...at Carrefour!
Yes the popular French supermarket chain was caught today, by yours truly, as having possibly the most unpopular animal on the planet scurrying around the shopfloor. While I doubt it was plague-ridden, I don't doubt that the place would fail English standards of health and safety. Shopping today was a labourous task.
Since I decided to be healthy I developed a need to cook my own food for a change, eating out every day is not too helpful when trying to calculate calories. My previous shop was to a local Chinese supermarket which was also a challenge. Chinese supermarkets are rubbish, they're nothing like those awesome Chinese supermarkets back home. I haven't been able to find a good Chinese sauce (you know.. like out of a jar) until today, and my search has spanned at least 4 shops which should have some. The selection of sauces at Carrefour was appalling, unless you like Chili sauce or Black Bean sauce... that's all you can get. Compared to the UK where you can get at least 5 varieties of 10 different 'Chinese' sauces, in China itself you can only get Chili or Black Bean. I've got a feeling real Chinese people tend to just buy Soy sauce, fish sauce and a bunch of spices and make the sauces themselves. Bad news for me, guess I'll have to pick up a Chinese cooking book.
Another thing you notice about the Chinese is that they LOVE junk food. Half the store is pretty much dedicated to Cup Noodles, crisps and confectionary. There doesn't appear to be any of this western "people don't eat right so we choose" mentality in China. You'd never see a ruling that Pocky have to reduce the size of their boxes, or junk food advertising bans. It's amazing there are so few fat people in China, I guess this is a new thing and it will catch up... but the nutritional value of food in Chinese supermarkets is next to nothing.
Moving away from Chinese food is a deeply depressing and pointless task also. Pasta sauces cost a minimum of about £4 for a big jar (about double the UK price). That's all they have too, if you want any other foreign food you've got to eat out. They had an Old El Paso Fajita Kit but those things suck.
One thing that did impress me about Carrefour in China was the fresh meat/fish section. They have a very large butchers. I'm very dubious about the quality of meat, I think the next week shall help me make up my mind. I bought a pack of pre-diced beef and some Chicken fillets. To my dismay, Chinese chickens are scrawny bastards. My student practice of cutting the meat off extremely cheap chicken drumsticks & thighs is over. Chinese chickens seem to be completely made of breast meat, the wings and thighs are shockingly bony. Thankfully a pack of 2 large breasts cost me about £1.40 which is just shy of the UK price (which I've always argued is too much). It's ok, but makes me wish I could just eat out and get chicken, vegetables, a sauce and my carbs for £1... without any hassle of cooking.
The best thing about the fish section was the price of scallops. I'm gonna learn how to cook these babies like they do at the Teppanyaki because you can get each scallop for like 35p. Ten scallops for £3.50 has got to be a good deal compared to western standards. To be honest, I've never seen a scallop in a Sainsbury's but it's gotta be more than 35p/piece... they're meant to be a delicacy!
Until next time... if I haven't died of the Bubonic Plague.
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There's a reason that there is such a wide selection of mock meats in a country that cannot comprehend vegetariansism. They're cheap! If you let them mock meats could be your friend. I honestly reccommend that you look for seitan in China. It has the tough chewy texture of meat and doesn't taste too far off depending on how you cook it. It will either be labelled as seitan or wheat gluten. If you see tins of mock duck or chicken then those are seitan and are incredibly cheap, as well as being full of protein. If you're not keen you can use both real meat and mock meat, will help you spread it out a bit. When I come visit I can try and show you how to prepare tofu, it's flavourless and soaks up the sauce around it if you do it properly. If you don't cook it properly it's rank :P
ReplyDeleteDon't buy jars of pasta sauce.
Basic pasta sauce:
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 can of tinned tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Just fry the garlic in the oil until translucent. Add everything else and simmer for 15-20 minutes. You can add stuff to that too but it tastes the same as out of the jar.
I don't know much about chinese sauces but I have that thai soup recipe on my blog if you want to check it out. It's cheap and theres loads of extra stuff you can add to make it more filling.
Anyway, good luck!