"The Shopper's Reward"

[smallworld]

kani kureem korokke

or for the uninitiated, crab cream croquette.

Sometimes even two!

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I guess I'm not the only one! Somehow I missed your post before I posted-- with exactly the same answer. Only I don't really care for kani cream korokke (there's been little evidence of either kani or cream in the ones I've tried so far) and go for plain.

All you "shopping is its own reward" people: do you only shop at Whole Foods, farmers markets, and Dean and DeLuca? I agree that shopping in those places is, indeed, its own reward. But an hour at megasupermart Shaw's, deciding whether to put up with mediocre industrial produce or blow the budget on a few potatoes, getting toxic shock from the detergent fragrance, bugging the butchers yet again about stocking decent meat, and adding the rising prices in my addled noggin while waiting fifteen minutes in a checkout lane under the fluorescent lights while serenaded by Kenny G: what reward is this?

I'd like to say that Whole Foods, Dean and Deluca et al. are not necessary to enjoy shopping when you live in a country like Japan where food is still respected. But now that I think about it, I loved shopping back in Canada too, even at the megasupermarkets.

Maybe some people just naturally love to shop?

[prasantrin]

I guess I'm not the only one! Somehow I missed your post before I posted-- with exactly the same answer. Only I don't really care for kani cream korokke (there's  been little evidence of either kani or cream in the ones I've tried so far) and go for plain.

Great minds think alike!

If you have an R 1/F in a department store around you, try their kani cream croquette. They don't have it all the time, but when they do, it's very good (and comparatively expensive, too!).

I'd like to say that Whole Foods, Dean and Deluca et al. are not necessary to enjoy shopping when you live in a country like Japan where food is still respected. But now that I think about it, I loved shopping back in Canada too, even at the megasupermarkets.

Maybe some people just naturally love to shop?

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Years ago, a friend asked me to help him pick out a suit that he was going to give his girlfriend, and he mentioned how much he hated shopping for clothing. I asked why and he replied, "Well, how would you feel if I asked you to go to a hardware store???" He looked at my expression and said, "You like shopping in hardware stores?"

Going to Beaver Lumber with my dad was a real treat when I was a kid!

So, I, too, like shopping anywhere! Especially grocery stores and markets!

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

I have 4 kids, two of which are preteen boys. Can I afford to do much of my shopping at Whole Foods? Nope!

I go once a month to stock up on soy milk, soy cheese and a couple of other products I can't get at regular grocery stores.

I buy myself little rewards for having survived a shopping trip with 4 kids in tow.

[JasonTrue]

I'm fond of shopping for food. The only two things I like shopping for, in general, are food and ceramics. Everything else--clothing, gifts, household needs--is a chore.

That being said, I like some types of food shopping more than others, and I find some places more frustrating than others.

I like shopping for prepared foods in Japan, which I don't enjoy at all in the US. I'm regularly disappointed by the quality of the ready-to-eat items in supermarkets in the US, in the delis or hot food section or salad bars or whatever, and the closest equivalent of Japan's ready-to-eat market in Seattle is in a few specialty markets, usually focused on fresh pastas and so on.

Ready-to-eat is especially disappointing at places like Whole Foods, where I find the quality mediocre and the prices high; I've been satisfied, but not impressed, by some of the pastry counter things, but the steam tables and salad bars and similar items never fail to disappoint. While I've certainly had some mediocre, additive-laden stuff from Tokyo supermarkets and department stores, the standard is so much higher that I keep trying things in Japan, but I've mostly given up on the idea of buying anything in the "deli" sections of US markets.

However, I generally prefer vegetable shopping in Seattle, at least at the Pike Place Market and some of the better supermarkets (Central Market, Ballard Market). That's mostly because heirloom varieties are more available, and produce from smaller-scale producers who emphasize quality over durability are easier to find (where I live, anyway).

When shopping for vegetables and fruit in Japan I can find beautiful, but often fairly flavorless ingredients. There are certainly exceptions, but the only real advantage is that I can find some things easily which are either premium, specialty ingredients in the US (maitake, enoki, various kinds of shimeji, mitsuba, nagaimo), or are almost entirely unavailable (yuzu, sudachi, nanohana, hinome). In Japan, tomatoes are pretty on the outside but watery and flavorless, even in season; that's true enough in most supermarkets in the US, but I know how to work around that in Seattle, and I've never found a solution in Japan.

(I don't usually buy the crazy expensive showpiece fruits sold at Japanese department stores, since those are nearly always given as gifts, so I don't know if those defy the pattern I see of prettier-than-tasty in more ordinary ingredients).

My need to buy something as a "reward" is fairly rare; I tend to find myself doing this at Trader Joe's where I buy a snack or drink for the drive home, especially if I make the mistake of waiting until 4 or 5 pm on a Sunday to go there. I sometimes do the same thing at PFI, a local import specialty store that carries mostly European and Middle Eastern ingredients; I usually buy some sort of little nougat thing, some crackers, or sometimes just a Chinotto, Bibicaffe, or lemon soda.

In other cases, the ingredients I'm buying are more rewarding than any quick indulgence. I know I'll have a chance to create something more exciting when I get home.

I typically only shop two or three days a week right now, but if I lived or worked a bit closer to the Pike Place Market, I might do smaller amounts of shopping more often. When I was a student in Germany, I made a lot of small shopping trips, roughly 4 or 5 times a week. Most trips were only for $4-10 of ingredients. I might have burned more calories walking to the market from my dormitory than I consumed.

Now, I tend to shop in noticeably larger volumes. On Sunday, my "large" shopping trip for the week, I went to Sosio's (Pike Place Market produce vendor), Beecher's (local cheese place), and Trader Joe's, and I don't expect to need anything else until Friday. (Thursday nights I have an event that interfere with dining at home). When I buy less at once, I tend to need to buy something at a neighborhood market or make another Pike Place run midweek. When Hiromi is with me in Seattle, I may make one or two more trips, or Hiromi may take care of some specific needs.

Of course, I often buy things primarily as an indulgence, but not necessarily as a reward for the shopping itself.

[MarketStEl]

Upon a rereading of your initial challenge, Chris, I guess we who derive joy from the act of shopping itself do need to address the subject of ambience.

I listen to a "smooth jazz" radio station on part of my commute (the real jazz station in town broadcasts classical music during the day, and the R&B station I have on at Market East fades into oblivion between Melrose Park and Jenkintown), so I feel your pain over being bombarded by endless Kenny G.

And, of course, the supermarket is engineered to get you to buy stuff you neither need nor really want, from the "prettier-than-tasty" produce (thanks for that phrase, JasonTrue) that greets you the moment you walk through the doors to the ad decals on the floors of the aisles to the promos that interrupt Kenny G's squawks to the regular-priced stuff placed at the end of the aisle to make you think it's on sale to the choice of merchandise displayed at eye level to those "Checkout TV" monitors to...the list goes on and on.

(Those monitors kinda make you miss the Weekly World News, don't they?)

In that environment, programmed to break down your defenses and make you suspend your disbelief, I guess it must be a hardy soul who still finds joy in all that. I think I manage by tuning out most of it.

[mrsadm]

Just got back from Shaw's, where I did some of the week's shopping, and did what I nearly always do: grab a bag of this or a bar of that as a reward for doing the deed. They are rarely the sort of thing that I would otherwise buy, and not an item on the list. In addition, they are nearly always something inexcusable, given my general predilection for quality food.

To wit: today I popped open a bag of Michael's Gold 'n' Good Sour Cream and Onion Flavored Ripple Chips. The photo on the taquitos.net page even includes the price. Retail is $1.39, but special today for $.79! (Every day is special when you buy a bag of Michael's.) Tang, crunch, salt, umami, and a slight transfat hangover in the checkout line. Now that's a reward.

What's your present to yourself when you shop?

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I didn't know I could give myself a reward?!! WOW!! I will start this practice on Saturday!

[Toliver]

When I visit my mom and we go to Costco, her reward is usually a Costco Polish dog with sauerkraut (and deli mustard). It's something she used to cook for our family when I was a kid but now that she lives alone, she doesn't want to go through the bother of fixing it just for herself.

It's the highlight of the shopping trip for her. I can roll with that, Ma!

[Pebs]

When I have to go to Chicago for any reason, which is 2 1/2 hours away, I make it a point to shop at Caputo's Market on my way back. Caputo's Markets have a huge selection of fresh produce at unbelievably good prices which is something you don't get in rural Illinois. So I stock up. They also have a fantastic deli section with a wide variety of Italian imported cheeses and sausages, olives, and salads.

Without exception I buy myself a container of their seafood salad, which is comprised of chunks of squid, baby octopus, shrimp, chopped celery, and dressed with good olive oil, fresh lemon juice and parsley. I eat it either in the car on the long drive back or as soon as I get home.

[Chris Amirault]

That reminds me. Whenever I shop on Federal Hill here in Providence, the Italian food neighborhood, I always grab a couple of stuffed hot cherry peppers as a reward. Oh man.

[feedmec00kies]

All you "shopping is its own reward" people: do you only shop at Whole Foods, farmers markets, and Dean and DeLuca? I agree that shopping in those places is, indeed, its own reward...

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Heh. A friend who used to live in California said once that in his area, they called Whole Foods "Whole Paycheck."

Supermarkets as a whole are decent in the New York metropolitan area, and even if they're not incredible, the bigger ones will have a decent election. If I need something in particular that I know I'll find at Whole Foods but not necessarily other places, I'll go there. Mostly, though, because of the location of my apartment, I tend to stop for things at smaller markets on my way home with a bigger trip a rare occurrence.

Anyway, shopping trips are as fun as you make them. If I go to the supermarket with my sister, we usually point out all the ridiculous things to each other and make sarcastic comments. Yeah, people can be annoying and rude, but I just pick up whatever catches my eye to eat when I get home (I need to save it to reward myself for schlepping everything home, too!), and stare at the floor and zone out while I wait to check out. And I usually think about cooking (a great way for me to focus on something other than the, erm, "individual" yakking on his/her cellphone behind me).

[Zeemanb]

Organic, whole milk from Shatto Farms here in Missouri. There just aren't that many items that tempt me to pay twice the price of all other brands, so this is my little reward to myself for being so frugal in most other ways.

edited for spelling

Edited January 17, 2008 by Zeemanb (log)