Comments on: Supermarkets and China http://www.riceagain.com/2008/01/supermarkets-and-china/ China, Suzhou, Food and Commentary Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:56:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Meg http://www.riceagain.com/2008/01/supermarkets-and-china/comment-page-1/#comment-19 Meg Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:28:14 +0000 http://riceagain.com/?p=23#comment-19 Every day in a Chinese supermarket is like going to an American mall on Christmas Eve. Every day in a Chinese supermarket is like going to an American mall on Christmas Eve.

]]> By: wangbo http://www.riceagain.com/2008/01/supermarkets-and-china/comment-page-1/#comment-12 wangbo Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:41:10 +0000 http://riceagain.com/?p=23#comment-12 I try to time my supermarket visits for about 12:30 in the afternoon. Everybody else is getting lunch or taking a nap, meaning I can do my shopping in relative peace and quiet. "Relative" is, of course, the key word. One point though: At least here in Beijing, wet markets are still your best option for fresh fruit and veg. The supermarkets may be more "convenient", but their prices in that department are actually higher. Same thing for your regular beers, cheapo Tsingtao and Snow and so on. And considering how inflation is affecting prices of staple goods like pork and cooking oil, I can't blame the ayis for charging your local China Mobile for their free oil. At New Years, on the way up to the in-laws' place, we stopped at one of the township convenience stores for a couple of kilos of pork and a flagon of cooking oil. 110 kuai for that! And that's out in the countryside! I try to time my supermarket visits for about 12:30 in the afternoon. Everybody else is getting lunch or taking a nap, meaning I can do my shopping in relative peace and quiet. “Relative” is, of course, the key word.

One point though: At least here in Beijing, wet markets are still your best option for fresh fruit and veg. The supermarkets may be more “convenient”, but their prices in that department are actually higher. Same thing for your regular beers, cheapo Tsingtao and Snow and so on.

And considering how inflation is affecting prices of staple goods like pork and cooking oil, I can’t blame the ayis for charging your local China Mobile for their free oil. At New Years, on the way up to the in-laws’ place, we stopped at one of the township convenience stores for a couple of kilos of pork and a flagon of cooking oil. 110 kuai for that! And that’s out in the countryside!

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