Grocery stores are a big deal in Botswana. It seems like there is one on every corner. In fact, just across the street from our apartment complex, in the "Main Mall" area, there is a fairly nice grocery store called Spar. Right across the mall, on the opposite corner is... another grocery store. Fortunately just down the street is another mall with several more grocery stores in case you get tired of the selection at Main Mall. There are several other, newer malls further afield in Gaborone that each have about 3 grocery stores apiece. As those that have traveled with me will attest, I take a particular pleasure in browsing through grocery stores in other countries, perusing the products and marveling at the variety of goods that are available. I haven't even been to half of the grocery stores in Gaborone yet. I'm hoping to make it into at least one of each chain before I leave. I may not make it.
There are some interesting quirks within the stores themselves. For example: produce is picked out and bagged yourself, which you then take to a station with a small scale and printer where the produce is weighed and a label is printed with the bar code and price of your goods. If you're lucky, and it is a medium to up-scale market, there is a clerk who has mastered the bar codes and will do this for you. If you are unlucky, or simply too cheap to shop at the nicer markets, it's up to you scan the wall of bar codes and figure out the price on your own. There is potential for mischief here, and I can just imagine having some fun switching the bar codes around, resulting in confusion and hilarity ensuing. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but you've labeled these kiwi fruits as goat's testicles, which are actually much more expensive. I can see how you made the mistake, though, they are very similar looking."
Bread is baked fresh daily and bagged and placed on racks to cool at the rear of the store. You pick your loaf and then wait with the other customers in a disorganized huddle near a noisy machine that slices your bread on the spot! Check it out:
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| You place your fresh loaf in one end and pull the lever. |
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| And out it comes! It's the greatest invention since...uhh... |
I was standing there watching the proceedings one day and a lady looked at me and made a little "tsk" sound and shook her head. I was confused at first but then I realized I was holding a pineapple and she probably thought that I was going to attempt to slice my pineapple in the bread machine. If you ever go to the Spar grocery store at Main Mall in Gaborone and there is a sign saying "No Pineapples in the Bread Machine", you'll know why.
There are a lot of fun products for sale in the stores and I've been making it a point to pick up one or two new items to try each time I go to the store for staples. So far I've had: vanilla custard in a juice box container with straw (yum!), mango-orange milk drink (yum!), sour milk (ugh), Coconut-Almond white chocolate (yum!), Mango cheese (meh), canned lemon-mayonaise chicken (meh). There are some things that I just won't attempt, though.
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| Dear god, why? |
Walking through the malls and around town you will inevitably see the ubiquitous table vendors. They line almost any path or road where people are likely to loiter and they sell pre-paid cellphone recharge cards as well as various other goods. They almost all have dishes set out on their table filled with little candies. It's like they're all auditioning to be my grandmother.
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| If they were unwrapped mints all stuck together in a bowl it would be just like grandma's house! |
Some sell more exotic goods that only the truly brave will attempt.
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| What the hell?! |
These things are Mopane worms, actually a type of caterpiller, and appparently a dietary staple for millions of Southern Africans. Some of the sellers will have bowls of dried ones that are snacked on like little crunchy cheese doodles. Cheese doodles with heads. Try not to think about the head. When they are picked fresh, the innards must be removed before consuming. Check out this appetizing description from wikipedia: "When the caterpillar has been picked, it is pinched at the tail end to rupture the innards. The picker then squeezes it like a tube of toothpaste or lengthwise like a concertina, and whips it to expel the slimy, green contents of the gut." Slimy, yet satisfying.
Signing out, from Gaborone.
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