Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Rediscovering the joy of shopping..

For someone who doesn't cook much I've always enjoyed shopping for fresh vegetables. Even as a child it was something I looked forward to. Love the aroma of fresh coriander , spicy green chillies , aromatic mint in the vegetable market. Even during exam days I would volunteer to go out and buy vegetables. 

Fast forward to the last few years. The emergence of the supermarkets resulted in a lot of the household shopping being attempted in supermarkets. The stores in my suburb seem to specialize in getting average to bad quality vegetables and fruits . Tomatoes are some shade of green . Red peppers turning black while on the shelf . Overall , there is no joy in the selection , buying process . It's a chore. What makes this whole experience even worse is watching every single vegetable packed in an individual polybag. 

Today , I rediscovered the joy of shopping for vegetables at a local market. The sight and aroma of fresh vegetables was delightful. The vendor struck up a spirited conversation to persuade me to buy a variety of vegetables . All along he made sure that every selection was quickly weighed and kept aside . Add to it the fact that I could get all the vegetables in my cloth bag without using a single plastic bag . AND , no waiting in a check-out queue for 20 mins !

Fantastic products , personalized service , environment friendly and time efficient. The joy of the experience was infectious . Folks at home loved the vegetables . Made a delicious salad. So , healthy food can be added to the list.

Fresh vegetables and fruits - Fantastic products , personalized service , environment friendly and time efficient - all of these are possible for big retail stores to deliver. Yet , they (at least the stores in my area * ) fail in varying degrees on all accounts . 

* Star Bazar , Food Bazar , Nature Fresh , Foodland ,  Spencers . Hypercity scores somewhat in the fresh produce quality (compared with the other supermarkets )

2 comments:

kitchu said...

wish i could have seen the sight of u buying the fresh vegetables from the local market.Not bad - u doing this - next make attempts to COOK by your selves the lovely fresh vegetables u buy.

Anonymous said...

the bhajiwalas will be thrilled. the next shopping desitnation after mall...