Not quite a Tesco shop!

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So we are having a family Christmas at home this year, with a few people coming over for drinks and nibbles tomorrow, then just the 4 of us for Christmas dinner on Sunday. With this in mind, I decided I didn't need too much and headed to our supermarket, Carrefour, with a minimal shopping list. We have another new ayi who I feel much more comfortable with, so I was able to leave the children here to fight the crowds!

Seeing as they don't celebrate Christmas here, there weren't really any crowds, nothing like Tesco right now I should imagine anyway! But seeing as it was me on my lonesome and it was only 10am, I thought I would make it a bit of fun, so I took a heap of fun photos for all you amazing blog fans out there! (A quick aside here - I was sitting in Starbucks with the children and a friend of Sophie's yesterday when an American man started chatting to us about how William was just like his grandson - full of beans! Anyway, he said something that made me think....that you can tell alot about a culture from the way they shop...and I think he was right, so I would love to hear your thoughts on what you can tell about Chinese people from these pics!)

The photos are the main bit to this blog, so I will move on with this bit now and try to describe the excitement! I do have to say that I have some away without parsnips or pigs in blankets as I could not find small pork sausages and parsnips are clearly something they have never heard of! We are doing a last minute M&S shop tomorrow, so there is a slight chance I might get some frozen ones but it is doubtful! Luckily, we brought a Xmas pud and stuffing with us!

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Photos

And on my left, some seafood something?!
Answers on a postcard....

Why package the chickens?!
I had to wait quite a while to take this pick .....caption?!

The poultry section
So, this is what I am confronted with instead of some nice aisles full of chicken breasts....how do they make them black?

Not many turkeys!
I had just taken mine out and I hope not many others wanted one. This cost me about 35 pounds, but at another shop I had found them for about 50 pounds!

So onto the pork section
Again, not packaging...just choose which half a pig you would like and hey presto....!

What do you spy here?
These are an assortment of luxury imported goods that I think the Chinese buyer at Carrefour thinks us Westerners like to eat at Christmas!

Cured bacon perhaps?
I love the fact it is gift wrapped in the shape of the animal's leg!

Organic veg
...which clearly noone wants to buy. It basically means all the Westerners have gone away and there's noone left wanting them!

Or if you want normal veg..
....that's where everyone has gone to!

Which fish would you like?
A young child is taken to pick out her fish for dinner...I was amazed at the array of fish and the fact they had plastic plants in the tanks to keep them company!

The queue for eggs
So I turned the corner to see this huge queue and in the middle was a man wearing fluffy pink PJs and matching pink converse. I had to wait a few mins to take the pic but it was worth it!

And here are the fish ready to buy..
I love the fact that the freezer cabinet is completely open!

Green lemons?
I was looking to buy limes, but the description just didn't match! I took a gamble and was right!

Dried meats
....hanging in the fresh air of the supermarket aisles! You just can't be squeamish when you go shopping here.

The box
...especially when you see the actual piece of meat where it comes from!

And to wash it all down...
SERIOUSLY?!!

Birds nest and gold
As a delicacy, you could buy a friend a gift box of bird's nest jelly with flakes of gold in a jar!

Noodles
....especially for your young child. I loved the fact there is a Western child in the picture!

Pringles!
Or Lays, as the brand is known as here. I arranged a few of the random flavours on the shelf. Here we have: Seaweed, Little Tomato, Hot & Sour fish with incense, Skewer and cucumber! I loved the picture of the woman on the middle box.

Comments

[kevin]

.how do they make them black?
they didn't make them black, the chick itself is black skined ( AND BLACK meat and black bone).