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Yes! Walking into a grocery store is one of the best things about traveling. It is one of the few genuine everyday activities that are easily available to a tou

by tobr 7y ago

Yes! Walking into a grocery store is one of the best things about traveling. It is one of the few genuine everyday activities that are easily available to a tourist, but is going to be quite different to what you’re used to from home, sometimes in surprising ways. Hopefully this will not disappear entirely as brands and chains become more and more homogenized across the world. One of the saddest examples of this is how nearly every brand of ice cream in Europe became part of Unilever’s ugly “Heartbrand” in the late ‘90s. Now anywhere you go, you will just be offered the same Magnum, Solero, Cornetto. Who wants to take a vacation photo eating an ice cream you could find in your local store at home?

ForRealsies 7y ago
A more pragmatic take when looking for a place to move to: checking out the local grocery store will tell you everything you need to know about that area.
BurningFrog 7y ago
Candy and pastry still seem to be mostly unique in every country. Always a joy - or at least a surprise :) - to try the local snack in a new place!
nextos 7y ago
> [...] nearly every brand of ice cream in Europe became part of Unilever’s ugly “Heartbrand” in the late ‘90s. Now anywhere you go, you will just be offered the same Magnum, Solero, Cornetto This is true, but a bit of an exaggeration. In the UK and Scandinavia, many small dairies are producing nice ice creams which you can buy in regular supermarkets. In fact, a favorite thing of mine is trying to find said ice creams without any gelling agents (carrageenan, gum, etc.) which are really harsh to gut biota. There are quite a few. Obviously, Unilever's is not one of them.
mixmastamyk 7y ago
Latin America too. Interestingly, each country has it's own name, often the name of an old-time ice cream company that has since went out of business. In the US it is "Good Humor." Took me a few years during my backpacking days to figure it out. While odd, I never thought of it as "ugly."
- ljm 7y ago
  Same with crisps/potato chips. You'll get 'Lays' or 'Frito Lays' or whatever everywhere, but in the UK it's 'Walkers'. Whole bags of microscopically thin slices of deep fried potato, loaded with salt or sugar in some form or another. Of course, you get the fake antique alternatives to attract the millennial crowd too. e.g. Old Mout Cider claims to be 70 years old but is just a hipster offshoot of Bulmer's, with a carefully crafted narrative and bizarrely appealing design for a hitherto unknown drink, customer support hotlines and all. There's a lot of amazing local stuff you can find when you're not in mass-market brand outlets.
- smcameron 7y ago
  Only parts of the U.S. I've lived in Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, California, and Virginia, and I don't think I've ever had Good Humor. Mostly Blue Bell.
  - ImprovedSilence 7y ago
    I never even knew there was a dominant ice cream brand, and if you asked me to name it, I would have picked Hersheys. I have lots of different ice cream options at my grocery store, and some are going the “all natural, 4 ingredient” route as well. Plus it seems like every small town has a dairy/local ice cream shop it feels like.
    - mixmastamyk 7y ago
      Not sure I’ve had the original, but recognized the name, maybe from TV or old movies: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Humor https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Humor https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unilever_brands#Ice_cream https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unilever_brands#Ice_...
- martinpw 7y ago
  I was in Churchill Manitoba in November one year - it was -30C outside. The local store had an ice cream freezer with the Good Humor branding on it. It seemed very appropriate. Outside the window you could see frozen Hudson Bay stretching to the horizon. They also had a banner outside the store saying "Stock up before the cold comes."
malingo 7y ago
I really like to see the differences in flavors of common snacks. These triple-onion potato chips in Sweden (something I feel like I'd never see in the US) were very good: https://imgur.com/a/nx3cTCI https://imgur.com/a/nx3cTCI
pcurve 7y ago
One of my favorite memories of traveling in Spain is just doing that, and finding so many 30-35 cent canned beer being sold individually. Cheaper than water.
cmroanirgo 7y ago
I recall being in a tiny store in Lourdes, France and seeing packets of Tim Tams for sale (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tam https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tam). It was the last thing I expected to see from home (Oz). Of course, I bought a pack and thought of home...
- jpmoral 7y ago
  Were they any good? Before I came to Oz I'd only tasted the SE-Asian ones. They're okay but I much prefer the locally-made variety.

by tobr 7y ago

ForRealsies 7y ago

A more pragmatic take when looking for a place to move to: checking out the local grocery store will tell you everything you need to know about that area.

BurningFrog 7y ago

Candy and pastry still seem to be mostly unique in every country. Always a joy - or at least a surprise :) - to try the local snack in a new place!

nextos 7y ago

> [...] nearly every brand of ice cream in Europe became part of Unilever’s ugly “Heartbrand” in the late ‘90s. Now anywhere you go, you will just be offered the same Magnum, Solero, Cornetto This is true, but a bit of an exaggeration. In the UK and Scandinavia, many small dairies are producing nice ice creams which you can buy in regular supermarkets. In fact, a favorite thing of mine is trying to find said ice creams without any gelling agents (carrageenan, gum, etc.) which are really harsh to gut biota. There are quite a few. Obviously, Unilever's is not one of them.

mixmastamyk 7y ago

Latin America too. Interestingly, each country has it's own name, often the name of an old-time ice cream company that has since went out of business. In the US it is "Good Humor." Took me a few years during my backpacking days to figure it out. While odd, I never thought of it as "ugly."

ljm 7y ago
Same with crisps/potato chips. You'll get 'Lays' or 'Frito Lays' or whatever everywhere, but in the UK it's 'Walkers'. Whole bags of microscopically thin slices of deep fried potato, loaded with salt or sugar in some form or another. Of course, you get the fake antique alternatives to attract the millennial crowd too. e.g. Old Mout Cider claims to be 70 years old but is just a hipster offshoot of Bulmer's, with a carefully crafted narrative and bizarrely appealing design for a hitherto unknown drink, customer support hotlines and all. There's a lot of amazing local stuff you can find when you're not in mass-market brand outlets.
smcameron 7y ago
Only parts of the U.S. I've lived in Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, California, and Virginia, and I don't think I've ever had Good Humor. Mostly Blue Bell.
- ImprovedSilence 7y ago
  I never even knew there was a dominant ice cream brand, and if you asked me to name it, I would have picked Hersheys. I have lots of different ice cream options at my grocery store, and some are going the “all natural, 4 ingredient” route as well. Plus it seems like every small town has a dairy/local ice cream shop it feels like.
  - mixmastamyk 7y ago
    Not sure I’ve had the original, but recognized the name, maybe from TV or old movies: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Humor https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Humor https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unilever_brands#Ice_cream https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unilever_brands#Ice_...
martinpw 7y ago
I was in Churchill Manitoba in November one year - it was -30C outside. The local store had an ice cream freezer with the Good Humor branding on it. It seemed very appropriate. Outside the window you could see frozen Hudson Bay stretching to the horizon. They also had a banner outside the store saying "Stock up before the cold comes."

malingo 7y ago

I really like to see the differences in flavors of common snacks. These triple-onion potato chips in Sweden (something I feel like I'd never see in the US) were very good: https://imgur.com/a/nx3cTCI https://imgur.com/a/nx3cTCI

pcurve 7y ago

One of my favorite memories of traveling in Spain is just doing that, and finding so many 30-35 cent canned beer being sold individually. Cheaper than water.

cmroanirgo 7y ago

I recall being in a tiny store in Lourdes, France and seeing packets of Tim Tams for sale (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tam https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tam). It was the last thing I expected to see from home (Oz). Of course, I bought a pack and thought of home...

jpmoral 7y ago
Were they any good? Before I came to Oz I'd only tasted the SE-Asian ones. They're okay but I much prefer the locally-made variety.