doesn’t leave Texas, and Wegman’s won’t come anywhere near densely populated areas, so either I have to waste a lot of gas driving out, or I have to endure the depressing nature of the stores near me. Fortunately, there’s a few farmer’s markets in Arlington which are decent when in season. I’m also looking into a CSA, now that my travel is reduced.