Showing posts with label groceries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label groceries. Show all posts

Monday, November 9, 2009

Buford Highway Farmers Market

Everyone seems to know about the Dekalb Farmers Market, and I have been there several times myself to recycle cardboard and to shop. But who knows about an even cooler (by far) place on Buford Highway, the Buford Highway Farmers Market? I credit my daughter Shana for finding this one online, and for going with me last Saturday to check it out. There are lots of free food samples on Saturday, too, just like Costco.

Of course, like 99% of everything in Atlanta, it's in a strip mall, and, of course, it looks nondescript from the outside (see above). But inside--that is where everything changes! My friend David who went there on my recommendation a day later called to say, "I have only three words to describe this place: Oh . . . my . . . God!"

It is not really a "farmers market" at all, but rather a huge, gigantic international supermarket with foodstuffs from all over the world along with an unbelievable produce section, three bakeries, and a seafood section to die for. There were fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, spices, and grains I had never seen or heard of before. One whole island was just peppers of various sorts (above)! There were like six different types of bananas (from red to baby) and one fruit that Shana described as a cross between a lemon and an octopus, called Buddha's fingers (below).

Entire rows of this market were devoted to food products from different cultures. At least one-third of the store was Asian of all kinds. We were there for a couple of hours and didn't even venture into that section! Then there was Latino/Hispanic, Eastern European, Caribbean, African, Middle Eastern, European, and probably more I am forgetting. And this place is about the size of a Super Target. We had the best time just wandering around and checking it all out. We did, of course, buy some things. Shana found a Serbian package mix to add to ground beef to make pljeskavice, a favorite dish of ours from Germany days. So, we bought the other ingredients, including Bulgarian feta cheese to stuff it, and went home and made the best supper ever (see below). It was delicious!

If you live in or visit Atlanta, you've got to visit this incredible place. It is located, of course, on Buford Highway, just half a block north of 285, just OTP, as they say here (Outside the Perimeter). I know I'm planning to be there quite often! Prices are better than Dekalb's market, and you can find unusual items, too, like the frozen pig's head below.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

A Taste of Germany!

No, it wasn't a German restaurant or a fake Oktoberfest, it was simply a trip to ALDI'S! It brought me back instantly to Heidelberg, Bad Aibling, and Rosenheim! Just like Germany, you have to put a quarter in the shopping basket to unlock it from the others and use it. When you are done shopping, you have an incentive to put it back, because you get your quarter back. (That costs a euro or 50 euro cents in Europe.)

Roll it into the store and there are the same aisles stacked with products in boxes with their prices displayed above. They had a lot of German (and some Italian) products: wafer cookies, white asparagus in a jar, German beer, wine, bratwurst, spaezle noodles, sauerkraut, candy bars, gummi bears, and a million cheap, off-brand products along with a few name-brand ones. I hadn't come with anything in mind, but I left with $45 worth of great stuff, all much cheaper than the big-name super markets like Publix and Kroger.

One lady in the store said, "Look at how cheap these frozen chicken wings are! They are twice that price in Publix!" I agreed with her! So is the Swiss cheese, the yogurt, nuts, rice, fish, and ham! It's out of the way, but it's worth it to go there once in a while.

Just like Germany, you bag or box your own groceries as the clerk puts them directly back in your basket. Once major difference, though: the American checkout clerks are at least twice as fast as the Germans, many three times. Anyone who has been in a German supermarket knows what I mean by this.