Archive for 'I went shopping today'

This is what greeted me at the entrance of the supermarket:

5+ A DAY!

How about that for promoting fresh produce?

FRUIT ON DISPLAY

 This fruit carousel also had grower information on display.

Signage was a mixture of pre-printed and handwritten.

LYCHEE DISPLAY

  Going fishing supermarket style!

CUSTOMER CHOOSES, STAFF MEMBER CATCHES

In these supermarkets, fish on ice is considered 2nd grade product.

CHINESE GROWN BANANAS

Bananas pop up the world over.

Pictured here are locally grown Chinese ones.  The red tape prevents the customer from splitting the hands to suit themselves, leaving those single bananas that are the bane of a Produce Manager’s life.

I did not wait around to see if the display would be replenished as it needed to be…

Behind the bananas was this “bin” of nectarines.

NECTARINES

I was intrigued to note the wide size range and the presence of foliage.  This suggests to me mechanical harvesting and minimal grading.

One could also say the condition of the leaves is an indicator of the freshness of the fruit.

LOCALLY GROWN APPLES

These apples are a local variety – quite a pretty pink en masse like this.

To put things into perspective, that price equates to 87 NZ cents!  Overall, I found China to be relatively cheap.

Moving on, the deli counters were right next door to the produce department:

TURTLES

FROGS

No, I have not strayed into the pet store.  Yes, those are live turtles and frogs.  How else could you be sure that they were fresh?

BULK PULSES AND SPICES

The bulk foods area was also near the produce and displayed in a fashion far more open than I am used to seeing back in NZ supermarkets.

Then I went past the shellfish counter…

SHELLFISH COUNTER

SMALL CRAYFISH

Being kept waiting at the checkout can be the last straw for a busy shopper.

CONTROLLING CHECKOUT WAITING TIMES

This blue line is the solution:  if there are customers behind this line of blue tiles, then more checkouts are opened – immediately.

Now, here is something I often say should still be seen in NZ supermarkets: the fresh produce weigh station.

PRODUCE WEIGH STATION

Discerning shoppers the world over choose their fruit by look and feel.

WHICH ONE FEELS THE BEST?

 This also could be any supermarket in the world:

NEAT AND TIDY PRODUCE DISPLAY

FRESH GREENS IN VOLUME

Signage varies around the store and I noticed that some nutritional information is starting to appear.

But what is it?

Jackfruit is what it is...

Jackfruit, for the information junkies out there, is the national fruit of Bangladesh, has been cultivated for over 6,000 years and is the largest tree fruit (a single fruit can weigh in at up to 36kg!).

Slice and dice your jackfruit

When it thinks it is a strawberry, of course!

Or so the labelling on this punnet would have you believe…

It was the first time I had seen this new variety packaged by NZ Hothouse, proudly on display at Farro’s so naturally I had to buy some to try.

Well, I have to say they didn’t taste like strawberries, so maybe the name has something to do with their shape.

So – novelty impulse purchase with the potential to be a regular addition to the tomato range that’s now available on the supermarket? 

I don’t know, but I was curious enough to look out for them when I next happened to be in a “mainstream” supermarket, in this case a Countdown, but they weren’t to be found.  Did this mean that they are still a niche enough offering to be available only to the gourmands who frequent the specialist food stores or was I simply in the wrong Countdown?

And by New Zealand visitor I don’t mean me!

No, having gone past the sushi and the asparagus, I came across some product from The Yummy Fruit Company:

It’s great to see our apples here, and at such a good price.  That’s Euros on that ticket, which roughly translates to NZ $6.80.  If it moves at that price, that’s got to be good news for the grower.

All good, then.

Well, no actually.

I have concerns about what I’m seeing here.

Yummy is supposedly a premium brand.  Is the size of the fruit, the shape, colour or skin markings seen in the photo above typical of a premium grade Braeburn?  I think not. 

So what gives?  I know John Paynter, founder and guardian of the brand, well enough to think that he would have concerns too.  Can New Zealand really afford to be sending subpar fruit to one of its most important markets and hope to maintain good grower returns? 

I really hope your answer is the same as mine:  NO.