Nosying other people baskets

[racheld]

I'm even WORSE---not a snob, but a HIDER---I stick that one package of Little Debbie Snack Cakes in between the Romaine and the big carton of fresh yogurt, hoping no one will see my shame. (Keep a few of those little packages in the freezer---better'n truffles at midnight).

And I inventory every cart that passes by---picking up ideas, then picking up some of what THEY'RE having, or watching that fit young couple consult lists, the counter, the carb counter, the calorie counter, as they sparingly fill their basket with raw and oddly-named healthy things, and I'm not envying what's for dinner.

Or seeing a prominent businesswoman with a cartful of every "helper" on the shelves, testament to her busy, busy life. Or the little couple, she in the rollycart, he doing the bending and lifting, getting their sparse rations for the week, and including three of the tell-alls from the magazine counter in the mix.

People with cartsful of exotic herbs and vegetables and cuts of meat, going home to make a meal like those of their original homeland, the pile garnished with an incongruous couple of frozen pizzas.

Or the young woman who consulted me in the aisle one day, showing me the recipe which called for 8 oz. of shiitake---she had picked up FOUR of the two-ounce DRIED type. I felt I had saved her life that day;she might have been suffocated in her own kitchen when all that fungi started swelling.

And I do believe I later met her sister, who was bewailing the fact that the spice aisle had lemon PEEL, but no lemon ZEST. What is it about us kitchen types? Do we have a mark somewhere, so that novices gravitate to consult us? Maybe it's my appearance, or the three kinds of cheese, four greens, and all those kinds of mushrooms in my own cart...hope they hid the Little Debbie.

[jamiemaw]

How many of you will admit to looking at the groceries of other people in the checkout line? Or worse, playing what I like to call the "what are they making for dinner tonight?" guessing game?

Do you ever come up with new ideas by looking at someone else's basket? Or try new products you haven't before? 'Fess up!

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Yes, I get ideas, Jason, but typically in the spirit of culinary collaboration.

So the real challenge lies in scanning the groceries (belonging to the retired lingerie model just ahead) even faster than the cashier. Then positing, "I believe my asparagus are begging to cohabit with your Freybe brand Bavarian Meat Loaf." Or simply, "My rutabagas seek direction."

However experience directs me to advise of several possible reactions:

1. Security has been called and arrest is imminent;

2. A stunned silence, in keeping with lingerie modelling in general, will follow; or

3. A cheerful discussion of the rutabaga and its foibles ensues.

The trick, almost needless to say, is to advance beyond Level One and share tips and techniques openly and generously.

Anyway that's how it's done up here and I sure hope it helps.

Jamie

[kitchenmage]

What is it about us kitchen types?  Do we have a mark somewhere, so that novices gravitate to consult us?  Maybe it's my appearance, or the three kinds of cheese, four greens, and all those kinds of mushrooms in my own cart...hope they hid the Little Debbie.     

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I think it may be the contents of the cart. I've usually got at least one or two things that the checker can't identify so that must mean something...although I have no idea what exactly.

Or perhaps it's that we tend to offer advice readily when people are hovering unsurely over the vegetables while desperately consulting a tattered list. (or is that just me? )

Or the questions I am always asking about things like country of origin and such.

Or maybe it's just that we're the ones who seem to be enjoying themselves.

[Peter B Wolf]

Yes, and for another different reason:

To get my daily "pissed off at someone" daily dose.

When seeing that loaded to the gills cart with all kinds of prepared foods, some already cooked, ready mixes, TV dinners, chips, cake mixes, washed and cut vegetables, canned soups, pre-marinated skewered kabobs, all sorts of cookies and, well, the lazy mens/womens meals.

all being paid with foodstamps

'Food Stampers' are usually unemployed and on welfare.

So, don't they have time to cook???

[Tess]

I'm always looking in people's carts to see if I missed something, especially at the produce markets and the Japanese market. And if I'm in a slow line, I can't help checking out other people's food. What else is there to do?

I love getting into conversations while food shopping. I'm usually too shy to start them, but people will ask what I do with a certain food that's in my basket, or point out something that's good. I get a lot of ideas by talking to people like that.

[mark918]

Yes, and for another different reason:

    To get my daily "pissed off at someone" daily dose.

When seeing that loaded to the gills cart with all kinds of prepared foods, some already cooked, ready mixes, TV dinners, chips, cake mixes, washed and cut vegetables, canned soups, pre-marinated skewered kabobs, all sorts of cookies and, well, the lazy mens/womens meals.

all being paid with foodstamps

    'Food Stampers' are usually unemployed and on welfare.

So, don't they have time to cook???

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Some interesting facts about the food stamps program in Maine:

http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/bfi/foodstamps/F...od%20Stamps.htm

This includes Rights and Responsibilities. I looked, but apparently people on food stamps in Maine do not have the right to remain unjudged by those around them in line at the grocery store.

[fifi]

In the local Kroger on I-45 on the way to Galveston, going to the beach, picking up some picnic supplies. Young couple in front of us has 6 cans of Redi-Whip and a bunch of bananas. Giggling starts. Giggling infects the checker. The whole check-out line dissolves into a useless pile of hysterically laughing humanity. The manager appears and tries to sort this out. No one can explain.

This really happened.

[Josh]

How many of you will admit to looking at the groceries of other people in the checkout line? Or worse, playing what I like to call the "what are they making for dinner tonight?" guessing game?

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Maybe it's me bonding with my inner-sociologist, but I find it fascinating what people put in their carts... Says much about who we are... One of my first stops when I'm in a new country abroad, or even in a unique area of the States, is to check out the local supermarket and what people are buying.

Now taking this to the local extreme, I actually enjoy a variation of this game at warehouse clubs like Costco, called the "what the heck are they going to do with THAT MUCH _______ ?!?!?"

With a mix of people buying for personal use, restaurant use, and resale, the legitimate possibilitie are endless, but some of the combinations are nevertheless interesting/perplexing/frightening. A palate of refried beans hidden below the 25-pack of toilet paper, anyone?

[gus_tatory]

i always find the particular juxtaposition of my *own* shopping cart's contents so weird, it's like someone else did the shopping. i have a well-stocked pantry and freezer, so i end up getting only the "odd man out" ingredients...

:-)

case in point: last thursday i got to the checkout counter with a litre of pomegranate juice, a 500-ml Heineken, and a 4 lb. crossed rib roast (?!)

[Syrah]

What is it about us kitchen types?  Do we have a mark somewhere, so that novices gravitate to consult us?  Maybe it's my appearance, or the three kinds of cheese, four greens, and all those kinds of mushrooms in my own cart

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I think you are right. There is something about how we shop, smelling touching perusing.

The cashier at the greengrocer the other day was smelling my pack of fenugreek and coriander seeds. She looked in awe "What do you do with these??" I replied that I was making a curry. She seriously looked as if I wasn't speaking english.

[malarkey]

I love doing this. And yes, I'll admit I am one of those people who will talk to other people in the grocery store. One of my favorite things is watching people discuss & pick out beers

ok, it's weird, I know...

[therese]

I tend to do it more at the regular grocery store, where I'm likely to see some pretty scary stuff in the way of crap, than where I usually shop here in Atlanta, Dekalb Farmers Market, where the emphasis is on food you'd actually consider eating.

Other people still do it, of course: last night a woman noted my half flat of strawberries and two gallons of milk and asked if I were making ice cream. No, I'd stopped by for milk ('cause I've got two kids who drink a lot of it) and a few other things and had fallen prey to the siren song of the strawberries. She was clearly flummoxed at my casual purchase of that many strawberries without a particular goal in mind.

[Safran]

I, too, love looking at what other people are buying at the grocery store or at the market. I especially like to start a conversation with seniors waiting in line. We talk specials, or where the best sales are, or simply of a better way to prepare a dish.

[Rehovot]

I'm usually too annoyed that there are forty people in my checkout line, and only two lanes open (out of eight) to strike up a conversation with those in my line....who look pretty peeved, too.

Oh, right, and I don't speak the language too well.

But even in the U.S., I don't think I've ever heard a conversation between people asking each other about the contents of their carts or baskets.

Maybe I've just lived in the unfriendly parts of the country!

[DTBarton]

I sometimes peruse my neighbor's carts, but only if the tabloid headlines aren't sufficiently entertaining. Not a big celebrity buff, but I love the Weekly World News, they deliver low rent B.S., and are proud of it. All manner of poorly doctored photos of aliens, big foot, the woman's 78 pound baby, etc. My favorite WWN stunt of all time was a two parter many years ago. The cover one week had a photo of a plastic WW II bomber model superimposed over a picture of the lunar surface. Caption: WORLD WAR II BOMBER FOUND ON MOON! About 2 weeks later, the cover featured the same picture of the moon without the model plane. Caption: MYSTERY PLANE VANISHES FROM LUNAR SURFACE! Priceless.

I do notice over the years of observing the increase in the number of people who obviously don't cook at all, just have prepared stuff. When I was younger those people mostly looked like young bachelors, but now you even see many young women with kids and carts full of prepared stuff, sigh. Serious cooking is becoming a cult thing.

As for food stamps, kind of a necessary wasteful evil, like a lot of government. In my old hometown of Hampton, VA, there was a thriving open industry at some stores who paid people 70 cents on the dollar in cash for food stamps (so the food stamps cash can now be used to buy cigarettes, booze, etc.) and then got reimbursed the whole dollar by the Dept. of Agriculture. Guy who got indicted was raking about $250,000/year off that action. And lately, my local radio stations are running paid advertisements (not PSAs) for people to sign up for food stamps and WIC benefits. Hard to argue that the programs are underfunded when they've got enough money to provide the benefits and troll for new beneficiaries via paid ad campaigns.

[bilrus]

I've usually got at least one or two things that the checker can't identify so that must mean something...although I have no idea what exactly.

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I had a strange one of these the other day - neither the woman buying an item, the checker or the next woman in line could identify the item. The woman buying it said it was "Chinese something". The next woman said "Maybe Romaine lettuce?" I looked up and said "Nappa Cabbage."

Although it was the sorriest looking shriveled specimin I've ever seen.

I wonder what she was going to make with it, not even knowing what it was.

[bilrus]

The cashier at the greengrocer the other day was smelling my pack of fenugreek and coriander seeds. She looked in awe "What do you do with these??" I replied that I was making a curry. She seriously looked as if I wasn't speaking english.

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She was probably tring to figure out how you were going to turn those into the yellow powder they sell in the spice aisle.

[Busboy]

I used to live on a street that was home to five or six relatively large apartment buildings occupies, apparently, by a number of middle-aged single people. When I'd pop in late, usually for a bottle of wine, it always seemed to me that the people in front were either women buying cat food and ice cream, and men buying frozen dinners and beer. It seemed so damn depressing. I always wanted to figure out a way to introduce them, so maybe they could watch TV alone together.

[WHS]

I'm always wondering what people think of my selections: sushi, bialys, a couple of pork chops, lemongrass, and marmite. "Culturally conflicted?"

[ellencho]

I'm not nosy at the checkout counter at all - in fact, I never thought about checking out someone else's purchases until I read this thread.

I know there have been folks who have looked at my purchases because every now and then there's a lady who'll ask how I feel about some snack I've bought, or someone who might ask me how to prepare a certain veggie I've picked out. But the one thing that gets on my EVERY LAST NERVE, is that nervous laughter from the man behind you, who points to your tampons and says "that's not mine" if that's the last of your items on the conveyor belt. Well duh idiot, who the hell is the one with the functioning uterus? Me or you? And seriously, even if a man WERE to buy tampons at the grocery store, would anyone even care?

[touaregsand]

I used to live on a street that was home to five or six relatively large apartment buildings occupies, apparently, by a number of middle-aged single people.  When I'd pop in late, usually for a bottle of wine, it always seemed to me that the people in front were either women buying cat food and ice cream, and men buying frozen dinners and beer.  It seemed so damn depressing. I always wanted to figure out a way to introduce them, so maybe they could watch TV alone together.

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I think some of them met without a formal introduction from you. It's such a natural match. Add lean cuisine or weight watcher's frozen entrees to the cart, a bigger tub of ice cream, and even more cat food. This couple is childless (or the kids are grown) so they adopt more cats after getting together.

[therese]

And seriously, even if a man WERE to buy tampons at the grocery store, would anyone even care?

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My husband says that nobody cares. Or at least he doesn't care, same thing.

[Tess]

Ever seen anyone taking exception to someone's purchases? I saw a woman scolding a guy for buying potato chips-- Lays, I think. She gave him a lecture about trans-fats. He stood his ground admirably, explaining that the chips taste good.

[TongoRad]

In the local Kroger on I-45 on the way to Galveston, going to the beach, picking up some picnic supplies. Young couple in front of us has 6 cans of Redi-Whip and a bunch of bananas. Giggling starts. Giggling infects the checker. The whole check-out line dissolves into a useless pile of hysterically laughing humanity. The manager appears and tries to sort this out. No one can explain.

This really happened.

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Bwah! It's funny 'cause it's true...

That reminds me of a bit from the Simpsons- where Marge is emptying a bag of groceries that Homer bought that included: a porno magazine, a box of condoms, a bottle of whiskey, panty shields, fireworks, and two disposable enemas- and remarked "Gee, I don't know what you've got planned for tonight, Homer, but count me out!"

Not that I've even considered doing anything of the sort...

Anyway, giddy anticipation is a wonderful and contagious thing

[Allura]

I definately peek. I also find myself with some food snobbery when I see the junk food. Then I look at my set with...mostly...pride. Not counting the hot pockets & such for DH's lunch (he LIKES them), or the ice cream.

I did get asked once what I was going to do with all the mushrooms I had bought. I told her I was making a side dish for New Year's Eve with cream & wine and such - very rich and yummy. She looked confused. Also, I can usually stump the cashiers with simple stuff like turnips!

Oh, and on the food stamp note. The only person I know that's on food stamps is my friend's sister. This lady is a single mom of 3 kids and works full time (retail manager). I don't know what her buying/cooking habits are like, but I know she needs the food stamps to stretch her budget. I do know that she can cook, and if her sister's cooking skills are any indication, she can probably cook well and cheaply. However, she still needs them for the the kids who drink a LOT of milk and other staples. I don't think I really begrudge her the assistance.