When I first arrived back on the island two weeks ago, I needed to stock up on groceries. So I went to the IGA. I was met with practically empty shelves (we are talking as empty as when people raid the grocery store before a snowstorm or apocalypse). I couldn't even find milk! I mean any kind of milk, including fresh milk, powdered milk, reconstituted milk, and canned milk. Normally I can find the boxed reconstituted milk but not this time.
And then the word was spread by text message, facebook, and email that the IGA was getting a delivery of fresh milk!! Fresh milk is a rarity. We get it maybe two or three times a semester. I think it is imported from Puerto Rico, which is quite the journey for a poor bottle of milk. I was there when it the store opened at 8am. I was able to buy a gallon of milk but other people were not so lucky. One of my friends tried to go the next day and she didn't have any luck! The IGA was out of milk again!
Basically here in Dominica, you have to jump at every occasion to buy food. If you see it in the store, chances are it will not be there the next day. You will see people buying twenty cans of tuna fish or three bottles of grape jelly. Frozen vegetables are another popular food item (especially if it is frozen broccoli). Right now they only have frozen Okra, which I have no idea how to cook. When the store has boneless chicken breasts, I will buy 8 packages of them because that is my staple food down here.
It reminds me of the stories my mom used to tell me about my grandmother during the wars. She would stockpile sugar and other hard to get goods. That is exactly how I feel here. If someone looked at my kitchen, they would think I was some survivalist because of all the food I have stockpiled. Confession--I have used survivalist blogs to figure out how to use powdered milk and how to creatively use rice and dried beans. Of course these people were preparing for the upcoming Mayan apocalypse while I am just preparing to survive 11 more months in Dominica. Surprisingly we have a lot in common!
This is why I was so so so excited to go into Whole Foods and Wegmans when I was back in the states. It was amazing to not have to wonder if they would have the food I was looking for but instead just be able to walk into the store and have everything there.
No comments:
Post a Comment