An Ode to Italian Shopping

Recently I went to the grocery store and was inspired to make a blog post about the different products I have gotten used to buying in Italy instead of the United States. I took some pictures of my recent purchases.


Background on grocery shopping: We shop at a store called Esselunga. It's about 1/3 to 1/2 the size of Safeway, which for Italy is gigantic. It's about a 10 or 15 minute walk from the pensione, about 30 minute walk from the duomo and historical center of Florence. When grocery shopping you have to wear a glove to pick out produce. Going to the deli? Take a number! At the checkout, you must pay three cents for a plastic bag and don't for a moment think someone will bag up your groceries for you. If your total comes to something like 18.22 it will be rounded down to 18.20 and if you pay with a 20 the lady will wait while you dig through your purse for that 20 cents. Making change is avoided at all costs.


Unsalty saltines.


Eye make-up remover. This one was hard, I had to go home and look up the words in the Italian dictionary because I was afraid of getting like nail polish remover on accident. I learned that the verb "struccantare" means to remove make-up.


Chapstick. It took me a few tries before I bought something chapstick like. Chapstick is not kept by the checkout so you can buy one while waiting for the checker to scan your items. It is back with the shampoos and such. Interestingly, razors are by the checkstand. I did not think shaving was done with the impulse purchase of a razor. And the razors are only on a few of the checkstands. I get the feeling shaving is the necessity here as back home.

A 3€ bottle of strawberry spumonti (I did not spell right, but its what we call sparkiling wine because champagne is only from France).



Granola bars. Behind them is my finance book. These granola bars are a little like those Nature Valley ones you can buy at Costco (Dad calls them sawdust bars) but they have little bits of dried fruit in them. Very crunchy!



My new body wash. I have never bought the same kind twice. This one is "milk and silk" (latte e seta) but my skin does not feel like silk...


Shampoo. Capelli Ricci = curly hair. I have absolutely no idea what any of the other words on the bottle are.


Frutti di Basco yogurt in a 2 pack. It means fruit of the woods and is my favorite yogurt. I eat a lot of yogurt on the weekends for the protein and calcium. Helps off-set the carbs.

The BEST sandwich ever. Made by me in my room. It is: a hunk of freshly baked baguette, sliced open and filled with fresh mozzerella cheese, turkey and salame.


Apples and oranges. Blood oranges are really popular over here. They are pretty tasty too.



Bag of shredded carrots. It's basically the cheapest vegetable you can buy.

The laundry detergent I use. Laundry detergents here are not at all like the Tide I am used to using back in the States. They all smell like old things, like fake flowery stuff. Anyways, Mom sent me my favorite Downy dryer sheets which make up for the weird laundry soap. Notice that I used my dirty knee socks as a background for the laundry detergent.



Today I went shopping at the outdoor market in a nearby town. I bought this hat, do you like it?