I'm begging you to go to a foreign supermarket and tell me what you find

And 5 things to buy there

Hey hey hey,

It’s so exciting to go to a new supermarket in a new country. It is my favourite thing to do.

And if you ask about half of Australia, they’ll tell you their favourite part of visiting Japan (smart person’s Bali) was relishing in the combinis.

These are the convenience stores which feel like they appear on every corner in Tokyo. TikTok has plenty of posts showing people viewing foreign supermarkets as a cultural experience. So it feels like the favourite tourist things to do of others, too.

A few months ago back, I took a trip to the faraway lands of Noosa, Queensland. On a mission to find yoghurt for breakfast, we walked into an IGA that had the biggest cheese section I’d seen in my life.

It was the most joyous I’d been the whole trip. I was alive. We were leaving the next day so I couldn’t buy very much cheese (though I did buy some), and it was all cheese I could get anywhere else.

A mundane museum

Supermarkets are like a window into the life of the people who live around there. What’s normal for them? This huge cheese section? The onigiri that are wrapped up individually? What hot food is there?

I think there’s a safety that comes to supermarkets, they always have the same set of things - produce, fridges, aisles a clean floor.

The general set up of them is the same. But when you go somewhere else, the font of that feels a little different - its’s kind of nice that so many different people in so many different places have been given the same brief for what a “supermarket” is and they’ve all interpreted it slightly differently.

The beauty of every day things

The things that you’re looking at, for most people who shop here, are super ordinary. They’re not thinking about them the same way you are - you’re picking up a packet of chips on special that you’ve never seen before. Everyone else is picking those up because they’re cheap, and money is tight.

Being in this place feels like looking at a word for too long. Eventually, you disassociate it from its meaning, and it’s just shapes and lines. Yes, you are in the shape of a supermarket, but this feels more like a museum, except you can touch everything, then buy it, then (usually) eat it.

Unique experiences, hidden gems, and living like a local

To me, it feels like we’ve become a little averse to experiencing the more touristy things in new places we’ve seen that all online already. We want a place that feels like where the locals would go. I can’t think of a more local place than a supermarket.

I always feel NQR when someone mentions finding hidden gems or unique experiences in their travels. What do you mean when you say unique experience? You want to do something that the locals do? You mean the people who have lived somewhere their whole lives, experienced the touristy bits, become used to the space around them, and relinquished themselves to the mundanity of the life around them?

That’s fine. But it feels like the unique experiences and hidden gems we talk about aren’t just about being unique—they’re often the small businesses genuinely happy to have you, glad you’re there rather than at bigger attractions. I love stumbling onto something unexpected in a town; usually, these hidden gems are created by people who are passionately sharing something that truly represents their culture. It’s touristy in a less brazen way, but it’s still wonderful.

Time + place = local

One of my favourite things in the world is when I move into a new area, and the act of just living there means that my area just reveals itself to me more and more. There’s nothing like the joy of slowly discovering the small businesses of which you get to see the idiosyncrasies, or the patches of green that you wouldn’t really know about unless you stumbled onto it on a walk.

Or, after months of trying the different pizza places near you, finally finding the best one: and only knowing that because you’ve tried all the others. These are the kinds of small, authentic experiences you really can only get after truly being a local.

In Reservoir, the best pizza is Empire Pizza, and I’m a fan of their pizza box because it represents my MO.

This took me some time to figure out. The blue sky of a lot of travelling is to feel like a local somewhere. But with the fleeting time that you’re there, it’s a luxury you’re not afforded: the ingredient to being a local is time. You are a tourist, you’re great at googling, and you’ve found the local café.

But back to why supermarkets are so great

Just as they are convenient to the locals, they’re a convenient shortcut and insight into what it’s like to be a local in the area. You can kind of cosplay living there. Buy the weird drink. Inspect the weird chips. Exclaim at how cheap the alcohol is. Revel at the gigantic cheese section. The local supermarket is one of those things that you can just go to and immediately be immersed in the local experience. Here, in this small brightly lit museum, you get to be a tourist in the mundane experiences that the locals have.

This was a great exhibit: before this, I’d only seen one kind of Kiri (this is better cream cheese than Philadelphia, please argue with me on this because I am correct)

So I guess that’s why I love going to the supermarkets. It’s a lesson in the boring, true gaze into the face of local experience. Like a free museum tour in understanding the local culture.

And the whole place is a souvenir store.

5 things to get from a foreign supermarket

1. Their reusable grocery bags: this serves two purposes: 1) it carries all the other stuff you got, and 2) makes you seem cool when you’re at Coles.

2. Herbs or spices: getting something that you’ve never seen before is a fun compact thing you can take home, and will (hopefully) encourage you to make something in that cuisine when you get home.

3. Anything from the snack section: Chocolates, chips, and soft drinks. There is almost always some sort of local variation on one of these things, like a weird flavour that you’ve never heard of, like hotpot, oregano, kalamansi, or milo. You pick which ones match which snack.

4. Something from the bakery section: you’ll have to eat this while still on your trip (ideally on the same day tbh) but it’s a fun way to see what kinds of flavours are like “easy” for the area you’re in. (Curry bread in Japan, if you’re going).

5. Whatever toiletries you forgot to pack: toothpaste, soap, floss, whatever. You’ll end up bringing it home with you and it becomes a practical, fond reminder.

Ok, hope that helps! Bye!