Garlic anyone?
If we lived in Eastern Europe, I would wonder about all the garlic our neighbors have in the hallway. Vampires anyone? Or maybe here to ward off waiguoren?
This isn't the first time we've seen our neighbors using the hallway as food storage. In the spring the occupants of the apartment on our other side had leeks lined up against the wall. Then I thought it was because the hallway was refrigerator-cold, and the perfect place to store all those leeks. Since it is summer, I am thinking I am wrong. Perhaps it has more to do with the strong smells of these foods.
Food storage was something I was thinking a little more about yesterday after reading this (seemingly unrelated) Wall Street Journal article about some incredible local peaches ( I also retweeted it from Micah Sittig). One thing that is mentioned in the article is that in the US, we place a higher value on color and longer shelf life for produce, and this often means a sacrifice of taste. The article compares American peaches with the Chinese peaches, as well touching on other fruits.
Like a lot of people in the US I try to grocery shop as infrequently as possible. It isn't uncommon in the US to buy a lot of food on a Tuesday, for instance, and expect it to last to the weekend, fruits and vegetables included. Here I am lucky if a vegetable I buy on Tuesday is still edible on Thursday if I didn't get around to cooking it on Wednesday. Among the only foods I can count on lasting more than a couple of days beyond purchase are the imported American Gala and Granny Smith apples. Well, that, and garlic. Clearly garlic keeps well here in long-term storage.
Of course, after three years of living here, you would think I've grown accustomed to this situation. Apparently not. I am a slow learner. I probably throw out 1/5 of the fruits and veggies we buy. That is so totally wasteful; I know. If ever I figure out how to balance my American Mom need to plan the week's menu with buying whatever is fresh and available, I'll be able to cut down on that.
So now I'm off to the grocery store AGAIN to find some potatoes to replace the ones I bought last week that I already had to thow out. If all goes well tonight, we will be having a millet-cauliflower-cheese pie with a potato crust. If it doesn't (I haven't looked at the cauliflower I bought Monday night. It could already be bad), we can always jiao waimai (order takeout). Oddly, many nights our take-out is cheaper than some of the Western food I try to make.
This isn't the first time we've seen our neighbors using the hallway as food storage. In the spring the occupants of the apartment on our other side had leeks lined up against the wall. Then I thought it was because the hallway was refrigerator-cold, and the perfect place to store all those leeks. Since it is summer, I am thinking I am wrong. Perhaps it has more to do with the strong smells of these foods.
Food storage was something I was thinking a little more about yesterday after reading this (seemingly unrelated) Wall Street Journal article about some incredible local peaches ( I also retweeted it from Micah Sittig). One thing that is mentioned in the article is that in the US, we place a higher value on color and longer shelf life for produce, and this often means a sacrifice of taste. The article compares American peaches with the Chinese peaches, as well touching on other fruits.
Like a lot of people in the US I try to grocery shop as infrequently as possible. It isn't uncommon in the US to buy a lot of food on a Tuesday, for instance, and expect it to last to the weekend, fruits and vegetables included. Here I am lucky if a vegetable I buy on Tuesday is still edible on Thursday if I didn't get around to cooking it on Wednesday. Among the only foods I can count on lasting more than a couple of days beyond purchase are the imported American Gala and Granny Smith apples. Well, that, and garlic. Clearly garlic keeps well here in long-term storage.
Of course, after three years of living here, you would think I've grown accustomed to this situation. Apparently not. I am a slow learner. I probably throw out 1/5 of the fruits and veggies we buy. That is so totally wasteful; I know. If ever I figure out how to balance my American Mom need to plan the week's menu with buying whatever is fresh and available, I'll be able to cut down on that.
So now I'm off to the grocery store AGAIN to find some potatoes to replace the ones I bought last week that I already had to thow out. If all goes well tonight, we will be having a millet-cauliflower-cheese pie with a potato crust. If it doesn't (I haven't looked at the cauliflower I bought Monday night. It could already be bad), we can always jiao waimai (order takeout). Oddly, many nights our take-out is cheaper than some of the Western food I try to make.
Comments
I think the top of my wedding cake went out there- never to be seen again!
My neighbors offered me a small deepfreezer a couple of days ago. I don't have the room... but boy! I wish I could send it to you. :)
Also, I throw away a lot of food here and I feel bad about it. Food just does not last long. And the imported stuff has been sitting so long already that when you buy it it is close to ruined. I do get tired to shopping every day.
At one point we had a second fridge and it helped if I kept stuff like spices and bread in there, but as you know -- there is always the issue of space -- where can we put a second fridge?