Grocery store trips

focaccia

I miss grocery store trips. During this covid-19 health crisis, my son has been doing all the grocery shopping for me, for the past seven weeks or so.  And that means that I haven't had regular walks down an aisle looking at products, thinking about meals, planning ahead for future cooking ideas.  I haven't stood in front of a huge pile of produce, seeing all the colors and inhaling the wonderful aromas.  I haven't gazed at the bakery counter and wondered how many donuts I should get.  I haven't talked with the person manning  the deli counter as I try to decide on meats and cheeses. 

Some people dislike grocery shopping, but I love it.  Of course, I usually go early in the morning when crowds haven't picked up, and that certainly is nicer since it almost seems as if I'm the only one in the place and I get the entire cornucopia to myself.  I always go with a list, but invariably extra things get picked up as well.  That's the nature of the experience, I suppose.

There's a great book about grocery stores titled Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America.  It's a wonderful homage by the writer to his experiences with grocery stores and his father, and a discussion about where grocery stores are headed in the future.  I highly recommend it.

With the country and most states and most major metropolitan areas starting to slowly come back to life a bit after rigid activity lockdowns, I imagine I will be getting out again soon, albeit carefully.  Food is important, and to me the experience of going to the grocery or the market is an important one and I find it life-affirming.  And anything life-affirming is good.